Original artwork description:

This is an image of the Conservative Prime Minister of Britain. This painting was in response to an image I had seen in a national newspaper in 2012, and it reminded me, in part, of Winston Churchill, although the image did this because of his pose, not knowing he was being photographed [and also reminds one of how a photograph at the so-called 'wrong moment' can change the way we see ourselves and others]. I liked the reality of this image.

I screwed up the image into a little ball, then unraveled it, placing it on the table. My intention was to paint a still life of the piece of paper, with the screwed up image of David Cameron PM. This was experimental with the idea of messing with a political image, as well as an investigation into the idea of the 'still life and the portrait'. From this image I experimented further with the images of Michael Gove MP, George Osbourne MP and the ex-head of the Bank of England - both as paintings and etchings.

During the process I decided to crop in and fill the panel with the entire portrait of the Prime Minister, but retaining the folded paper lines, which were interfering with the image - in some way becoming symbolic of the interference to a political image, which in itself was not a perfect image and therefore, from the newspaper's perspective, possibly an image that was editorially chosen to show David Cameron in a poor light due to the nature of the image. In my case I guess I was also making a point of how 'rubbish, bent, folded, screwed up politics has become in Britain at this time, particularly after the events of the hacking and expenses scandals as well as the emerging child abuse scandal coming to light in our English parliament.

Materials used:

Oil Paint & Glazes

Tags:

#sweet heart #painting #political #adventure #portraits #britain #newspaper #adam grose #scandals #political portraits #folded #prime minister #david cameron #screwed up