Obama chooses Ed Ruscha's "I thnk I'll maybe" painting for the White House
In his early days, Ed Ruscha painted single
words that packed a punch: oof, slam, smash, honk. In the ‘80s, he took
a subtler approach, floating equivocal phrases in painted skies.
Consider “I Think I’ll...,” a 1983 piece that has moved into the
first family’s living quarters at the White House, courtesy of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. The longer you look at the painting, the more words emerge from a streaky red sunset.
The phrase “I think maybe I’ll...,” in large block letters, descends
from the top left to lower right of the 53 3/4 x 63 3/4-inch canvas.
Conflicted fragments in smaller print — “Maybe ... yes ...,” “Wait a
minute ... ! ...!,” “On second thought,” “Maybe ... no ...” — take an
opposing path. The final word, “yet...,” all but slips away. It’s hard to imagine George W. Bush living with the Ruscha. As
president, he called himself “the decider” and seemed to pride himself
on sticking with his decisions no matter what. But Barack Obama is not
“W,” and the L.A.-based artist is delighted.
“I hope my painting has a reverse effect on White House decisions,”
Ruscha wrote in an e-mail from London, where he recently opened
exhibitions at the Hayward and Gagosian galleries. “I am 1,000% behind this administration.”
Like many of Ruscha's trademark works, “I Think I’ll...” is an
amusing take on human behavior that leaves lots of room for
interpretation. But the painting acquired a new layer of meaning when
it appeared on a recently released list of 47 artworks lent to the
White House by Washington museums. See the full article here http://bit.ly/AWUMx
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