I chose to use an undisclosed studio so I could paint privately, without interruption, to focus on the task of embedding in a single painting all the subtle, mindless, radical and dangerous atrocities of the Obama administration.
I am just one person, a citizen of this country using my first amendment rights to speak out through my art. This is my declaration that we have never had a president do more to harm our country than Barack Obama.
To those who scoff or wish to trivialize this painting, I challenge you… I DARE YOU… study the links of the various symbols and metaphors that you see. There are over 60 in the painting. No person can analyze this image and learn about these facts and still, in good conscience, vote for Obama in 2012.
I do not hate Obama, but I hate the fact that I had to paint this picture. Has the painting gone too far? I knew when I did this that most Obama supporters would reject what I have done. But as a Conservative, I’m fed up with the corruption in Washington. And I’m sick of the political correctness that has derailed our country!
My art is an expression of the times in which I live and people will know how Jon McNaughton felt about being alive in America in 2012.
Take the Challenge! If you still choose Obama, congratulations…you’re a part of the Obamanation.
Go to www.jonmcnaughton.com
McNaughton Answers Questions Regarding “Obamanation.”
What do you hope to accomplish?
Someone once said, “there is nothing more irritating than being awaken from a sound sleep”—I hope to wake up a few. If anyone is undecided about voting for Obama, please study the painting, take the challenge, share it with your friends and help us to expose this man and vote him out of office this November.
Are you doing this for the money?
No. I paint what is important to me, but I know there are many who feel the same as I do about Obama. I am a professional artist. I make my living providing a service and I get paid to do it. The vast majority who view my work never pay a nickel. They pass it around on the Internet with their friends or see it on someone’s wall.
This is just propaganda.
It seems funny that when a liberal artist paints a political motif it is called artistic expression, but when a conservative does the same thing critics call it “propaganda.” When I think of propaganda I think of early twentieth century war posters commissioned by the Nazis and Communist regimes. It usually conveys a negative meaning, so I know why my critics like to use it to describe me. But I am not the government! I am simply one individual, a citizen of this country using my first amendment rights to speak out through my art.
Do you think this is art?
What is art? There are many certified art experts who would love to tell you the answer. Their opinions mean little to me because I only paint to satisfy my desire to share a message. For me, art has a way of communicating both thoughts and feelings that words fail to adequately express. If my art causes another to think and to feel, it is a success. I use metaphor and symbol because it leaves more for the viewer to discover, but for the few who choose to take the time to study I have the interactive website where I meticulously explain my images. I paint realistically because it communicates to the broadest audience. I paint political and religious subject because they are close to my heart. Whether someone from the history books could have painted it better means nothing to me. My art is an expression of the times in which I live and people will know how Jon McNaughton felt about being alive at this time in our history.
Is the original for sale?
Yes, and prints are also for sale on the website.
Lowenfeld was very perceptive and astute in using art to measure the mental progress of young ‘uns. His descriptions of the early stages of perception, via childhood artwork, is very interesting – beginning with erratic or circular scribbles indicating movement, to drawing faces without bodies, to heads with arms and feet, etc. In drawings and paintings, the most important features are often grossly exaggerated in size, huge hands for example. Cool stuff.
