Right up until this assignment I had pretty much steadfastly avoided doing any ‘David Hockney patchwork style’ photo collages. Apart from the fact that it simply wasn’t my thing, I was still sorta smarting from the constant comparisons while doing my own work. (for more info on that moment, please see: https://davidmcglynn.com/2023/04/27/tearsheet-time-capsule-brooklyn-bridge-postcard-1982/) Then… I was selected by esteemed art director Alexander Isley along with a group of fine illustrators to be part of a political homage/parody article wherein we were all asked to do portraits of then president George Bush in different famous artists styles. I was asked to mimic the style of David Hockney. For a few seconds I bristled, then realized this was exactly what I needed to do – to crack thru my self imposed stylistic exile, and because… it actually looked like a fun thing to do. We came up with an outdoor pool related concept as this was/is a big theme of Hockney’s work. ‘Poolitical Couple’ – George and Barbara Bush poolside was born.
At this point in time I was routinely asking friends and family to step in as models for assignments (cheaper by the cousins!) and this job was no exception. On top of that, we photographed it at my brother Willy’s pool at his home in Putnam Valley NY. As part of the sketch phase, I went up to my parent’s house in the Bronx, and hustled them and my friend Angelo from across the street for some pretty funny tests.
I was very excited about the idea of creating an image with GHWB clipping his toenails, but it didn’t fly. That’s OK, we’d get the last laugh in what was already a pretty hilarious endeavor. I created some comical cut-out prints of George and Barbara’s faces for added realism….. For the final shoot we had my father as GHWB, my cousin Kathleen McGlynn (RIP) as Barbara, and my Brother Willy and brother in-law Joey as ‘secret service’ agents. I should note at this point the plan for the original art after publication was to present it all to the Bush White House as a gift from Forbes. I was so very on board with that because…. brother William, God bless his departed soul, was a reasonably good marijuana cultivator, and though it was early in the season, we were able to sneak a small plant into the picturenext to olde George.
We were VERY excited at the prospect of having a photograph of a pot plant next to GHWB hanging somewhere IN THE WHITE HOUSE. As it turned out that never happened, but it did hang in the Forbes Gallery on Fifth Avenue for years. On top of being one of the most fun assignment experiences, and one of the funniest collages I’ve ever made, it did open up the floodgates of future patchwork collage making, because, as it turns out, the only one who really cared was me. Let go those self imposed shackles! I probably saved oodles in therapy costs as well.
David McGlynn 