Move The Needle

I have been extremely focused on the presidential election... reading endless articles, taking notes during each of the debates, trying to come up with my list of definitive examples why President Barack Obama is the better candidate, and Governor Mitt Romney appears to be a man who will distort facts and change his position on most anything in order to get elected... I keep meaning to talk at length here about the various issues that have popped up during the campaign, but news just keeps coming... and I have such a limited amount of time to express my thoughts in this forum.

Being a creative person, the arts are naturally easier for me to discuss (see yesterday's epic blog on Morrissey)... frequently, a visual statement can also sum things up rather nicely. Such is the case with this week's New Yorker cover by illustrator Barry Blitt, which references Norman Rockwell's humorous 1944 painting The Tattoo Artist, in order to comment on the current presidential election:

From www.newyorker.com

Once again Blitt is able to sum up a current event in one humorous, stinging image: Romney "changing" his mind, like Rockwell's sailor did girlfriends. I had a chance to meet Barry Blitt a few years back when we had an exhibit of New Yorker illustration art at the Museum, and I think he is one of the more talented (and clever) of the magazine's cover artists. I actually created political cartoons for the school paper during my brief stint at The University of Southern California, so I appreciate the conceptual process that it takes to express ideas in such a clever manner... there's a grand tradition there!

Tonight is the final presidential debate... and yes, the ink will be flowing... I will find time to express more of my thoughts on the election here in the coming weeks... 

Related Links:

"COVER STORY: MITT ROMNEY’S TATTOOS," The New Yorker, October 19, 2012

www.debates.org