jim shaw illustrates trump's contorted facial features in gilded wallpaper at frieze london

designboom spots donald trump during visit to frieze london 2018

as a year filled with deafening anti-trump expression draws to a close, the ideas that frieze london‘s 16th edition might set the stage for similar remarks would be a prediction not misjudged, except in this case it is. of the 160 galleries that have come to regent’s park from across the world this particular political sentiment is mercifully shy, or at the very least, a little subtle. take a studious look at american contemporary artist jim shaw’s exhibit and you’ll see a warped representation of the U.S. president makes the backdrop for a series of portraits. shaw has mounted his installation with a wallpaper especially created for the event made up of many contorted, cartoon faces of donald trump.

official portrait #3 (pillars of society), 2018

all images by designboom courtesy of the artist and simon lee gallery

shaw draws on the history of the grotesque, using an historical lens through which to evoke inequalities of the present, with particular focus on the gilded age. he was inspired by a tour of the vatican in which he discovered pagan images, particularly of nymphs and satyrs. shaw was particularly interested in the fact that the revival of the grotesque was part of the renaissance rediscovery of the classical world. ‘I originally wanted to do an installation that would evoke a rediscovery of the ruined mar-a-lago in the far future as a corollary to the finding of nero’s ‘grotto’. this was quite a bit more than a fair booth could handle, needing a collapsed roof, aged, water-soaked walls, etc, so instead it’s more of an edwardian (?) study or drawing room‘, he explains in an interview with frieze magazine.

I want you, 2018

since the 1970s, shaw has found inspiration for his artworks from a treasure trove of american culture, from comic books to pulp novels, and rock albums to protest posters. the works hanging atop this homage to the US president look like history paintings, which, in a surrealist superimposition of seemingly unrelated images, rework symbols and motifs to create story-like threads that draw on the current political climate.

all the president’s men, 2018

shaw pulls an expected cast of american stars and stripes, casting a surrealist spotlight on the circus of power that is and has always been the US of A. one presents a scene of aztec sacrifice, with cameos from richard nixon, paul manafort, and roger stone. a smaller piece appropriates francisco de goya’s saturn devouring his son (1820–23), superimposed with uncle sam’s ‘I want you for U.S. army’ recruitment poster. shaw pulls an expected cast of american stars and stripes, casting a surrealist spotlight on the circus of power that is the USA.

hush money, 2018

shaw puts roy cohn’s face on the body of a hush puppies basset hound in another painting. cohn, dubbed the ‘original donald trump’ and whose name is synonymous with the rise of mccarthyism, a vociferous campaign against alleged communists in america during the 1950s, had mentored the US president in his rise to real estate mogul during the 1980s. elsewhere, reclusive right-wing funder robert mercer stands in front of an alien abduction scene unfolding in the parking lot of a restaurant called ‘ass burger’.

jim shaw’s solo presentation can be found at frieze london at simon lee gallery’s booth, stand E6.