Amazing pic. The yearning in this photograph is palpable, but what is it? I don’t mean there should be a simple, one-size fits all answer. Nor is this about one thing, like race or class. The article doesn’t do the complex stakes that leap out of the picture justice.
Better to place it next to this piece about a time where populism leaned away from merely yearning and more towards working to fulfill yearnings. Interesting frame thru which to speculate on what’s happening in the photo.
According to the analysis, collective political work is replaced by a bitterness about having been misdirected. Interesting to think of the various working responses to this, from Tea Party, Occupy, Brexit, Bernie, Trump to the mid-terms, and all the subsidiary foments that include the all-decked-out enthusiasm of these women.
Here’s another photo. Hard to believe it is not a fiction.
I mean there is central casting and there is central casting. What a great backstory on this guy. At this particular populist moment, there is an opportunity for a guy like this to take on a top job.
Dunno if it is the photos or having seen your paintings, Fred. Either way, they are worthy of your treatment, in paint and historiography.
Curious, I woke up this morning thinking about the sycophantic behaviour around Trump, and it extends beyond his immediate inner circle to people like Ken Starr, Anthony Scaramucci. And this first photo; well its almost dumbfounding. And you know that once he’s out of office many of these will flip and tell you what they REALLY think. (And this White-acre guy. Let’s not et started). This truly IS theatre or a reality show. I got exited about the midterms, but trump’s reaction to them is like one of those crazy reveals in a soap opera. We won! And antifa lynch mobs outside Tucker Carlson’s house.
Yes, I agree with Phil, Louis. This calls for a documentary painting response. I’m envisioning a courtroom style though, a new judgement at Nuremberg perhaps.
o.k. a documentary painting response would be super.