Ever wonder what the 43rd president of the United States is up to these days? Apparently, he’s been teaching himself to paint with oils. A hacker named Guccifer recently gained access to the Bush family email accounts and unearthed two of ol’ GW’s self portraits, among other things.
As an aspiring artist myself, I’ll resist the temptation to snicker at someone else’s best efforts, even if I disdain his politics. Actually, one noted art critic offered praise for the paintings. Jerry Saltz of the New York Magazine, declaring that he “loves the bather portraits,” writes:
“The reclusion and seclusiveness of the pictures evoke the quietude(though not the insight, quality, or genius) of certain Chardin still lifes. These are pictures of someone dissembling without knowing it, unprotected and on display, but split between the promptings of his own inner drives and limited by his abilities. They reflect the pleasures of disinterestedness. A floater. Inert. The images of a man who saw the entire world from the inside but who finds the smallest, most private place in a private home to imagine his universe. Of almost nothingness. Sweet, sublime, oblique oblivion. The visibility of invisibleness.”
One Gawker.com commenter admits “[t]hese paintings aren’t as bad as I would have hoped. He has his own style that, while simplistic, adds depth of meaning to his decision to portray himself in the nude.”
All told, Bush probably isn’t too embarrassed by the public release of these paintings – he himself unveiled a portrait he’d painted of Barney, the now-deceased former First Dog, which also isn’t half bad.
