I’m sure I don’t understand this.
I’m fairly convinced it’s an homage to Obama and, perhaps, tacos. Or are those celestial orbs doubling as sacred halos? No (scans the bottom of the frame) tacos: with meat, cheese, tomatoes and sour cream. No (scans the upper left corner; notes the rays emanating from the sun; notes the transmutation of rays to... lettuce? in the halo behind our President’s sainted head): these are celestial tacos; holy sacraments.
I think.
That our cast of characters, outside Obama in his staid blue suit, are all clad in underwear that, not incidentally I believe, shines the same bright white as the White House behind it, further baffles me. And the tighty whitey balanced precariously on point in Obama’s outstretched hand? Please. Help me understand.
The Mexican flag flying standard from the crown of the White House is the one visual reference that makes we wonder whether this is something less than an homage -- an image worked through with the fear of foreign incursion rather than cooperation. A what might be if Obama comes to be (I don’t know when this was painted but suspect, given the campaign sign, that it was during the campaign season).
But the exuberance calls me back. This is a celebration. The chorus is clad in their underwear not to seduce, but to call attention to their patchwork of ethnicity, each individual a many colored rainbow of skin tones. A fiesta of promised pluralism.
I think.
But I’m sure I don’t understand.
Found at http://badpaintingsofbarackobama.com/ via @heatherlorin.
1 comment:
Good one! I might construe it as a post election piece in which the artist implies that Obama whored the Latino vote, appealing to them, but in no promising way. He ate from the tacos/panties commitmentless, in a ridiculing manner rather than empathetic in the historical significance he bore to minorities. Maybe, probably not.
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