Jon McNaughton

Jon McNaughton is an American artist. He is known for his paintings depicting Donald Trump, Republicans, and Christian imagery.

Jon McNaughton
Born
Provo, Utah
NationalityAmerican
Alma materBrigham Young University
Notable work
Websitejonmcnaughton.com

Career

McNaughton is from Provo, Utah,[1] and studied art at Brigham Young University.[2] After graduating, he worked in finance for eight years,[3] planning on saving up money before working in art full time.[4]

His early work mainly dealt with landscapes, and religious and Mormon-related subjects, which over time moved towards right-wing politics.[2] He painted his first political artworks during the 2008 US presidential election,[5] and then came to prominence in 2009 during the Obama presidency, when he started painting more political scenes.[6][7]

In 2012, Rachel Maddow's blog used his work The Forgotten Man as a caption contest, which led to an increase in sales for McNaughton.[1]

Reception

His work has been described as "Christian nationalist" by Andrew Seidel of the Freedom From Religion Foundation,[8] "kitsch realist",[6] and as a middle ground between realism and impressionism.[2] Alissa Wilkinson in Vox described McNaughton as the "single most famous pro-Trump artist",[9] and Monica Hesse described him as "one of the most significant painters of the current era".[3]

Commentators, including Ben Davis and Jennifer Greenhill, professor of art history at University of Southern California, have said that his work is primarily designed for "digital consumption", and highlighted the links between his paintings and internet memes and internet culture.[1] His artworks often go viral.[10] Others, such as Greenhill and Andrew O'Hehir in Salon, have highlighted how McNaughton's knowledge of art history allows him to use famous historical paintings to complement his messages.[2][4]

Ben Davis has described McNaughton's art as "always ... mediocre", and as "highly functional memes".[1] He further compared McNaughton to religious artist Harry Anderson, and wrote that although many Twitter users think that McNaughton's artwork is to "trigger the libs", McNaughton is trying to represent an honestly held viewpoint by some Trump supporters.[1] McNaughton himself stated that he doesn't intend to "trigger liberals"; but rather "to inspire".[5] His work is often criticized by "coastal critics" and other liberals in the US, including Stephen Colbert and Jerry Saltz.[3]

Steve Rose in The Guardian, while describing The Forgotten Man, identified McNaughton's work in the tradition of Norman Rockwell. Rose went on to say that McNaughton's art "provokes derision and parody more than outrage".[6]

John McDonald in The Sydney Morning Herald described McNaughton's work as "pure propaganda", and went on to say that it provokes "similar feeling[s] of self-satisfaction that grips liberal-minded viewers ... looking at a work that celebrates a feminist or anti-racist position".[11]

Personal life

McNaughton is married,[3] a devout Mormon,[2] and went on a Mormon mission to Japan in his youth.[3] In the 2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, McNaughton supported Ted Cruz, and following Trump's victory, describes himself as a "Trump observer" instead of a supporter.[3]

References
  1. Davis, Ben (July 29, 2020). "What Painter Jon McNaughton's New Patriotric-Religious Fantasia of Donald Trump Actually Means". artnet News. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
  2. O'Hehir, Andrew (January 26, 2020). "Trump propaganda painter Jon McNaughton: "Greatest" artist of our time?". Salon. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
  3. Hesse, Monica (May 15, 2018). "The most famous pro-Trump artist in the U.S. has moved into his 'Mueller' phase". Washington Post. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
  4. Greenhill, Jennifer A. (October 13, 2019). "Trump's Court Artist". The Atlantic. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
  5. Thompson, Alex (September 11, 2018). "Meet the MAGA painter creating pro-Trump art Sean Hannity loves". VICE. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
  6. Rose, Steve (November 17, 2016). "The Forgotten Man: a fitting oil painting for Trump's America". the Guardian. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
  7. Moore, Matthew (October 8, 2009). "Liberal America skewered in painting that stresses Christian roots of US constitution". The Telegraph. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
  8. Seidel, Andrew (July 31, 2020). "Jon McNaughton: The Thomas Kinkade of Christian Nationalism". Patheos. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
  9. Wilkinson, Alissa (August 8, 2018). "To Trump fans, #MAGA is more than a slogan. It's an aesthetic". Vox. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
  10. Perticone, Joe (August 5, 2018). "Conservative artist Jon McNaughton doesn't care about the haters, he just wants to paint Trump and Jesus". Business Insider. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
  11. McDonald, John (May 29, 2020). "When is art effective as propaganda?". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
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