Digital Drawings Make Jeb Bush a Sad Beagle and Ted Cruz an Elf

One thing’s certainly true about Donald Trump—he’s made us all dismiss the fantasy that presidential elections are anything but vulgar spectacles. While the Donald amps up the tawdriness to levels unseen for many generations, the coarseness, meanness, and general low-mindedness marking this Republican primary battle are not at all unprecedented.  In the election of 1800, Thomas Jefferson supporters accused John Adams of having a “hideous hermaphroditical character, which has neither the force and firmness of a man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman,” while Adams’ team distributed a pamphlet calling Jefferson "a mean-spirited, low-lived fellow, the son of a half-breed Indian squaw, sired by a Virginia mulatto father." And before the adoption of the secret ballot, it was common for multiple people to be murdered every election night over the candidate they chose to vote for. So while we’re sinking pretty low this election cycle, we’ve definitely gone lower. As a presidential election is a vulgar business, it makes sense that artist, comedian, and dog trainer Peter Caine’s response to it is some pretty vulgar art.

New York Gallery Frosch and Portmann is exhibiting Let’s print that shit at Walmart, a solo show of Caine's work. It features pictures of figures from this election, defaced Perez Hilton-style in what looks suspiciously like MS Paint. Though Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton aren’t spared, Caine saves his most aggressive defacement for the Republican candidates. Jeb Bush is a sad beagle, Chris Christie a lipstick-wearing pig. Caine is over the top in his condemnations, as when he paints a Klu Klux Klan robe on Donald Trump, but even his less dramatic works can be equally cutting. On Ted Cruz’s forehead he simply writes the word “ELF,” and after seeing the work you’ll never be able to look at Cruz again without feeling a sudden craving for chocolate chip cookies.

"I am and always was a big admirer of Peter Caine-the artist and the person. His genuineness and straightforwardness is refreshing and clever,” Eva Frosch of Frosch and Portmann tells The Creators Project. "Our current show at the gallery, Let's print that shit at Walmart is a reflection of Caine's dealing with the current political climate; facial expressions and features of the 2016 presidential candidates provoke the initial stroke of the artist's digital drawing tool. The result is funny, intelligent, provocative, sad and beautiful.

Let's print that shit at Walmart runs at Frosch and Portmann until March 6th. For more information, click here.

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