Monday, February 12, 2018

The Artist Obama Chose to Paint His White House Presidential Portrait Also Painted This:


This is how the artist, Kehinde Wiley, explained the painting to New York Magazine:

“It’s sort of a play on the ‘kill whitey’ thing.”

-RW

9 comments:

  1. --- “It’s sort of a play on the ‘kill whitey’ thing.” ---

    Mmm.

    By the way, that wallpaper is ugly.

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    Replies
    1. If that's what he was going for the 1970s wall paper is appropriate.

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  2. If you flipped the picture around - with a white lady holding a severed black head - there would be outrage from here until the end of the year. Oh, wait. There's no need to depict whites killing blacks because blacks killing blacks are doing a bang up job.

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  3. The portraits are butt ugly. If that's how the Obamas want to be remembered so be it.

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  4. Tax payer funded art.

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  5. It was interesting to note how 'The Guardian' reviewer compared the Michelle's portrait to the Mona Lisa. I can only assume he was engaged in a street theater act of extreme self satire.

    https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/feb/12/kehinde-wiley-portrait-barack-obama-amy-sherald-michelle

    The Guardianista also seemed to be playing a quick round of po-mo buzzword bingo - calling the Obamas works "ironic" and "subversive". If only he had added "narrative" - we all could have chugged a beer. All art from pomo-stan is "ironic" and "subversive."

    Same reviewer criticised Trump for not accepting the gift of a gold toilet bowl for the White House. Imagine the hullaballoo had the political polarity been reversed.

    https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/jan/26/why-would-trump-turn-down-golden-toilet-white-house-guggenheim-maurizio-cattelan-america

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  6. Isn't that Michelle?

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  7. Eye of the beholder and all. The classic depictions of Judith beheading of Holofernes is comparable.

    Racial tensions in the USA and specifically between blacks and whites are another subject. In a debate with Harry Jaffa, Thomas DiLorenzo suggested that the so called Civil War is the cause of some of these tensions. Considering the racial tensions in other countries that imported Africans as slaves and abolished slavery through more peaceful methods, DiLorenzo has a point.

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  8. You guys don't get it. The painting is not the show. Your reaction to the painting is. Stop cooperating with the performance if you don't like it.


    Also
    IN America any can paint a picture of anyone chopping off anyone's head. Cry harder tough guys.

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