Trumped Up

 

"Trumped Up," Acrylic Collage on 14x18 canvas.

The first time I noticed Donald Trump was maybe back in 2007, on an Acceptable TV sketch called "Operation Kitten Calendar."   This was during the time of The Apprentice, and the reality show star was clearly the victim of this sketch.  I thought Donald Trump was a joke, and when he ran for office, I rolled my eyes.  I told anyone who asked me that he didn't stand a chance and not to worry about it.

I believed this well into the election season.  This man emerged as not just a reality show laugh, but a hateful, misogynistic racist.  I thought he buried himself when the Howard Stern audio recording emerged, and even more so when he said "bad hombres," "nasty woman" and "you're the puppet" during a presidential debate.  I thought America wouldn't stand for a president who views women only as sex objects, a president who hates immigrants, a president who never apologizes and always blames others for his own actions.  Donald Trump seemed to be a kind of comic book villain.  He has been rightfully compared with the character, Biff, from Back to the Future.

 How could he "win" America?  But he did.  And so, the idea emerged for this painting.

I wanted to make a collage that reveals the absurdity of America today, the Orwellian world of "alternative facts," and the power-hungry leader behind it.  I wanted to make a portrait of Donald Trump using Fauvist elements (I love the works of André Derain, in particular, especially his portrait of Matisse), choosing colors mainly from my beloved 1984 special edition book cover.  I particularly wanted to juxtapose warm and cool color to show how I perceive Donald Trump.  I also wanted to focus on the design principles of unity and variety.  The 1984 motif definitely creates unity across the painting.  Variety is created by color, shape and the various collage elements (Trump's tweets, magazine articles, newspaper articles, photos, dictionary and thesaurus entries, pages from 1984, etc.).

 

I started by making a rough sketch of The Donald:

 

I blew up and transferred my sketch onto a 14x18 medium textured canvas.  I knew I would be covering it up entirely, but I knew I wanted Trump's jacket collar to coincide with the cover of 1984.  Then, I began collecting relevant newspaper, magazine, thesaurus and dictionary clippings, and pages from 1984.  I put together my collage using matte medium.  

 I did a total wrap around, making sure to place text on all four sides, as well as on the canvas itself.

Using mixed media is hard!  I had a lot of fights with ink running, even though I varnished it.  I even made an accidental print of my 1984 cover due to matte medium misadventure and mayhem.  I fought a lot with my paint and my colors.  I learned that I don't like gloss gel medium.  I had to redo my 1984 collar.  I ended up making Trump's tie entirely out of another vintage 1984 cover while I was at it.    I finished it with two coats of satin varnish.  

I came up with the idea for this portrait on January 30.  I was working on another painting at that time, but this one definitely took longer to complete than I would have liked.  

At the end of the day, the painting resembles pop art more than it does Fauvism.  But, I'm happy with how my Trumped Up painting turned out.

Crayon Melt- Butterfly

 

Crayons melted over unprimed canvas, 30x24

This piece is special to me because it was the last project I created in Mr. Bill Rapin’s art class during my senior year of high school. Even after the seniors were released for the year, I stayed behind to finish it. Mr. Rapin taught me how to stretch canvas and use a heat lamp to melt crayons across it, a process that took real patience: heat, tilt, heat some more. Honestly, it broke my heart to finish it. If I could, I would have stayed in Mr. Rapin's art class forever, and in my soul, I suppose I have.

Mr. Rapin's gallery advert 1986

Mr. Rapin had invented the concept of crayon paintings himself after his daughter accidentally left crayons on the windshield of the family car during a camping trip. Watching the wax melt together into vibrant patterns, he recognized the beauty in it and turned it into an art form. His crayon paintings were displayed in The Village Gallery in Brooklyn, Michigan, and many still hang in his island house and in his cabin in the woods. He always encouraged his advanced students to make their own crayon paintings at the end of the year.

Mr. Rapin was the best teacher I ever had. I love him dearly and think of him each day. I would like to try making crayon paintings again.