November 5, 2012 - Comments Off on Monarchy of Mulvar

Monarchy of Mulvar

Break out your patriotic buttons and pinstripes, it's election season again! I trust you're all planning on getting out there to vote tomorrow. I know I'll be waking up nice and early to wait in the (hopefully not so long) line to vote before heading into the office. From the ancient Greeks who cast their black and white stones into an urn to hanging chads, democracy has reshaped the world and how we govern ourselves. We must remember that while evolution in technology and culture has increased our individual involvement in government, it is upon us to take part and create the society we want to live in. So how can elections be anything but inspiring.

Sometimes I feel like neither party really has what I'm looking for so I decided to start a little party of my own. Seems the only fitting mascot for third parties these days is the mythical unicorn though.

Were presidents the first celebrities? Unlike most leaders before our democracy, they come to power thanks to popular demand. They only feature largely in our lives for a few years before fizzling away. And their sex lives are of great interest to everyone, especially Bill Clinton's. No wonder then that artists, from George P.A. Healy to Shepard Fairey , are often inspired to turn them into stunning works of art. Artist Sam Spratt has a wonderfully detailed and textured portrait the current POTUS. His works reminds me of Norman Rockwell and I love the variety of palettes and styles Spratt explores, with an emphasis on pop culture subjects.

Undeniably the greatest change to our election cycle in the past decade has been the impact of the internet and related technologies. In 2008, the Obama campaign proved that internet based support could work wonders for a two party candidate (though third parties like Ron Paul had long help strong web-based support). Today, Obama and Romney both lean heavily on their digital crutch to help get their message out their and rile up support. I imagine a future where elections are determined completely online, like an official political Reddit. Till then, we'll have to settle for sites like "Who Will Be President." I like sites where the message is clear and this one couldn't get any more so. The clean design emphasizes the statistics but also references the poll sources and dates. Well done.

So what do you do if neither donkey nor elephant suits your tastes? I guess you could try eating your greens or something else exotic but why do that when you have Mulvar is Correct Candidate!, he does it all! So please get out there and vote people.

The Sketching Mechanism is a series of weekly posts, published on Mondays, containing the artistic musings of Mobile Designer/Developer Ben Chirlin from our Monday morning meeting at the NY Creative Bunker as well as his inspiring artistic finds of the week.

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