BUSH-WHACK!

From October 1st through Election Day November 2nd, the George Adams Gallery will present a group invitational exhibition titled Bush-Whack! Featuring politically responsive work by 14 artists Bush-Whack! is unapologetically partisan and expresses the views of the George Adams Gallery. The exhibition includes new works by gallery and invited artists critical of President George W. Bush as well as historical works that address the presidency of George Bush Sr. Participating artists include Robert Arneson, James Barsness, Yoan Capote, Enrique Chagoya, Sue Coe, Patricia Dahlman, Bart de Koning Gans and Mitchell Marco, Lesley Dill, Diane Edison, Jon Haddock, Rajkamal Kahlon, Anthony Kulig, Andrew Lenaghan, Trong Nguyen, David Sandlin, Peter Saul, and Erika Wanenmacher.

The Kennedy's, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Ronald Reagan (as Governor of California) all figured prominently in Peter Saul's paintings of the 1960s, and Saul later reprised his depiction of Reagan as president during the 1980s. While he opted out of artistically skewering George Bush Sr. ("Too boring"), this past year Saul completed a painting of George W. Bush, which depicts Salvador Dali urinating in the President's ear, will be on view in Bush-Whack!

During the 1980s and 1990s, both Robert Arneson and Enrique Chagoya produced works critical of presidents Reagan and Bush Sr. In 1991, for example, Robert Arneson responded to the first Gulf War with a series of images caricaturizing then-President Bush, focusing on his oil interests as the true motivation for the war in Kuwait.  Wimp Dip, for example, a large-scale painting included in the current exhibition, shows the ex-president covered in oil. With similar sentiments, in 1989 Chagoya produced Double Agent, (included in the current exhibition), a billboard size drawing of George Bush, Sr. as Superman with x-ray vision, a reference to the ex-president's CIA affiliations. And in his recent series entitled Poor George (After Philip Guston), Chagoya updated Guston's 1971 series by replacing Nixon with the equally hapless figure of George W. Bush.

Santa Fe based artist, Erika Wanenmacher has also created work critiquing both Bush presidents.  Warhead(1992), an intricately wood carved portrait of Bush Sr. with a smiling grimace plastered on his face, opens up to reveal a violent, war-torn scene.  More recently, Wanenmacher has integrated her political sentiments into the piece Manifest Destiny,(included in the current exhibition) a two-part work with a framed hand-colored print of Jesus guiding a young ship captain juxtaposed with a wood carved and fimo sculpted shipwreck.

Other artists have created new work specifically for the exhibition.  For example, Andrew Lenaghan's Portrait of GWB is based on a photograph of the president using a chainsaw at his Crawford Ranch.  Rendered in a style similar to the Saddam Hussein propaganda paintings done during the dictator's reign, the large-scale painting subverts any notion of homage with the prominent addition of an earplug in Bush's ear.


Exhibition Checklist

Main Galley
(clockwise from front desk)

1. David Sandlin
Burning Ring of Fear and Hate, 1992
acrylic on wood
32 x 57 inches
DSp 4

2. Sue Coe
Carousel of War (They Want War), 2000
pencil, acrylic and collage on paper
40 x 58 1/4 inches
Private Collection
SCoed 1

3. Diane Edison
The Piano Lesson (Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge), 2004
colored pencil on paper
44 1/8 x 30 inches
DEd 32

4.a) Erika Wanenmacher
Manifest Destiny, 2004
Fimo, found object, rocks, acrylic over found print, steel
2 parts: 13 x 10 x 10/10 x 12 x 1 1/2 inches
EWs 1

b.) John Haddock
Wounds of an Iraqi Child Transferred to the American President, 2004
paper mache, wool, acrylic paint, hair, velvet pillow
2 parts: 11 x 8 x 5 1/2 inches each
JHs 1

5. Yoan Capote
Painful, 2004
artist's blood, wax on canvas
4 5/8 x 3 3/4 inches each
YCp 01

6.Peter Saul
Dali Advises the President, 2004
acrylic on canvas
74 x 66 inches
Private Collection
PSp 117

7. Mitchell Marco & Bart de Koning Gans
Mitchell & Bart 6, 2004
ink, pastel, pen and coloring pencil on paper
12 x 9 inches
M&Bd1

8. Mitchell Marco & Bart de Koning Gans
Mitchell & Bart 7, 2004
ink, pastel, pen and coloring pencil on paper
12 x 9 inches
M&Bd2

9. Anthony Kulig
Untitled 43, 2004
plaster, gold leaf frame
21 1/4 x 16 1/2 x 1 1/2 inches
AKuls 7

10. Lesley Dill
War War War Shame, 2004
horsehair, wire, rubber
88 x 19 x 5 inches
LDs 199

11. Rajkamal Kahlon
Public Instruction, 2004
gouache on 19th century bookpages
20 x 14 inches
RKd 1

12. Robert Arneson
Wimp Dip, 1991
pastel, plastic enamel, acrylic, oil on canvas
94 1/2 x 72 inches
RAp 9

13. James Barsness
The Revenge of the Sons of the Double Standard, 2004
acrylic, ink, archival inkjet print on paper mounted on canvas
27 3/4 x 39 3/4 inches
JBARp 46

14. James Barsness
No Child Left Behind, 2004
acrylic, ink on paper mounted on canvas
28 1/4 x 38 inches
JBARp 45

15. Trong Nguyen
Humanitarians Not Hereos: Dubya Says, 2003
set of 36 fortune cookies containing a different George W. Bush quotation
TrNgs 1

Side Gallery

16. Robert Arneson
Gulf Dip, 1991
conte, plastic enamel on paper
47 7/8 x 31 3/4 inches
RAd 55

17. Andrew Lenaghan
Portrait of GWB, 2004
acrylic on canvas
72 x 72 inches (unstretched)
AnLp 376

18. Enrique Chagoya
Poor George (After P.G.) # 13, 2004
ink on paper
14 x 16 inches
ECd 39

19. Enrique Chagoya
Poor George (After P.G.) # 14, 2004
ink on paper
14 x 16 inches
ECd 40

20. Enrique Chagoya
Double Agent, 1989
charcoal, pastel on paper
80 x 80 inches
ECd 30 inches

21. Patricia Dahlman
Mr. Bush, 2004
canvas, cloth, wire, thread, mirror
14 x 20 x 13 1/2 inches
PDs 1

22. Yoan Capote
I Want You..., 2004
graphite, watercolor on paper
15 x 80 1/2 inches
YCd 01