The New Yorker, a world-renowned magazine, featured the capitol building as a haunted house with the ghosts of John Boehner and Ted Cruz looming over the roof on its October 21, 2013 cover. Mark Ulriksen has drawn tombstones on the front lawn labeled: Healthcare, Gun Control and Immigration. This was drawn during the recent government shutdown, hence the ghosts of Boehner and Cruz: Two prominent GOP figures that were helping to prevent the shutdown from ending.
The color scheme utilized by Ulriksen on the capital - a spooky blue/gray combination - gives the capitol building a haunted and more importantly, deserted vibe. The tombstones, also a blue-gray, suggest a theory as to why the government has shut down, and represent the obstacles that are in the way of getting the government back up and running.
Ulriksen has adapted an obvious Halloween-centered theme, appropriate with a cover only ten days away from the holiday. The bright-orange moon in the top-center of the cover with a bat flying through it makes the audience clear of the time-of-year the artist is depicting. His timing is no coincidence as the capitol building is portrayed as an actually haunted house, Boehner and Cruz looming in the left top corner of the cover. Ulriksen displays the capitol building covered in spider webs with the only sign of life: a superstitious black cat guarding the lawn.
Ulriksen accurately addresses the juvenile behavior exhibited by GOP members, especially Boehner and Cruz, through portraying them the child-like environment of a haunted house. The eeriness of its vacancy combined with the ghosts of Cruz and Boehner add satire to an otherwise frustrating topic. The artist is clearly frustrated with the government shutdown and has successfully conveyed that through combining whimsical Halloween fun with the grim topic of the government shutdown.
No comments:
Post a Comment