Palin artwork roundup
“Recently we learned of a malicious desecration of a photo of the Governor and baby Trig that has become an iconic representation of a mother’s love for a special needs child.”
- Sarah Palin spokesperson Meghan Stapelton, on a Photoshopped image of her boss.
It’s been a year since Sarah Palin was a candidate for vice president of The United States, and even her abrupt resignation is now old news. So as usual I’m well behind the curve with my posts, but so are many of the artists featured here; even now more “desecrations” of Palin are being produced. After the jump I’ve posted a full bounty of Palin-inspired artwork, along with some thoughts on why she makes such an enduring (endearing?) target…
Political choices, especially in the US, tend to be more about voting for “people like us”, or “people who we imagine ourselves to be”, or “people we aspire to be”, than about selecting the best leaders for our respective causes. But there is usually at least some kernel of substance behind our leaders. Palin artwork works, and is so widespread, not just because she’s a colorful character, but because she’s nothing else. Palin’s entire appeal is who she is. Identity and personality completely trump ideology and accomplishment.
Palin is all image, and she takes that image very seriously, as shown by the quote at the beginning of this post. No other American politician in my memory has held their visage to be quite so sacrosanct. This is, ultimately, what makes her such a great target for art and parody.
Here’s Sarah Palin is cast as the devil in a street art poster by Frightening Prospect:
Another street poster is a take on the iconic Obama HOPE poster, designed by Shepard Fairey. If you don’t already know what MILF stands for I won’t ruin the surprise. Just make sure you don’t Google the term from work.
Even Palin’s fans are can’t resist the lure of her image, as in this fantasy nude by Chicago bar owner and Red-Stater Bruce Elliott.
Elliot isn’t the only one to imagine Palin in the buff. Penelope Tuesdae of Trigger Happy shows us her beaver:
Dan Lacey, self-styled “Painter of Pancakes“, had his way with the Alaskan’s famous wink. I think she looks just stunning with a buttered hotcake for a bonnet, don’t you?
The softer side of Palin is sewn onto this pillow by Lauren F. Adams:
Perhaps this isn’t exactly how McCain felt the morning after his defeat, but Zina Saunders, who also created the image of Palin riding a dinosaur at the beginning of this post, seems to have captured something:
Beth Newell is even more blunt about the results of the Palin-McCain hookup:
Jay Farley captures the eagerness and ambition of Palin in an illustration that, despite getting all the little touches right, somehow manages to look very little like the famous lady from Wasilla.
Jeremiah Palecek has seen Palin’s third eye. But is it blind?
Chad Smith created this scary-looking Sarah Palin out of duct tape, one of his artistic material fetishes.
There are more zombie Sarah Palin’s online than I could ever want to put in this post. My favorite is by Mark Hammermeister:
Saunders gets the final say with this wonderful image in honor of Palin’s decision to step down as Governor.
Tags: Beth Newell, Bruce Elliott, Chad Smith, Dan Lacey, Jay Farley, Jeremiah Palecek, Lauren F. Adams, Mark Hammermeister, Penelope Tuesdae, Sarah Palin, Zina Saunders
August 11th, 2009 at 8:06 am
Thanks Matt! Nice colors.
August 11th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
Totally NSFW, NSFMental health, either. What has been seen, cannot be unseen. Only shared.
August 11th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
[...] here to see more NSFW Palin inspired art here. More on Frightening Prospect here. « Holy Hard on! The Sex Pistol Libido Boosting [...]
August 11th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v322/ellimayhem/dumbed_down.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v322/ellimayhem/mcpal03.jpg
Here are a couple of mine for your collection. The “dumbed down” version has a “Sarah Palin Tells American Women” across the top because too many people thought it was speaking *to* Palin rather than *as* her.
August 11th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
I’m a huge fan of all the photoshopped Palin out there, bathing suit and gun toting images are so real they are hard to dismiss…
August 11th, 2009 at 5:52 pm
When will the Palin bashing end? I’d love to see the same disrespect for our beloved president and listen to the cries of the masses. To hell with respecting a hard working, conservative, white mother who clearly only wants the best for her country. This continued lewd disrespect of an American woman is pathetic.
August 11th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
I love the Palin beaver pic. but I’m just an average white American schmuck so what’s my opinion worth?
August 11th, 2009 at 6:13 pm
thanks James!
my Sarah painting will be part of my solo show in Norfolk, VA in october 2009.
my girlfriend, dana ellyn. is good with sarah… see these! (this painting stuff is all we do… every day, all day)
http://www.danaellyn.com/9_08/palin2.jpg
http://www.danaellyn.com/9_08/palin1.jpg
http://www.danaellyn.com/8_08/mccain.jpg
August 11th, 2009 at 6:29 pm
Great collection. I wanted to share the number of Palin inspired pieces I’ve done too. Thanks!
