Exploring the artistic nude in the news and in the studio.

Archive for September 21, 2007

Is my Face Red? President Bush Covered in Porn

Bush 2007Bush 2007 by Jonathan Yeo (c)

The Bush Library in America commissioned Jonathan Yeo (British portraitist, very establishment, surprisingly impish face) to do George Junior, then backed out. In umbrage, Yeo then did the portrait anyway, fashioning the face of the Potus from a collage of porn mags.Guardian Unlimited: Arts blog – art: Yeo’s portrait of Bush has no meaning:

This portrait is stunning, seen from afar it is new and edgy while maintaining excellent likeness and emotion. but I have to agree with the author of this article in saying Why?Why not make a political message, why not use this outstanding talent to make am key point about the administration? a stunning collaged portrait is an opportunity to examine and undermine key issues behind the subject. surely oilfields, or prisoners of war, battle incursions, bombed cities even images of Weapons of Mass Destruction or the Twin Towers or political enemies – parts that have gone into creating the Bush we all know and ****.I think that the use of Porn in this case is just a joke on bush, but for such a high profile subject and artist it strikes me that this could have been an opportunity to create an important historical artwork, a comment on the Bush administration and everything that has gone into it to be seen by future generations- a chance to educate and to do something important with an artform rather than just giving the finger to the establishment.

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