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The Portrait Art of George W. Bush: Ignore the media. The former president has talent.
National Review ^ | 04/15/2014 | J R Compton, Art Critic

Posted on 04/15/2014 5:26:20 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

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To: ryan71

That’s what I was thinking. If these paintings had been done by some minority race gay Muslim, we would be spending millions on grants to the person, for “the arts”.


41 posted on 04/15/2014 6:49:30 AM PDT by NEMDF
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To: Ditter

You’re so right, Ditter. Aren’t his portraits wonderful? The likenesses are incredible.


42 posted on 04/15/2014 7:00:31 AM PDT by b9 (II Timothy 1:7)
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To: SeekAndFind
For a "late vocation", he's not bad at all.

Painting is not something you learn overnight, it's a process. Usually you don't see the early stages because by the time you see artists' work they are farther along in the learning process.

He's got a good 'eye', and the knack of capturing a likeness - which is not an easy thing to do at all. His brush can't yet quite DO what he can SEE. That takes years.

43 posted on 04/15/2014 7:01:08 AM PDT by AnAmericanMother (Ecce Crucem Domini, fugite partes adversae. Vicit Leo de Tribu Iuda, Radix David, Alleluia!)
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To: SeekAndFind

Pretty good stuff. Painting takes skilled hands and a good eye.


44 posted on 04/15/2014 7:14:54 AM PDT by lurk
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To: SeekAndFind

I would LOVE to have the second landscape in my home!


45 posted on 04/15/2014 7:22:23 AM PDT by hummingbird (Mark Levin and Article 5. Period.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Ditto on second room from his ranch. Would LOVE to hang that on my walls?


46 posted on 04/15/2014 7:24:49 AM PDT by hummingbird (Mark Levin and Article 5. Period.)
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To: SeekAndFind

That one of Leno is impressive!


47 posted on 04/15/2014 7:27:49 AM PDT by ScottinVA (Obama is so far in over his head, even his ears are beneath the water level.)
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To: AnAmericanMother

I love his paintings — he is on a learning curve but who isn’t when they decide to take on a new challenge? The Putin portrait truly does reveal Putin’s soul. Dark, calculating and untrustworthy. I believe that Bush has talent.


48 posted on 04/15/2014 7:28:29 AM PDT by punknpuss
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To: SeekAndFind

Bush Derangement Syndrome is alive and well.

I can’t believe the liberals and their meltdown over Bush doing paintings.

What the heck is up with that? Liberals, who are so tolerant, allegedly, are not very tolerant of a former president and a hobby of his in retirement. What is the sam hill is political or controversial about his art? Why would anybody criticize an amateur artist for his efforts in the first place, if he likes painting? Aren’t we supposed to be tolerant????


49 posted on 04/15/2014 7:29:29 AM PDT by Dilbert San Diego (Im)
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To: punknpuss

I agree. I hope he continues to work quietly away, undeterred by the Usual Suspects and their screeching.


50 posted on 04/15/2014 7:40:43 AM PDT by AnAmericanMother (Ecce Crucem Domini, fugite partes adversae. Vicit Leo de Tribu Iuda, Radix David, Alleluia!)
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To: yldstrk
"What has Obama produced"

I guess Obama doesn't feel the need to take up painting...artwork already exists that touches his inner self...


51 posted on 04/15/2014 7:42:14 AM PDT by ScottinVA (Obama is so far in over his head, even his ears are beneath the water level.)
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To: SeekAndFind

I’m still POed at Bush for lots of excellent reasons. That said, it takes courage to put your art out in front of the whole world, especially when you know it’s only mediocre. I’m sure he doesn’t need the money, or the validation.


52 posted on 04/15/2014 7:44:16 AM PDT by Romulus
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To: SeekAndFind

.......,.big spender though he was, at least GW respected the military!


53 posted on 04/15/2014 7:53:53 AM PDT by Cen-Tejas (it's the debt bomb stupid!)
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To: SeekAndFind

I like his work.

“amateur, very literal-minded” and “like a freshman art student attempting alla prima,”

Yeah, well he IS a beginner. He IS a ‘student artist’ at this point. Accordingly there are some inconsistencies and beginner’s technical and craftsmanship errors.

HOWEVER ——

There is a sincerity and reach for essential qualities of the subject that is really strong. There is something of the icon in his portraits. To make the subject present, to define their essence and make it real. His paintings are honest observation too - not sarcastic or sycophantic.

There is a strength and honesty in his work that is undeniable, and a respect for his subjects, from world leaders to dogs. He puts me in mind of Lucien Freud, without the angst and alienation. Lucien Freud’s technique is more polished of course, but that is simply the result of experience.

W’s art career has just begun. Perhaps for the first time in his life he is doing what he truly wants to do, for himself instead of others, or the pressure of others. The joy on his face certainly reflects it.

I wish him many more years, much success and all contentment in his art. I hope too that he will continue to be as forthcoming with it as he is now.


54 posted on 04/15/2014 7:57:54 AM PDT by Psalm 144 (FIGHT! FIGHT! SEVERE CONSERVATIVE AND THE WILD RIGHT!)
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To: SeekAndFind

He’s quite good. I’ve seen plenty of stuff of far lower quality, evincing far less talent and creativity, hanging in art galleries. I also know people who have been painting for a very, very long time, and taking classes for a very long time, who can’t come close to most of these.


55 posted on 04/15/2014 8:03:25 AM PDT by Sicon ("All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." - G. Orwell)
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To: SeekAndFind
He has even painted Obama:


56 posted on 04/15/2014 8:04:31 AM PDT by Albion Wilde ("The commenters are plenty but the thinkers are few." -- Walid Shoebat)
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To: SeekAndFind

57 posted on 04/15/2014 8:07:08 AM PDT by Albion Wilde ("The commenters are plenty but the thinkers are few." -- Walid Shoebat)
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To: the OlLine Rebel
He does have talent. But not overweening talent.

It's not talent he is lacking as a painter; it is skill. That comes with education and practice. What he excels at is "getting" the spirit of a person or place.

58 posted on 04/15/2014 8:10:17 AM PDT by Albion Wilde ("The commenters are plenty but the thinkers are few." -- Walid Shoebat)
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To: IamConservative

Wonder what W thinks about while he is painting? Or, is he painting to avoid reflection?

*******************

One can enter a zone similar to that of a workout. Externals, the passage of time, immediate sense of self can all fade away into inconsequence or even be forgotten. The subject and the rendering is all. It emerges as filtered through the psyche and present skill level of the artist.

Yes it takes you away. I don’t think it is a retreat from reality. It is an immersion in a more focused, intimate and limited reality. Instead of scanning a 360 degree angle, one wholly embraces a one degree angle.


59 posted on 04/15/2014 8:10:17 AM PDT by Psalm 144 (FIGHT! FIGHT! SEVERE CONSERVATIVE AND THE WILD RIGHT!)
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To: T. Rustin Noone
Bush seems to have captured his subjects in their eyes. Even his relaxed self-portrait doesn’t lack from understanding of how his own eyes convey meaning and depth of character.

Agree completely.

60 posted on 04/15/2014 8:11:44 AM PDT by Albion Wilde ("The commenters are plenty but the thinkers are few." -- Walid Shoebat)
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