{ Rogue's Gallery } ~ Blast from the Past

John McCain Senator and US president hopeful.  Elevating Sarah Palin was seen by many as a desperate attempt to win the White House which called into question a long and distinguished career as a legislator.  It also foreshadowed how the GOP Party had been reformed by a niche base.

Mamhoud Amadinejahd former Iranian President infamous for seeking nuclear weapons for Iran as well as his human rights abuse, anti-Israeli rhetoric and  notorious Holocaust denier.  Thankfully, the hawks in the West did not allow him to consolidate his power by attacking Iran.  Instead, they let Iranians themselves democratically oust him from power.

Slobodan Milosevic Serb nationalist President who was tried and convicted at the Hague with genocide and mass murder during the Yugoslav Wars in the 1990s

Auguste Pinochet Chilean dictator and mass-murderer who was caught and placed under house-arrest in the UK and was set to stand trial for various crimes but Maggie Thatcher among others pleaded for leniency largely due to Pinochet's support during the Falkland's War.  She never forgot a debt.  He was allowed to leave the UK and prosecution due to his 'infirm' status.  Hardly the UK's finest hour.  When his plane landed in Chile the world realized his infirmity was a ruse.

Karl Rove  is undoubtedly an influential and masterful operative who highlighted perhaps the increasing role consultants were beginning to play in US politics.  He helped Republicans identify key demographics and so-called 'wedge' issues that led to electoral success.  

Saddam Hussein caught.....Dubya's justification for invading Iraq was the ouster of Saddam who had huge stockpiles of Weapons of Mass Destruction.  Allegedly.  Having complied with UN inspectors, Saddam was essentially denuded miltarily and the invasion was quick and relatively painless.  For the Americans. The Americans and Brits never did find those large stockpiles of Weapons of Mass Destruction.  For the average Iraqi, Saddam's ouster left a huge power vacuum that was replaced by militant terrorist extremists like ISIL.  

Saddam executed.   This became an embarrassment for the US.  What was supposed to be a celebration of Rule of Law in a dignified manner descended into mob shouting and chaos.  For those watching closely, the seeds of Iraq's spiral were foreshadowed.

Tom Delay US House Majority Leader who came to symbolize the extreme antagonism that had/has taken hold of American politics along political lines.  Compromise is weakness; all -out- victory the goal.

The Library and Archives of Canada are acquiring some of my originals to be part of their permanent collection.
That meant going through my collection and picking and choosing
Some of these drawings were included within the submission.
A rogue's gallery of famous/infamous politicians drawn over the years and some sobering events.

All were done graphite on paper.  All were scanned and brought into Photoshop for level adjustments and in some instances captions were added.
I was trying to market these as Op Ed pieces primarily which were more 'neutral' and less opinionated and hopefully would have a longer shelf life for editors.

I really love turn- of- the- century daguerreotypes and the grainy, slightly abstract quality to the early photos - before everything in photography became dominated by hyper realism and clarity.  I was also heavily influenced by the pencil drawings of Hans Holbein.  These two came together for a period and resulted in these graphite portraits and editorial cartoons.