Ranking the Obama Portraits from One to Bore
A painting review by Anthony Le
It’s been said that portraiture is old fashioned. It’s a way for the rich to maintain illusions of grandeur or for white dudes to get acquired into museum collections with their muses of choice. Yo, portraiture is so old and dusty that it died and rose again - in the form of zombie figuration. Others say that we’re in a new era of surrealist, feminist figuration (in this Art Party podcast episode). I think that sounds idyllic, and I’m glad that many prominent artists leading that vibe are Black. That brings me to the Obama portraits. I’m going to rank the paintings, share what the artist said about their work, and discuss what I like and don’t. You’ll gain some insight on how I approach painting and what I value, but as Amy Sherald says, “Some people like their poetry to rhyme. Some people don’t.”
The far left Obama painting is the work I’m most jealous of. The fashion, the composition and the body posture are all superb. I also found the immediate backlash of the grayscale skin tone fascinating. Sherald describes the grayscale approach as “an absence of color that directly challenges perceptions of black identity.”
This painting seemingly brought the art critic out of everyone, and that is hard to do. There was a conversation about likeness, and again, I believe the artist is playing with glamorous perceptions of painting. I think the artist provided a depiction that the public doesn’t usually get to see. There’s some non-glamourous honesty or secret that’s about to be shared that keeps drawing me back to this work.
The center left Obama painting is certainly a kingly portrait. It is lush and every detail meticulous, so I do see new details every time I look at it such as the green highlight on the sleeve and chair.
Wiley describes the painting as “the importance and anxiety of influence. The present tense interacts with the past. Wanting to insert how people live, love and exist today.” Wiley also said, “We decided to strike out a path of our own, a narrative of accessibility and openness, relaxed body language, open collar.”
I love this sense of accessibility, even when I imagine Obama sinking back into the greenery like Homer Simpson. I love the subversiveness of this painting and how it sets a new standard of the presidential portrait by not emphasizing power and instead uplifting more human qualities.
The work is a maximalist masterpiece, but I’m a minimalist at heart. I will admit however that the painter does accomplish a difficult goal. The viewer’s eye doesn’t go straight to the face of the figure; it moves and moves me emotionally.
Spring said, “I just have great respect for traditional painting and having somebody look the way they look. That’s what’s in it for me — the crinkle of an eye, the little noise of a lip. That’s what holds my interest.”
The center right Obama painting was the hardest for me to pin down. The painting is one of the more emotional depictions, sexual even to me. The background isn’t for me though. I artist may have been limited in choice, but her other portraits utilize a more abstract background that I find more effective for this style. Sprung is commissioned to paint a lot of female firsts especially in the context of government, but the aesthetic for these portraits doesn’t move me. The color vibrations are fuzzy, and the pink peach color feels off. Ultimately, the depiction is too expected for my taste with little subversion.
The far right Obama painting is the most photorealist, but I am not a fan of photorealism in painting. I see it as one end of the spectrum, opposite to abstract expressionism, which I find more emotional. The painting very closely follows the artist’s formulaic style: neutral expression, life-size scale and white background. The artist said on a podcast that his paintings are “the thing that happens in between the sitter and the viewer.” I do respect this statement in its effort to provide a blank canvas for the viewer to fill with their subconscious. My mind goes to Obama being surrounded by whiteness. Although the work allows me to project that meaning, the painting doesn’t move me emotionally and again is too expected.
Aqua Plugs:
Ashley and I are participating in a fun Halloween Art Party called Land of Skulls on 10/31.
I will have one work in the 2022 Fall Salon at Target Gallery, Torpedo Factory Art Center from 11/12-12/11.
Anthony Trung Quang Le (he/they) is a DC-based multidisciplinary artist and identifies as Vietnamese, American and Queer. They work in painting, video, sculpture, printmaking, performance, writing and curation, exploring the joy of nonconformity. View Anthony's work atAnthonyLeArt.com and follow@AnthonyLeArt.