Respite From the Party Painting

Links to my websites and blogs .kaiser.545 I paint political/editorial paintings. I contend that almost all contemporary art is political, in that they purport to make some point. Thus I assume wide latitude with content and style in my paintings. I reject the usual political paintings with which the collector is familiar. You know, the ones that are obsessed with screaming AIN'T IT AWFUL in some crude visual whine, as if there is a contest to see which artist can be the most hysterical. Comparatively, I have observed that newspaper political cartoonists are far more advanced in use of metaphor, humor, irony and subtleties of tone. More importantly, political cartoonists have the courage and skill to be explicit and precise of point. I am interested in adopting some of the political cartoonist's idioms into fine art. Especially the practice of naming names, confronting specific issues and making the despot the butt of a raucous joke. My paintings are examples of invoking those concerns into contemporary modern painting. It is rewarding and hilariously fun. I hope other artists follow my lead. When I am inclined to give it a name, I call it the Guernica School.