Artist Jon McNaughton and his surprising depiction of modern conservatism

In recent years, Jon McNaughton has become one of the best-known artists on the political right .

My new painting - "Expose the Truth." I think its time Trump fire these clowns and flip the investigation on them. - https://t.co/lrt1pNWMsQ pic.twitter.com/gW8xvWUnCE

— Jon McNaughton Art (@McNaughtonArt) May 8, 2018

His 2011 painting "The Forgotten Man," a not-so-subtle dig at Barack Obama , rose to fame when Fox News host Sean Hannity purchased it following Donald Trump's 2016 presidential election victory.

Hannity, a longtime supporter of McNaughton's work, promoted a more recent painting, "Respect the Flag," when McNaughton unveiled it in February of this year.

The painting, which depicts Donald Trump standing on a football field holding a tattered and dirty American flag, drew giddy mockery from Trump's detractors and rabid praise from his supporters.

McNaughton himself recently admitted that he's "a little perplexed" by how well his paintings sell . However, it's clear there's something about them that resonates; people love to talk about his art, whether out of hate or love.

What's so special about McNaughton's work? As a philosopher of art, I wanted to explore what distinguishes McNaughton's work from other political artworks from both the left and the right.

As works of political art, McNaughton's paintings are staunchly realist : the political message explicitly references his subjects. Each features a familiar icon , whether a president, a historical figure, the American flag, or the Constitution.

“Nero fiddled while Rome burned.” In my mind, Obama fiddled, while the people witnessed the demise of America. https://t.co/915S6id9bW pic.twitter.com/vLzec5ycXK

— Jon McNaughton Art (@McNaughtonArt) March 6, 2017

There are many political artworks that do not explicitly reference their themes: think of Nam June Paik or Ai Weiwei, whose works aim to explore political issues without using realistic representations.

Other right-wing artists, such as Steve Penley, also depict iconic political figures. But Penley's work isn't allegorical like McNaughton's . Instead, Penley portrays icons directly.

In McNaughton's case, the icon often represents something , and each painting contains a thinly veiled allegory that conveys a very clear message. We know exactly what McNaughton thinks of his subjects ; each figure is loaded with moral significance.

Barack Obama's trampling on the Constitution represents his alleged abuse of the Constitution. Meanwhile, Trump's attempt to clean the flag apparently represents his alleged respect for the national anthem.

McNaughton's works are also full of little references .

Journalist Marian Wang wrote of McNaughton's "One Nation Under God" that "the details and symbolism here are stunning and painstaking." Look at it for a long time and you're surprised to discover new details loaded with meaning, just as, for example, in "The Garden of Earthly Delights" by the Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch.

However, to many art critics, McNaughton's work appears derivative and corny . Peter Schjeldahl of The New Yorker writes of "The Forgotten Man" that "the pathos of the scene practically invites ridicule." Art critic Jerry Saltz claims that McNaughton's work is "typical propaganda art, with an obvious message" and "visually dead as a doornail."

There may be many details, as in Bosch, but the analogies are clearer in McNaughton's paintings , and they are more clearly charged with moral sentiment. Saltz's complaint is that the message here is too obvious.

Political art is often praised for its directness . Just look at the activist work of Keith Haring. Or consider Leo Tanguma's "Children of the World Dream of Peace." These works seem to share the clarity and obviousness of McNaughton's work.

So McNaughton's themes may be obvious , but that's not enough to make them bad. Perhaps, as Susan Sontag once suggested, critics like Saltz are suffering from a partisan impulse when they complain about his directness. Or perhaps the critics aren't complaining about clarity exactly, but about the tasteless imagery and overly facile literalism that is peculiar to McNaughton. Though it seems this criticism should also apply to Tanguma's "Children of the World Dream of Peace."

In any case, the frankness of McNaughton's work cannot be the only reason it is intriguing, and it is possible that his critics are overlooking a fundamental aspect of his appeal.

McNaughton's work evokes religious paintings (think of white evangelical art, such as that of Warner Sallman) or patriotic art (think of the work of Steve Penley or classic North Korean propaganda art).

But there is an apocalyptic element in McNaughton's work that is absent in either white evangelical or patriotic art. Both evangelical and patriotic artworks have an optimistic bias; in fact, patriotic art is almost always fiercely optimistic. With a few exceptions, such as "Teach a Man to Fish," McNaughton's work tends to be characterized by a profound pessimism.

In his analysis of conservatism, "The Reactionary Mind," political scientist Corey Robin presents a novel view of conservatism. For Robin, it is not primarily a view of capitalism, a view of liberty, or a view of rights . Robin argues that, at its core, conservatism is the view that traditional power relations must be maintained.

Robin argues that conservative arguments are often motivated by feelings of grievance and complaints about what has been lost. This occurs when progressive causes are promoted, such as when same-sex marriage is legalized or abortion is legalized. According to Robin, every time some groups achieve equality, other groups lose privileges. Conservatism often involves complaints about these lost privileges.

"Obamanation"--one painting that says it all. https://t.co/G8BOmkaF0R pic.twitter.com/TGhqJFJydl

— Jon McNaughton Art (@McNaughtonArt) April 17, 2017

Loss is a central theme in many of McNaughton's works: the loss of the Constitution, the loss of respect for the flag, or the loss of whiteness in politics. The dejected figures in "The Forgotten Man" and "Respect the Flag" seem to embody this loss, and reflect the increasingly lost privileges that certain Americans, whether white evangelicals or elderly, may feel .

Robin also argues that, despite their apparent frustration with the language of the left, conservatism often adopts progressive language for its own purposes. For example, conservatives often complain about "intellectual diversity," claiming that the supposed tolerance of the left is intolerant of conservative ideas. It should be noted, however, that conservatives, in making this argument, are using the progressive language of diversity.

Similarly , McNaughton's work co-opted certain themes from progressive art to suit his own conservative ends . A prominent theme in political art from the left is a kind of bleakness or darkness. Think of Nancy Spero's "Search and Destroy," Diego Rivera's "The Uprising," or Goya's "The Third of May 1808," each of which depicts grim moments, from rape to execution. Similarly, McNaughton's work depicts the Obama presidency with a darkness that is often absent from politically conservative art.

Whether out of love or derision, part of our interest in McNaughton stems from the literal interpretation of his works and the fact that there are so many small details to uncover and interpret. But the darkness and sense of loss contribute to making McNaughton's work especially unique. Perhaps unwittingly, McNaughton uses the classic principles of conservative rhetoric in an original artistic context.

John Dyck is a PhD student in Philosophy, Graduate Center, City University of New York (CUNY)