DeFrank Posted February 12, 2018 Share Posted February 12, 2018 This morning, the official portraits of the 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama, and his wife Michelle, were unveiled. concepts: washington football (2017) ... nfl (2013) ... yikes potd 10/20/12 origin story Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goalieboy82 Posted February 12, 2018 Share Posted February 12, 2018 waiting for the comments: so long and thanks for all the fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goalieboy82 Posted February 12, 2018 Share Posted February 12, 2018 3 hours ago, DeFrank said: This morning, the official portraits of the 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama, and his wife Michelle, were unveiled. only thing i will say is what ever happen to official portraits like this: so long and thanks for all the fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JQK Posted February 12, 2018 Share Posted February 12, 2018 Ummm..... ok.... Stay Tuned Sports Podcast Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeFrank Posted February 12, 2018 Author Share Posted February 12, 2018 I think Barack's is stunning. For the first three minutes or so I didn't like it, because I was expecting/looking forward to a "conventional" portrait. In the same way I'm excited for the USS Barack Obama, Obama International Airport, and Barack Obama Elementary, because of what that will continue to represent, I was excited for a conventional portrait. But very quickly I began to appreciate the audacity and beauty of what was unveiled. What was considered within bounds for who could be the president changes in 2008, and it makes sense to me that Barack Obama's portrait changes what is considered in bounds for a presidential portrait in such a gorgeous way. concepts: washington football (2017) ... nfl (2013) ... yikes potd 10/20/12 origin story Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
See Red Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 Not a fan of either but at least Barack's looks like him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Admiral Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 On 2/12/2018 at 4:57 PM, DeFrank said: In the same way I'm excited for the USS Barack Obama, Obama International Airport, and Barack Obama Elementary, because of what that will continue to represent, MOD EDIT ♫ oh yeah, board goes on, long after the thrill of postin' is gone ♫ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sport Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 That is certainly a choice. I don't see Barack's aging well. Also his hands are enormous. Not sure if that's trying to say something... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henburg Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 I really love Barack's portrait. The concept of Michelle's is nice, but it looks rather unfinished and doesn't capture her likeness as well as it should. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayJaxon Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 It doesn't really look like Michelle. Barack's was done better but there are random leaves in places that make it look odd. That green really pops though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kroywen Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 Not a fan of either of these portraits, to be honest. I think I'd prefer Barack's if it didn't look like the chair - and the subject - were floating in a sea of ivy. There's no distinction between the background and the floor on which the chair is sitting. It's jarring. Also don't like how the background (intentionally) competes for attention with the President. Calling it a background isn't really accurate, to be honest. The flowers and ivy are just as much the focus of attention as Barack himself, perhaps even grabbing more attention. There's no white space or relief anywhere in that portrait - everything grabs the eye, everything is competing for attention. A metaphor for modern-day America, perhaps, but not an apt metaphor for the no-drama Obama Administration, which always sought to be intellectual, clear-thinking, and focused. And Michelle's portrait? I'd say it suffers from the opposite problem. Nothing grabs the eye. It's entirely in drab shades. Gray skin, a black and white dress lacking much adornment (except at its very bottom), the plainest of plain backgrounds. Nothing to evoke the style or elegance of the First Lady. And the facial features look absolutely nothing like her. I'd never pick that out as Michelle Obama, ever. Obama in front of a vibrant floral background could've been interesting and visually appealing. This failed, both in its lack of spacial orientation, and in the competition for visual attention. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJWalker45 Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 6 minutes ago, Kaz said: Barack's looks really kitschy. I could see it as a poster in some hippy's shaggy house next to a Kit-Cat clock. I like the simplicity of Michelle's, but the face doesn't resemble hers at all and I think it would look better if they didn't de-saturate her skin so much. I felt like both belong in the Smithsonian as conversation pieces rather than their official portraits. If I don't look at Obama's feet I can almost see this as being on a lawn somewhere on the White House grounds. But once I see the chair in the air, I have no clue what's going on here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTConcepts Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 I really like both of them, but I prefer Barack's more than Michelle's. The contrast between the bright green background and the dull color of his suit really pops, and I think the leaves are some kind of metaphor for growth during his presidency. And to go back to one of the comments from before about how "It'S nOt LiKe ThE oLd OnEs So ItS bAd!1!!!!" I say that an artistic representation of a president is much better than a boring portrait that has been rehashed president after president. I don't like Michelle's as much as I like Barack's, though. I like Michelle's, and it's not that bad, it's just that her face doesn't look like, well, her face. The piece definitely shows off her seriousness, with bright splotches of color/fun here and there, but there's just something about her face that doesn't capture what it really looks like. Neither of them are bad, though. I like them both. "You ain't gonna learn what you don't wanna know..." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Admiral Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 My man looking like a ground rule double at Wrigley Field ♫ oh yeah, board goes on, long after the thrill of postin' is gone ♫ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mac the Knife Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 11 hours ago, DeFrank said: This morning, the official portraits of the 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama, and his wife Michelle, were unveiled. I know it's hard to land tickets at Wrigley nowadays, but c'mon... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmic Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 The way the leaves are starting to cover his legs... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tp49 Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 I'm not a fan of either of them. In Barack's the background is too busy and takes the focus away from him where I feel it should be, while Michelle's looks unfinished with no background to provide balance. However, if the Obama's like them that's what matters. They're art and whether art is good is a subjective analysis, everyone has their own opinion. At least they're not the worst official portraits I've seen. That honor goes to the portrait of Jerry Brown in the California State Capitol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dynasty Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 Both are so informal... from the floral ivy in Barack's to the bizarre dress choice in Michelle's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJWalker45 Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 7 minutes ago, tp49 said: I'm not a fan of either of them. In Barack's the background is too busy and takes the focus away from him where I feel it should be, while Michelle's looks unfinished with no background to provide balance. However, if the Obama's like them that's what matters. They're art and whether art is good is a subjective analysis, everyone has their own opinion. At least they're not the worst official portraits I've seen. That honor goes to the portrait of Jerry Brown in the California State Capitol. Just looked at that. I'm pretty sure the artist was blindfolded when they did it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CS85 Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 Just to be clear, these are "Official Portraits" for the Smithsonian. These have nothing to do with the White House. Those won't be out for another 6 months, if not longer. Bill Clinton's Smithsonian portrait was pretty damned weird: Compare that to Clinton's actual White House portrait: George W Bush's Smithsonian portrait was more subdued: compared to the White House portrait: Quote "You are nothing more than a small cancer on this message board. You are not entertaining, you are a complete joke." twitter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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