Now that his career in politics has come to an end, George W. Bush has found a new calling—as an artist. Earlier this year the 43rd president’s new passion project—painting—was revealed through photos in leaked emails. The images showed two painted self portraits of the president, one before a shower, and one bathing; as well as a landscape.
There was a media frenzy, and the work even garnered a review from famed art critic Jerry Saltz, who gushed, “The Whitney Museum of American Art should get on the stick and offer this American a small show.”
Now that we know about W’s kinder, tortured artist side, what still remains unclear is how the man responsible for the Global War on Terror, the collapse of America’s reputation abroad, and Dick Cheney, became a creative. Over the weekend Fox News located the source—Bush’s art teacher Bonnie Flood, who spent six hours a day for about a month with Bush in Boca Grande, FL.
“He picked it up so quick, it was amazing actually,” Flood raved about his painting, “His whole heart is in it.” Bush, who signs his work “43” was primarily inclined to paint dogs, so much so that Flood had to urge him to branch out into landscapes. She thinks the president is a natural talent, going to far as to say, “He’s going to go down in the history books as a great artist.”
While he’s definitely going down in history books as something, I won’t hold my breath for a show at the Whitney. Though it could be just a matter of time before this Sunday painter is given an exhibition at a gallery near you.
What do you think? Are you interested in seeing more from George W. Bush, the artist? How does your own self portrait compare to his? Create your own self portrait and Tweet it to us @GOOD by March 20 with the hash tag #goodselfie. We’ll include it in a roundup post on the site.
This post is part of the GOOD community’s 50 Building Blocks of Citizenship—weekly steps to being an active, engaged global citizen. This week: Become a Member of a Cultural Institution. Follow along and join the conversation at good.is/citizenship and on Twitter at #goodcitizen.
Images courtesy of George W. Bush.
