George Bush, hated by the left and the right, a darn good painter?

 

A hacker by the name of Guccifer recently revealed a number of former President Bush’s private photos contained in family emails. Among mostly mundane details, what is shocking the world is that the president seems to be, well, I’ll say it…a decent painter. It goes without saying that President Bush is hated by both the left and many on the right, but get a load of the confidence of a man–traditionally depicted clearing brush in Texas–who is willingly painting himself as a naked and vulnerable man. More than anything, like it or not, this will alter how history will remember George Bush.

Here’s what a variety of art critics and hacks are writing about them…

I didn’t even think he had an inner life, let alone a muse that called him to art! Gawker calls them “awkward” and “simple.”Gawker is wrong — way wrong. – Jerry Saltz

George W. Bush’s in-progress paintings, which are just as awkward and simple as you’d hope. – Gawker

I love these two bather paintings. They are “simple” and “awkward,” but in wonderful, unself-conscious, intense ways. They show someone doing the best he can with almost no natural gifts — except the desire to do this. The reclusion and seclusiveness of the pictures evoke the quietude (though not the insight, quality, or genius) of certain Chardin still lifes. These are pictures of someone dissembling without knowing it, unprotected and on display, but split between the promptings of his own inner drives and limited by his abilities. They reflect the pleasures of disinterestedness. A floater. Inert. The images of a man who saw the entire world from the inside but who finds the smallest, most private place in a private home to imagine his universe. Of almost nothingness. Sweet, sublime, oblique oblivion. The visibility of invisibleness. – Jerry Saltz

The paintings are being compared to some famous paintings by famous post impressionist painters… Who knew?