Jim Carrey’s political art is not exactly packed with nuance. His drawings, which include “The Wicked Witch of the West Wing and Putin’s Flying Monkeys” and a portrait of Jared Kushner surrounded by flames with dollar signs in his eyes, are pretty much exactly what they say on the tin.
Nonetheless, they remain wildly popular, and so the Vulture asked the actor to explain what a few of his favorite pieces meant. Speaking on a panel at the recent Vulture Festival, Carrey explained the hidden meaning behind a few choice works, giving you the context to fully appreciate his vision.
This one, complete with a mocking quote, seems pretty direct, but Carrey will send the message on home to you if you’re curious. “I thought of every insulting, challenging, selfishly indulgent word he said, and it’s like putting a nail into Jesus on the cross,” Carrey explained. While that was already clear, consider the added skewering of religion that hides in the work’s subtext: “Christianity has never been about morality,” he added. “It’s been about holding onto power.”
A special Halloween treat, Carrey went Greek with this piece that, he says, is about how “Trump is a cyclops” who “has those cyclops-ian dimensions within him.” The mythological creature, we should remember, is not good. “We’ve gotta get rid of these cyclops guys,” he said. “These cyclops guys are criminals.”
The interview also includes commentary on other selections from Carrey’s rapidly-expanding oeuvre, like his thoughts on the drawing where Trump is depicted as a wrinkly old baby (“We’ve got the trademarked T on the high-chair. T for Trump, T for tit, T for tyrant.”) and this one where Trump and Pence are astronauts (“Wouldn’t it be nice if both of them were just banished in space?”)
Lest you think Carrey hasn’t sacrificed in service of his art, he also told Vulture that his managers warned against embracing his new career as an inky-fingered agitator. Carrey, apparently, was happy to alienate some of his fan base with his art: “You just have to go your own way and say your peace and truth, and that’s what I’m doing.”
If that “peace and truth” includes a studio filled floor to ceiling with drawings of Trump’s contorted cartoon face, more power to him.
[via Vulture]
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