Kingston artist Pat Shea has been painting for 50 years.
Of all the work he’s done over the decades, the paintings that seem to have drawn the most public attention are the ones he’s done about Donald Trump.
Shea’s first Trump painting was modelled after a more famous painting of Napoleon’s coronation, while his second Trump piece is called “Impeachment.”
He started the first Trump piece when the current president of the United States was first elected. At the time, Shea thought that would be the end of his Trump fascination, but inspiration has sparked two more paintings.
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His latest is called “Saint Donaldo, the patron saint of liars.”
Shea says the inspiration came after a visit to the Louvre in France this past May, where he saw there was a Russian icon exhibit.
“There was a series of them, but I thought one looked like Donald Trump — how ironic — and it startled me and I stopped and stared at it for a minute.”‘
Shea says he didn’t start out intending to do a trilogy, that’s just the way it turned out because he finds so many actions of the Trump administration disturbing.
“The theme of this painting is about immigration and the southern border,” Shea said. “When the children are separated, this was a policy by Trump to strike fear into anyone immigrating to the United States so he had turned it into a weapon.”
The public will have their first opportunity to view “Saint Donaldo, the patron saint of liars” at Frameworks in Kingston’s downtown in time for promenade this weekend, hanging with his other two Trump paintings
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