above: Tin Foil Hats: Trump and His Followers Shielding Themselves from Facts
Finding a moment of light within the darkness of poor human behavior is the role of the art of political satire. And the humor in great satire is a light in the dark for me.
Artists such as Francisco Goya (1746 – 1828), James Gillray (1765 – 1815), Honoré Daumier (1808 – 1879), Thomas Nast (1840 – 1902), to name a few, were merciless in their biting critique of politicians of their time and of the political landscape in which they lived. They held no punches. They primarily used a visual vocabulary supplemented with minimal text to make statements better made in this genre than in words.
Trump Leads an Angry Mob in Search of Monsters
And we live in a time with many remarkable political cartoonists and political artists who employ satire, too many to mention all but a few that come to mind include Enrique Chagoya (1953-), Signe Wilkinson (1959-), and Mike Luckovich (1960-). Like their forbears, they are all brilliant, and comment on our time primarily visually.
Something comedic can bring a smile or laugh, a moment of light to your life. Many of us experience this on a regular basis through a shared joke or topical anecdote being interjected into conversation.
Trump Family Portrait
A work of political satire, however, is more complicated and subversive. It combines this lightness with the goal of tackling human flaws, bad behavior, even atrocities. And the most successful result is an indelible image that represents the person, behavior or event. The great works stay with you, their ideas and visual impact resonate. The most successful change viewer’s thinking, and have influenced the opinion of many people, and have influenced society and even culture.
The political landscape in the recent primaries, and election, and the beginning of the era unfolding under the 45th president provides considerable fodder for political satire. My contributions to this publication are in the form of digital image montages, and movies made with my digital montages combined with audio clips.
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