(Mc)Cain and (un)Abel
http://www.danaellyn.com/9_08/mccain.jpg
Gunning for the White House
http://www.danaellyn.com/8_08/mccain.jpg
Pulling Rabbits out of Hats
http://www.danaellyn.com/9_08/palin2.jpg
Juggling Act
http://www.danaellyn.com/9_08/palin1.jpg
Miss Congeniality
http://www.danaellyn.com/9_08/congeniality.jpg
Lipstick on a Piggy Bank
http://www.danaellyn.com/9_08/piggybank.jpg
Sarah’s Early Foreign Policy Experiencehttp://www.danaellyn.com/10_08/policy.jpg
or, if you’re on facebook and want to friend me, you can see them all here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=86599&id=553544646
August 15th, 2009 at 10:57 pm
But there are posters of Obama as the Joker still out there. Can’t you take a moment to get those banned?
August 16th, 2009 at 11:27 am
“Palin is all image, and she takes that image very seriously, as shown by the quote at the beginning of this post. No other American politician in my memory has held their visage to be quite so sacrosanct.”
The quote at the beginning of this post is about the mockery of her infant son. But apparently the custom of not cruelly maligning small children is “sacrosanct.”
August 16th, 2009 at 6:46 pm
“Political choices, especially in the US, tend to be more about voting for “people like usâ€, or “people who we imagine ourselves to beâ€, or “people we aspire to beâ€, than about selecting the best leaders for our respective causes.”
Ditto for artistic choices as well.
August 17th, 2009 at 12:26 am
Dana,
Don’t take this the wrong way, but don’t quit your day job. Seriously.
August 17th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
hi “Some Guy”
thanks for your advice. but actually i’ve been a full time painter supporting myself since 2002.
it all goes back to the saying about beauty being in the eye of the beholder. not every painting appeals to everyone. i definitely have supporters and detractors. that’s what makes the world go ’round.
-Dana
August 18th, 2009 at 10:05 pm
[...] agree or disagree with her they talk when she talks. Just yesterday I came across this post, Palin artwork roundup | James Maybe… people are still intrigued, inspired and interested in what Palin, says,thinks, does, plans and [...]
August 21st, 2009 at 1:37 pm
You should be ashamed of yourself for displaying these vulgar images. I take heart viewing them because it reveals the fear you have of a solid conservative, much less a woman with these values.
I am so looking forward to 2012 and hoping to God that Sarah runs. After the drubbing the left will get in 2010, my side will show you scumbags, once and for all, this is a conservative country. And with President Palin, a proven reformer, in charge of the Executive branch(imagine that, an executive position filled by someone that has actually run something, an real executive!) and conservatives in control of Congress, I swear you statists are going to running through the streets with your hair on fire.
August 22nd, 2009 at 9:54 am
MM and other conservatives: I can’t believe you are actually believing what you say. This woman is even stupider than Dubya Bush and could not even run a State like Alaska. She was smart enough to quit before the world found out what a gross mismanager she was.
The United States is NOT a conservative country, Thank God. It is only run into the ground by greedy conservatives. Let’s also not forget that our media does not inform people as they should, of the FACTS, and so sometimes people are persuaded by ignorance and fear promoted by lies and half truths…
September 16th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
The use of satirical art is an age old method of revealing the perspective projected by politicians and other people in the public sector. Political cartoonists had Lincoln characterized as a monkey.
The art presented on this site is no more offensive than the verbal characterizations of President Obama and other political figures. The major difference is talented people expressing their views in the modality of their choice. Not everyone can march on Washington D.C. bank rolled by the GOP with racist and defamatory signage.
Palin reaps what she sows. I do hope she runs again, she is scary, but good fun.
November 9th, 2009 at 6:30 am
To Ronald Bosch and the many bleeding heart libs out there: now that your Messiah has been in the White House for a while, what do you think now? Are you happy with his hope, change, and lies? Or have you collected enough of your “share” of his socialist programs to make you happy? It concerns me that there are so many selfish people out there that are ready to mortgage the future of their children and grandchildren. If you want to be socialist, fine. There are many places you can go and be socialist. Go. Try it out a while. Don’t sacrifice the rest of us.
April 26th, 2010 at 8:00 am
I idolize Sarah Palin because she is a woman with very strong character. She has also lots of accomplishments in the area of public service.`
May 6th, 2010 at 12:08 pm
Sarah Palin is a very vocal person and most of the time she speaks what she thinks and how she feels.
October 5th, 2010 at 1:57 pm
Sarah Palin is a very intelligent woman in my opinion**`
November 9th, 2010 at 2:03 pm
the thing i like about Sarah Palin is that she is a woman with very strong character “
November 21st, 2010 at 1:26 pm
It seems to me that these artists have such little faith in their work that they feel like they have to make a joke out of Sarah in order to get their work noticed. She’s a beautiful woman, so why not paint her as such?
March 3rd, 2011 at 3:43 pm
Sarah Palin, is an outspoken naughty beauty, and should be taken over some man’s knee, and given a good spanking on her bare bottom.