Bushwhacked! The third annual google show.
These are painting process shots for the Google show: Bushwhacked at Hardware Gallery.
Image from Googled Website, one of the image sources.
The title comes from an album cover from the googled website. Politics and painting can be full of ironies. After hours of staring and painting Bush’s face, I’m not sure it’s good to mix the two.
The media is a powerful tool that we can use to source information but it can also shape our ideas and our perceptions of the world, sometimes at a deep unconscious level. I realised this when I was painting Bush’s face, because I could not be completely objective about it. When I tried to paint his face objectively, there was also an equal desire to satirise and deface the image. This was the first time I felt conflicted in this way whilst painting someone’s face. I hope that some of this tension and ambivalence is expressed in the images taken during the process of making the portrait.
Bush’s image has come to symbolise many negative things: the power of war, the terror of fear and the dangers of stupidity. In that sense, he also reflects something within us as human beings. Ironically, he makes us take an honest look at ourselves and the quagmire we’re in. His face reflects and questions our own humanity and the effects of our collective decisions when fear is our counsel.
Painting process shots:
Final Image:
