I’ll have you know that one of my 7th great grandmothers is in that museum! Which makes me inordinately fond of the place, even with this sort of stuff in it. One of the curators asked me to post requests for sketches on my website for a painting they were researching, and they sent me a lovely large image of ggm’s painting to thank me.
The part that bothers me about the Obama paintings is that they are made to stop you looking at anyone else’s art that’s displayed in the same room. They stand out like bright red on a cloudy day. Your eye CAN’T not go to them. You HAVE to look. And that’s infuriating because I want to forget they even existed, much less lived in our White House.
“The part that bothers me about the Obama paintings is that they are made to stop you looking at anyone else’s art that’s displayed in the same room. They stand out like bright red on a cloudy day. Your eye CAN’T not go to them. You HAVE to look. And that’s infuriating because I want to forget they even existed, much less lived in our White House.”
That is exactly what they had in mind, I’m sure. Diminish every other piece in the room by sheer obnoxious disdain for it all. It’s vindictive and insulting by design.