The Putinoid
A portrait is a double act.
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| Oleksiy Kustovsky, February 26, 2016. |
More specifically it consists of a double set of intentions. The intention of the artist to portray the intention(s) of the one portrayed.
Those two may have a mutual goal in creating a mighty portrayal of a ruler for instance. "By thy mask I shall know thee", as Karen Blixen wrote on the aristocratic statemanly aura and artists have gained great reputations in creating that mask.
Then again the portrait may be a battleground of intentions clashing, such as when the artist addresses that very aura of the mighty ruler with the intention of undressing him.
Case in point:
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| Oleksiy Kustovsky, Octopus Sovieticus/Propaganda in Russia, January 13, 2016. |
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| Oleksiy Kustovsky, December 22, 2015. I promised Oleksiy not to show any text, but the drawing is so rich. |
The original gems for the Imperial Crown would each have represented lives lost in the making of it. The gems of this century is no less dangerous keeping the population sucked in with the circus of pomp and circumstance of the Tsar of the 21st century.
Portraits such as these could be angry counter-propaganda to an efficient Putinian machinery. Oleksiy Kustovsky on the contrary has taken Putin on this own word, entering into a dialogue on his line of actions.
To this end he uses the squinting half-ironic eyes of his protagonist as if he good-humoredly exposes his aspirations, manipulations, aggressions and first and last his vanity, making certain the spotlight is constantly his.
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| Oleksiy Kustovsky, December 22, 2015. |
Only these are deeds he wishes to remain unseen and so the battle of intentions comes into full force. Putin acts and intentionally so, while diverting the attention away. Yet, now we have seen him take action on Syria, Ukraine and the M17-plane, which never made it to Malaysia.
He becomes his very actions to a degree that he is transformed into his aspirations
With the squint and a nose of never-ending proportions, he is the war machinery of tanks and bloodied missiles with which he is hammering his annexations of land, just as he is convicted of the M17-crash at the very moment the crash is taking place, standing on toes while about to serve his own head on a plate.
The chameleon makes ample use of the length of his tongue to tie the dove of peace to get its job done. The M17 is tied to his tail and in between he has Assad pocketed and and... Please click the cartoons for full impact. Each is a kaleidoscopic composition; impossible to fit in as large as they ought to be seen.
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| Oleksiy Kustovsky, December 22, 2015. |
It is the first time we see him immobilized and since it is high time for the or any ceasefire in Syria, let us take leave of him for now, leaving him as it is exposing the pretense and abuse of power alike of his double acting.
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| Oleksiy Kustovsky, December 22, 2015. |
