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Where Jill Will Talk Like She Writes
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May
16
I couldn’t figure out what this portrait was about, so I wrote the artist, Lukas Ketner, to find out. Here’s what he wrote:
Hello Jill,
The illustration in question is meant to be a humorous depiction of Portland’s (and perhaps much of Oregon’s) democratic population’s preference of Obama over Clinton. The picture makes the joke that Portland is in love with Obama, hence the harlequin romance novel treatment. Originally we were going to do a similar cover with Obama making out with Portlandia (a Lady Liberty-style statue that has oft represented our fair city in local cartoons), but we felt that it wouldn’t read as well outside of Portland.
I’m glad it rendered at least a giggle, and thanks for your interest in my work
Thanks,
Lukas
Mystery solved. And very interesting.
Here’s an example of Harlequin Romance Novel covers. And here’s an image of and Wikipedia entry about Portlandia.
So - now what do folks think?
Sphere: Related ContentBy Jill Miller Zimon at 9:30 pm May 16th, 2008 in Barack Obama, Research, WH2008, Culture, Media, Politics
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[…] See here for the artist’s explanation to me of the illustration. function toggleview(element1) { var […]
So I was close. Still think it looks more like cheesy 70’s album art.
The picture makes the joke that Portland is in love with Obama
From The Washington Post (link):
Record Obama Crowd, the Size of a City
By Matthew Mosk
PORTLAND, Ore. — Sen. Barack Obama has seen his share of large crowds over the last 15 months, but his campaign said they have not approached the numbers gathered along the waterfront here right now[, May 18].
And here is a brief video of the Portland rally.
I love it. It’s funny and does poke fun at the hysteria some seem to have over him. The open shirt is hilarious.
For those interested in the iconography of Barack Obama, Let a Thousand Posters Bloom is a nice rundown. Don’t let the fact that the article is in The Weekly Standard scare you; the author plays it fairly straight.
Very cool article. Hmm - would be interesting to put a side by side comparison of what the same or similar artists did of Hillary compared to Obama…