> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://hyperallergic.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# "Wow. George Bush Is a Painter"
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/wow-george-bush-is-a-painter/
- Published: 2014-04-04T00:02:50.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:33:41.000Z
- Description: "Wow. George Bush is a painter," former president George W. Bush told NBC Today interviewers regarding the reception he imagines his paintings of world leaders will receive upon their public release tomorrow.
- Author: Mostafa Heddaya
- Tags: News, George W. Bush, Painting, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:03 (2014, 2015, part 1)

![Art by George W. Bush (via The Smoking Gun)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2013/07/georgebushart.jpg)

Art by George W. Bush (via The Smoking Gun)

“Wow. George Bush is a painter,” former president George W. Bush [told](http://www.today.com/news/george-w-bush-tells-jenna-i-hope-world-leaders-see-2D79476677?ref=hyperallergic.com) NBC Today regarding the reception he imagines his [paintings](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2014/01/22/guccifer-the-hacker-who-leaked-george-w-bush-paintings-reportedly-arrested-in-romania/?ref=hyperallergic.com) of world leaders will receive upon their public release tomorrow. “Wow. I look forward to seeing a stick figure he painted of me,” he added, in a pantomime of self-awareness, extending the hypothetical to his possible subjects. They are, of course, less important than the bad man himself: “I found it very interesting the first painting that came out was the one I painted of myself in the bathtub.” [Wow, indeed](https://hyperallergic.com/george-w-bushs-aristocratic-art/).

Why did the bad man paint himself taking a bath? He wanted to learn “about painting water hitting water.” Why was the bad man naked in the bath? “\[B\]ecause I wanted to kind of shock my instructor.”

The nightmare [continues](http://www.bushcenter.org/blog/2014/02/24/george-w-bush-presidential-center-announces-special-exhibitions-2014?ref=hyperallergic.com) tomorrow in Texas, where portraits of Vladimir Putin, Tony Blair, and others will be unveiled in an exhibition alongside the better-known oeuvre of [cats and dogs](http://gawker.com/5991554/we-have-six-new-amazing-paintings-by-george-w-bush?ref=hyperallergic.com). Laura Bush was spared the canvas. “Don’t paint your wife,” the 43rd president of the United States [advised](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/04/us/politics/an-artist-on-his-first-exhibit-wow-george-bush-is-a-painter.html?ref=hyperallergic.com).

*h/t* [*Daily Intelligencer*](http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/04/bush-says-he-didnt-want-public-to-see-his-art.html?ref=hyperallergic.com)