A hacker only known as “Guccifer” broke into several email accounts belonging to members and friends of the Bush family. Guccifer was able to retrieve some personal photos, including two of some original George W. Bush paintings.
It’s not exactly news that Bush paints, but let’s analyze these two new works. Both appear to be self-portraits and use part of a bathroom as a setting. The first is Bush in a shower, off to the right, yet somehow also looking into the mirror at an impossible, opposite angle. He appears pensive or obviously distracted from taking a shower. Something’s wrong. Overall, it’s rather gloomy.
The second painting is from a first-person view from the bath tub. Both paintings seem to utilize running water. Is that representative of something? Maybe the burden of presidential or real-life pressure building up, as in the bathtub? Maybe these paintings have no underlying themes and are just simply things Bush wanted to paint, but either way, it’s fascinating. It’s not like Bush was unaware of how so many people loathed him. The way you perceive him, however, will certainly affect how deep you interpret these works.
Why did you not include a comparison to Frida Kahlo’s What I Saw in the Water (1938), gawd, Samer, damn. – ed. Marina Galperina
