Child amputated arms, Iraq invasion, 2003. The illegal invasion of Iraq 2003, by the US military, the American government, its Congress, President, Vice-President, Rice, Rumsfeld, Democrat and Republican leaders, and its people.
Can one look at the 'art' and appreciate artistic qualities? Or, when one looks at the portraits of needlessly damaged human-beings, is the focus not on the crimes committed by the murderers?
Our own war criminal has descended to taking advantage of fallen soldiers from the war in Iraq. Bush has turned his attention to drawing the young military personnel whose death and destruction were caused by his crimes against humanity.
Bush himself wrote of the work: “I’ve painted the portraits of 98 wounded warriors I’ve gotten to know – remarkable men and women who were injured carrying out my orders.”
Bush himself wrote of the work: “I’ve painted the portraits of 98 wounded warriors I’ve gotten to know – remarkable men and women who were injured carrying out my orders.”
The murderer paints portraits using the murder victims as subjects of the art. This is about as bizarre as it can get in any dimension. The entire exhibition should be labeled 'faces of Cannon Fodder' as the perfect title. What can be going on in this exercise. Is the war criminal oblivious to everything human? Is the war criminal seeking redemption?
We don't want to ask if the war criminal is insane because the answer to that question has been well established.
As the public is forced to respond to the 'art' (mass media force-feeding), one wonders what is the appropriate response. Is it worthy to attempt to look at the 'art' as art and to evaluate the quality of the 'art'? Or, does the art simply remind us of the crimes? Do we 'honor' a painter (regardless of skill) who rubs our face in the horror of his criminal activities through his paintings.
Yvette Granata asks questions we should all ask, "Can I look at Bush’s paintings and separate them from his politics? No. Why? Because they are the same. Like his self-portrait in the tub, the paintings featured in the current exhibition imply that he cares mainly about one thing: his own secure place.
When I look at those paintings, more than that, I simply think: the tolerance of the American people is amazing. I am surprised that nobody has attempted to burn the paintings in the streets yet. No—what I really mean is—I am amazed that we haven’t demanded that the Bush administration be publicly held accountable for their war crimes, that we don’t demand that they apologize to the world for breaking international laws and lying to everyone, that we aren’t ashamed to see Bush sitting at home painting and Dick Cheney strolling about on a book tour. I am amazed that, instead, we allow Bush to behave like a kid, to sit at home in leisure in his tub, while we take on the burden of fixing his unconstitutional messes.
When I look at those paintings, more than that, I simply think: the tolerance of the American people is amazing. I am surprised that nobody has attempted to burn the paintings in the streets yet. No—what I really mean is—I am amazed that we haven’t demanded that the Bush administration be publicly held accountable for their war crimes, that we don’t demand that they apologize to the world for breaking international laws and lying to everyone, that we aren’t ashamed to see Bush sitting at home painting and Dick Cheney strolling about on a book tour. I am amazed that, instead, we allow Bush to behave like a kid, to sit at home in leisure in his tub, while we take on the burden of fixing his unconstitutional messes.
Untitled (Prisoner) (2011) by Yvette Granata; inspired by the image of anonymous prisoner being transported, shackled, in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
Oblivious Murder:
George Bush Paints the Veterans Whose Lives He Shattered
from Common Dreams by Abby Zimet
In what feels like a surreal stab at redemption, George Bush is back and being feted for his newest, guileless, bloodstained and evidently entirely unironic painting project: A book and exhibit of his Forrest-Gumpish portraits of 98 men and women blown apart, broken down, rendered limbless and otherwise shattered by his immoral, inept wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The newly released Portraits of Courage: A Commander in Chief’s Tribute to America’s Warriors consists of 66 single images and a group mural of physically and/or mentally wounded veterans from all the Armed Forces. Each portrait - safely painted from photographs, not in grisly person - is accompanied by upbeat stories from Bush about his victims' crippling war injuries, subsequent struggles, and admirable recoveries thanks to bike-riding and playing golf with him.
Since its release last week in two editions - $35 hardcover and $250 cloth-bound "deluxe" signed by the artist - Portraits has reportedly climbed to #1 on Amazon's book list. Proceeds will go to the George W. Bush Center's Military Service Initiative in Dallas, aimed at helping wounded veterans to heal; the Center's museum is also hosting an exhibit of the paintings.
In a freakishly deadpan interview, W says the "greatest honor of the presidency was looking (veterans) in the eye and saluting them as their commander in chief." Now, he says, "I believe as a society we owe them a lot. And I want to be in the lead." Poignantly, many of the prosthetic-wearing and traumatized veterans in the book respond in kind: Seeing the paintings, they say, they feel "humbled" and "in awe"; one says he has "no words," which we can relate to.
Given that many right-minded souls consider Bush a clown, pawn, cowboy, war criminal and blood-soaked decider-in-chief whose lies and errors in judgment continue to reverberate for thousands of innocent victims at home and around the world, his foray into painting, "that gentle, civilized art," has met with mixed reviews - especially now that he's taken as his subject those he haplessly sent into harm's way, and who returned, unsurprisingly, deeply harmed.
Some view his clumsy re-emergence as "an adorable totem in the rearview mirror," and the duty to be "nice about the family idiot's latest art project," with tolerance and therapeutic curiosity. Others argue that while that he's moved beyond his early "empty-headed daubs," W's monstrous legacy means he will never, unlike his role model Churchill, "earn his pleasures." "Idiocy in art has its charms," notes one critic. "In the man who ran the free world into bloodstained buffers, those charms quickly sour."
