6 new paintings by George W. Bush

[wiggs]

39. There is something awesome and revealing in these.

That a recent former president would disengage from the world to this extent and paint shells and puppies is evidence of something about him that should be discussed.

It is either extreme head-in-the sand disengagement after holding the most powerful post in the world and still holding great potential for influence....which is an unflattering statement that we should pay attention to

or

It is a sharp, insightful statement by him about the rigors and out-of-scale degree of power and destruction that the office has...that a world leader with hundreds of thousands of deaths on his hands as well as the cultural and physical destruction of a once-proud country (among many misdeeds) would, instead of traveling the world to do good or instead of painting something of interest that reflects his former life, go the other way and paint the most harmless sugary subjects possible is a powerful effective statement about his former life and this one. It is high, unexpected, intentional, brilliant art that requires a contrarian reading.

Either way, it's interesting. Given what we know about him his entire life, I think we can interpret the pieces accordingly and it's not flattering.