The Obama Portraits

The official Presidential portraits for Michelle and Barack Obama are causing a "stir" because they buck the trend of the standard. Seriously, take a deep dive into the full gallery of previous presidents and it's clear why the Obama's choices are understandably "shocking." Fortunately, the commissioned pieces are superb and stand as a testament to the Obama Presidency being different from the norm.

The portrait of Barack was created by Kehinde Wiley, a portrait artist known for mixing classic styles with strong black figures. Just looking through his Instagram it's engrossing to see the pieces of Natasha Zamor or "Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness" or "the Duke of Arenberg." The DOWN series is powerful if you allow yourself the consideration of what message it may be relaying to you.

Michelle's portrait was created by Baltimore painter Amy Sherald and is much more subdued in comparison but still no less unique. This New Yorker piece goes into great detail about the painting, the process and the intentions behind it - I suggest giving it a read.

Sadly, there is controversy surrounding both pieces. Lots of racist comments on the Wiley post and just a generally depressing reminder that our country is filled with a lot of hateful, ignorant, awful people - who really like to express themselves on the Internet. But I'll eschew stewing on that and just simply state that I love these paintings.