Still, the weirdness of the "misunderestimated" Bush's latest endeavor, part of a continuing effort to "paint over his legacy as a war criminal," somewhat pales before a current Trumpian madness that helps make all evil feel relative. W used to be known as the worst US president ever; now, who knows what havoc the Angry Cheeto will wreak? In truth, the ongoing degradation of our political leadership leaves many of us flummoxed. Asks The New Yorker of a ruinously inept president who nonetheless "looms small in memory...Having obliviously made murderous errors, Bush now obliviously atones for them. What do you do with someone like that?" In the end, maybe, turn to the brutal charms of The Onion, which earlier documented the efforts of the "Picasso in Chief," haunted by the omnipresent ghost of an Iraqi child.
George Bush Paints the Veterans Whose Lives He Shattered
from Common Dreams by Abby Zimet
In what feels like a surreal stab at redemption, George Bush is back and being feted for his newest, guileless, bloodstained and evidently entirely unironic painting project: A book and exhibit of his Forrest-Gumpish portraits of 98 men and women blown apart, broken down, rendered limbless and otherwise shattered by his immoral, inept wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The newly released Portraits of Courage: A Commander in Chief’s Tribute to America’s Warriors consists of 66 single images and a group mural of physically and/or mentally wounded veterans from all the Armed Forces. Each portrait - safely painted from photographs, not in grisly person - is accompanied by upbeat stories from Bush about his victims' crippling war injuries, subsequent struggles, and admirable recoveries thanks to bike-riding and playing golf with him.
Since its release last week in two editions - $35 hardcover and $250 cloth-bound "deluxe" signed by the artist - Portraits has reportedly climbed to #1 on Amazon's book list. Proceeds will go to the George W. Bush Center's Military Service Initiative in Dallas, aimed at helping wounded veterans to heal; the Center's museum is also hosting an exhibit of the paintings.
In a freakishly deadpan interview, W says the "greatest honor of the presidency was looking (veterans) in the eye and saluting them as their commander in chief." Now, he says, "I believe as a society we owe them a lot. And I want to be in the lead." Poignantly, many of the prosthetic-wearing and traumatized veterans in the book respond in kind: Seeing the paintings, they say, they feel "humbled" and "in awe"; one says he has "no words," which we can relate to.
Given that many right-minded souls consider Bush a clown, pawn, cowboy, war criminal and blood-soaked decider-in-chief whose lies and errors in judgment continue to reverberate for thousands of innocent victims at home and around the world, his foray into painting, "that gentle, civilized art," has met with mixed reviews - especially now that he's taken as his subject those he haplessly sent into harm's way, and who returned, unsurprisingly, deeply harmed.
Some view his clumsy re-emergence as "an adorable totem in the rearview mirror," and the duty to be "nice about the family idiot's latest art project," with tolerance and therapeutic curiosity. Others argue that while that he's moved beyond his early "empty-headed daubs," W's monstrous legacy means he will never, unlike his role model Churchill, "earn his pleasures." "Idiocy in art has its charms," notes one critic. "In the man who ran the free world into bloodstained buffers, those charms quickly sour."
Still, the weirdness of the "misunderestimated" Bush's latest endeavor, part of a continuing effort to "paint over his legacy as a war criminal," somewhat pales before a current Trumpian madness that helps make all evil feel relative. W used to be known as the worst US president ever; now, who knows what havoc the Angry Cheeto will wreak? In truth, the ongoing degradation of our political leadership leaves many of us flummoxed. Asks The New Yorker of a ruinously inept president who nonetheless "looms small in memory...Having obliviously made murderous errors, Bush now obliviously atones for them. What do you do with someone like that?" In the end, maybe, turn to the brutal charms of The Onion, which earlier documented the efforts of the "Picasso in Chief," haunted by the omnipresent ghost of an Iraqi child.
For More Information
Portrait of a failed president: Inside the art of George W. Bush
George W. Bush unveiled a new collection of paintings last week. Here's what they unwittingly reveal.
George W. Bush unveiled a new collection of paintings last week. Here's what they unwittingly reveal.
George W. Bush’s Cuddly Comeback Is the Worst Kind of Nostalgia
We’re forgiving the devil we once knew because of the one we have now.
We’re forgiving the devil we once knew because of the one we have now.
Looking at George Bush’s strange oil paintings
Now that he’s not president, Dubya has been busy doing some portraits of veterans physically or emotionally wounded in Afghanistan and Iraq – wars that he started
Now that he’s not president, Dubya has been busy doing some portraits of veterans physically or emotionally wounded in Afghanistan and Iraq – wars that he started
George W. Bush's Lastest Paintings are Chilling
“Over the past several months, I’ve painted the portraits of 98 wounded warriors I’ve gotten to know"
“Over the past several months, I’ve painted the portraits of 98 wounded warriors I’ve gotten to know"
Bush Convicted of War Crimes in Absentia
The Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission found George W. Bush guilty of war crimes in absentia for the illegal invasion of Iraq.
The Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission found George W. Bush guilty of war crimes in absentia for the illegal invasion of Iraq.
no portraits... just our memories...
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