Distortionists: Rummy
Artist
Victoria Carlson
(American, born 1960)
Date2006
Mediumwatercolor and ink on paper
DimensionsSupport: 39 3/8 x 27 11/16 in. (100 x 70.3 cm)
Mat: 40 × 30 in. (101.6 × 76.2 cm)
Mat: 40 × 30 in. (101.6 × 76.2 cm)
ClassificationsPainting
Credit LineGift of Virginia Hopkins, 2011
Object number2011.15.3
DescriptionSingle male figure, representing Donald Rumsfeld, in contortionist pose with crossed legs and hands framing the face.eMuseum Notes
New Mexico-based artist Victoria Carlson works within a tradition of political satire in art in her series Distortionists, watercolor and ink on paper works that build upon the artist’s slightly earlier Contortionist series, which is also represented in the collection. In the Distortionist works, Carlson summed up the sentiment of some Americans that the truth had been distorted by the Bush administration to justify the invasion of Iraq in 2003. At issue were claims by the administration that Iraq was building weapons of mass destruction. Those claims were later proven false and were a point of contention for the U.S. midterm elections of 2006, when Carlson created her watercolor satirizing members of the Bush administration by placing them in the uncomfortable positions of a contortionist. Pictured here is Donald Rumsfeld. Others in the collection include George W. Bush with Karl Rove; Condoleeza Rice; and Dick Cheney.
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