Most famous pro-Trump artist in US has moved into ‘Mueller’ phase
AMERICAN FORK, Utah: Jon McNaughton did not intend to become the country’s most famous pro-Trump, mass-market painter of the 21st century. But then, to achieve such an identity does require a modicum of cultivation; it does not happen overnight.
In 2008, the Utah artist was selling landscapes out of a gallery in a shopping mall. Then the presidential election happened and McNaughton, who didn’t like John McCain or Barack Obama, was struck with inspiration. The result, “One Nation Under God,” was a massive canvas featuring Jesus Christ holding a copy of the Constitution, surrounded by Davy Crockett, Ronald Reagan and 61 other historical figures dismayed by the direction of the country (Satan, also in the painting, was pleased). It wasn’t particularly subtle, but something about the work spoke to people and a new creative doorway was opened.
You might have seen, for example, “The Forgotten Man,” in which Obama ignores a weeping citizen on a park bench while the Founding Fathers implore him to pay attention. Or, “The Demise of America,” in which he fiddles while the US Capitol burns. Or, “One Nation Under Socialism,” in which he has lit the Constitution on fire.
After the 2016 election, McNaughton’s paintings gained a hero in Donald Trump instead of just a villain in Obama: A sequel to “The Forgotten Man,” “You are Not Forgotten,” features the same weeping citizen, now planting a tree as Trump looks on benevolently. Yes. McNaughton is that guy. It’s pure id art. Which means, in the sense that art can reveal truths about the undercarriage of the psyche, McNaughton is one of the most significant painters of the current era. The New Yorker’s art critic analysed the influence of McNaughton’s work and dubbed 2016 “The year of ‘The Forgotten Man.’ “
“I’m just honestly a little perplexed,” says McNaughton, 50, a soft- spoken Mormon father. “I have no idea where ( buyers) are hanging them, I just know I sell a ton. Sometimes I’m shocked at how many I sell. That one I told you about, Obama burning the Constitution? When I painted it, I worried, this thing is just hideous - why would anybody hang that in their living room?”
It’s not, he says, the kind of “warm, happy” work people typically want in their homes.
But they sell. McNaughton is a repeat guest on “Fox and Friends.” Sean Hannity owns several originals, including “The Forgotten Man.” McNaughton won’t say how much Hannity paid (it’s been reported as US$ 300,000, which the artist says is too high), but the majority of his income comes not from originals but reproductions: US$ 30 for an 11 x 14 lithograph, US$ 700 for something large, framed and signed.
Rob Dickerson, the account manager at the printing outlet that fills McNaughton’s orders, says when customers submit orders, they often include personal notes: Your work has meant so much to me. You are my favourite artist. Sometimes orders come in with a shipping address of Trump Tower. These aren’t Trump employees, Dickerson thinks: Just regular citizens spending US$ 250- 300 on a painting they’ll never hold, sent to a man who has more money than they ever will, because the art is doing . . . something . . . for their souls.
The other day, we flew to Utah to watch McNaughton put the finishing touches on his latest work, which he planned to release by the end of the week. Over the phone, he’d said only that the painting would be “Mueller-themed.”
American Fork, a Salt Lake City suburb, is an interesting town, a backdrop of ridiculous beauty and a foreground of terrible chain restaurants. The address he’d provided led to Altus Fine Arts, an art consortium specialising in Mormon paintings, where McNaughton rents warehouse space. In the backroom of the non- descript white building, the painter had already set up his easel. The new painting was “Muellerthemed” in the same way a banana is “fruit-themed”: there might have been a layer to peel back, but for the most part, the thing was just the thing. In the work, which McNaughton had tentatively titled “Exposing the Truth,” Trump grabbed special
I have a great idea for an immigration-themed painting. I have a great idea for a foreign policy-themed painting. I have an idea for a Second Amendment-themed painting, and an idea that involves a lot of past presidents, and a Christmas painting that’s going to be crazy. Jon McNaughton
counsel Robert S. Mueller III by the necktie, roughly pulling him close while Mueller shrunk back in fear. In Trump’s other hand was a magnifying glass, which he held inches from Mueller’s face.
“It’s about how it’s all kind of coming to a head,” McNaughton explained. “How Trump is turning the tables on Mueller. It does have a bit of a bully feel - Trump is saying, ‘I’m not going to be the victim here.’ “McNaughton thinks that the president will end up firing Mueller, and the painting reflects that.
As McNaughton sat at his easel, painting the shadows on Trump’s sleeve, he explained that this wasn’t his regular studio. Normally, he works from his basement, which is also where he stages paintings (a lanky neighbour is the regular stand-in for Obama; McNaughton’s brother is the recurring “Forgotten Man”). But as his fame has grown, his wife’s tolerance for the circus has shrunk; no interviews in the house. —WP-Bloomberg