George Washington, Rough Night, No Teeth - oil on panel by Paul Zdepski
Georgie just got in at 10 am on Sunday morning. His rouge is all smeared, hair is tussled and he can’t remember where he put his teeth. I hope he didn’t do anything he wouldn’t have to tell a lie about. George is a repeated subject of mine. I like to take the classic early-American portraits by the various brothers Peale we all saw on our grade-school walls and giving them a good re-work. My portraits of George have him as a Cyclops, Fish, beating a slave and the version pictured here. George has a broader meaning to the world at large, even if they don’t know who he is by name… he is the face of America.
