PORTRAIT OF A PRESIDENT

From Shepard Fairey’s Obama “Hope” poster to Elizabeth Peyton’s painting of Michelle Obama and their daughter, Sasha, at the Democratic National Convention, the Obamas are certainly the hottest subjects in political art these days. Not to be left out, artist Kurt Kauper, in his third exhibition at Deitch Projects, shifts his focus from his startlingly naked portraits of Cary Grant and hockey players to the inspiring First Couple. In Barack and Michelle Obama, he attempts to capture them without the didactic content of political paintings (and, thankfully, not nude). His inspiration for the series stems from the expressively reticent works on display at Glitter and Doom, the exhibition of German portraiture in the Weimar era recently presented by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Obama fans should be thrilled.

Oct. 13-31, 2009