Robbie Conal Raw: Work in Process

About

Known for skewering political figures and delivering satirical posters of them in cities across the U.S., guerrilla artist Robbie Conal is still at it. For nearly four decades, Conal has mocked the parade of – primarily rightwing – hypocrites, bigots, and warmongers who occupy political office, along with the sycophants who prop them up. In stealthy but prolific protest, the artist, along with a cadre of like-minded volunteers, has been wheatpasting his posters across the city of Los Angeles since the late 1980s. Frightening beliefs beget frightening images. The original works are painted in gray scale, thickly layered to depict bulging jowls and demonic eyes, creating a macabre cast that manifests their corruption through physical appearance.

Expanding on his creative process, Conal says, “The initial drawing process helps me dig deeper into their actual character, beneath the gloss of their public bluster. The challenge is then to amplify that preliminary discovery of their real persona, and put my own satirical spin on their foibles in my finished artwork.” On display are current paintings, drawings, and rough sketches, as well as work from the archives. New acrylic portraits include targets such as George Santos, Rupert Murdoch, John Eastman, Marjorie Taylor Green, and Tucker Carlson (who is especially rendered chillingly in oil, as a possessed zombie). Mitch McConnell’s face sags and his mouth disappears in a frown in a work titled, Mitch McConnell, Study for ‘Fossil Fool.’ Among the group are some deviations. Volodymyr Zelensky is rendered straight, missing the usual satire; the portrait is face forward, looking unbendingly at the viewer. Conal does not treat himself with such generosity in his own self-portraits, which seem to shine a light on a face wizened with corrosive lines.

The archives show both a departure from, and inception of, his later work. Motifs recur, such as figure studies of baseball players in active, dynamic poses. Sometimes the skeleton underneath subtly surfaces and other times the figure loses the skin, and becomes pure skeleton. One such figure is rendered pitching a ball with a Dodger cap atop his skull. Also included are animals: birds, brightly colored frogs and octopi sketches. The animals play various roles like spotlighting environmental degradation, or are sometimes collaged with politicians in a nod to the term “political animal.” A piece titled Why Can't I Just Do a Drawing of a Bird and Be Happy About It?touches on Conal’s occasional wish for less sinister subject matter. 

The burgeoning political work is present in the archives as well. Early studies of political figures – for instance, Jane Harmon, a pencil sketch done in 1997, when she was running for California governor – populate the show. Works from the early 2000s –Dick Cheney, George W. Bush (one titled Read My Apocalips) and Al Gore – are rendered with charcoal pencil and oil pastel. Sensitive lines and marks overlay the figures with Conal’s unmistakable hand. Robbie Conal speaks to the fact that the clowns keep coming, but we can still call them out. 



Conal is a California-based artist. Born and raised in Manhattan, he moved west to continue studying art, earning an MFA from Stanford University. Formerly a professor at the University of Southern California (1994-2006), his work is in the permanent collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the San Jose Museum of Art, and The San Diego Museum of Art. He was awarded grants by the National Endowment of Arts and the Getty Trust. He was the subject of the 1992 documentary, Post No Bills, as well as “Streetwise”, a monograph of his life and street posters by G. James Daichendt. Additionally he is the author of three books.