Missouri artist Andy Thomas fielded a call a couple of weeks ago from President Donald Trump — with Vice President Mike Pence and California Rep. Darrell Issa also on the line.
Trump was calling the artist to tell him he “liked what (Thomas) had done,” speaking about a painting done by Thomas, The Republican Club, that is now hanging in the White House, CNN reported.
The painting shows Trump and other Republican presidents from years past laughing and bonding around a table of drinks. It was first spotted publicly in the background of an image tweeted out by CBS’s 60 Minutes before their interview of the president by reporter Lesley Stahl.
Now on 60 Minutes: There’s less than a month until the mid-term elections. Hear what President Trump has to say about some of the issues that will likely be motivating voters at the ballot. pic.twitter.com/4WYnh3t0hy
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) October 14, 2018
“I didn’t think he was going to call, but (Trump) said that he’d seen a lot of paintings of (himself) and most of them he didn’t like, but that he liked what I had done,” Thomas told CNN. “He was very gracious and kind.”
Thomas said that Trump was a “challenge to paint” because “even though he tans, he’s a fair — has a fair complexion and no deep recesses.” He also said the president is a “very subtle person to paint,” and said Trump has “different looks and different profiles.”
Trump loved a painting of himself drinking Diet Coke with Abe Lincoln so much, he hung it up in the White Househttps://t.co/5Sh47VScT6 pic.twitter.com/tNsv8MzDGI
— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) October 15, 2018
Thomas, though, considers himself nonpartisan and said he is not registered to a political party. In fact, he has also painted The Democrats Club, with past Democratic presidents. In both paintings, there is a woman in the background who seems to be walking towards the table of men.
Thomas said that the woman represents the first female president from either party who is walking over to take her place at the table.
Not everyone was as enamored of The Republican Club as Trump. Some detractors expressed their art criticism online:
The weird painting Trump hung up of himself has a version with Democratic presidents. Both paintings have the same woman in the background except in the Democratic version she’s smiling and in the Republican version she has no mouth. pic.twitter.com/LgcpiYb1bM
— Jason (but with the hockey mask) (@page2frame) October 15, 2018
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