January 20, the United States held its presidential inauguration, and Joe Biden, 78, officially became the 46th President of the United States.
That morning, after three fists and waved goodbye to the camera, Trump turned to the helicopter and left the White House.
After the storm of attack on the U.S. Congress on June 6, more than 20,000 National Guard soldiers guarded outside the White House and the Capitol to secure the President’s inauguration. And Trump’s resignation also made him the first U.S. president in 150 years that has not supported his successor at the presidential inauguration.
During his four years in office, Trump has provided countless news materials for the global media.
Recently, D.W., creative director of Time magazine in the United States. D.W. Pine sorted out the story behind Trump’s 35 covers of the magazine, and many visual expressions such as photos, illustrations, synthetic photos, etc. were applied to cover creation.
From these images, we can see Trump’s personality as a businessman, a politician, a diverse visual means of political communication, and the complex feelings of Americans for the controversial president.
Trump has always had a “obsession” on the cover of Time magazine.
Before becoming president, he was active in rallies and social media to become Time magazine’s “person of the year”, and several of his clubs even hung fake “covers” of post-synthesis.
During the 2016 election, he also appeared in public places such as interviews and rallies with a period of Time magazine covering how he won voters to show audiences and the media.
Trump first appeared on the cover of Time in 1989. The cover of the issue said: “This man may make you envious and hate – the technique is called showing off your wealth, and his name is Trump.” Trump, a successful real estate businessman, held a poker against his forehead, and his eyes were full of confidence in planning. Twenty-eight years later, Trump was elected President of the United States.
Time magazine has always had a tradition of putting the president on the cover. Of the top 10 people who have appeared on the cover most times, 8 were the President of the United States at that time.
Although Trump has repeatedly boasted about the record number of times he has appeared on the cover of Time, in fact, he can only rank fourth in 35 times, the top three are Nixon (55), Reagan (46) and Clinton (40).
Trump, a presidential candidate, first appeared on the cover of Time in August 2015. At that time, the photographer took a white-headed sea eagle, an American national bird, to Trump’s office and took a portrait of him.
The picture of Trump being peckered by the sea eagle was made into a meme by netizens. At this time, Trump and Hillary were on par with the results of the polls, and their distinctive style made the American political community unstable.
Time’s use of cover photos is not without controversy. On the cover of July 21, 2018, Trump and a little immigrant girl were “PS” together, entitled “Welcome to America”.
You may have seen the original photo of the little girl’s location – “The Girl Who Weeps on the Border” from Getty Images photographer John Moore, who took another similar photo taken at the same angle, won the Photo of the Year Award at the 2019 World Press Photo Contest.
The cover of Time is intended to show that Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy has led to many children being forced to separate from their parents.
In fact, the girl in the photo has not been separated from her mother. Critics believe that Time used the image of girls to mislead readers.
Overall, Time magazine uses real photos of Trump as its cover, and more often he is interpreted as a variety of visual images.
Trump gradually turned into a political symbol, leaving a huge creative space for artists.
During the 2016 U.S. election, seven issues of Time magazine used Trump’s image on the cover. After the Republican National Convention that year, Trump’s approval rating plummeted, and the cover of an issue called “Meltdown” soon attracted a lot of attention.
Visual artist Edel Rodriguez grasped Trump’s image characteristics with two large color blocks. The color blocks in the picture are melting and flowing, symbolizing the collapse of Trump’s image.
Two months later, Trump was exposed to have made improper insults to women, which aroused public anger.
Rodriguez immediately created a “sister”, entitled Total Meltdown, and the precarious Trump head directly turned into a pool. This issue of the cover won the 2017 Cover Award of the American Journal Editors Association.
Left: Meltdown. Right: Total Meltdown. Image source: time.com
“The concentration of his image into basic elements through color can make people focus more on the concepts that the president symbolizes rather than on his actual appearance.
Typical satirical cartoons often make fun of the weight or other characteristics of the characters, which I try to avoid and create paintings closer to their essence.” Rodriguez explained.
This series of cover works has appeared more than once during Trump’s presidency.
Compared with photos, when expressing uncertain events, illustrations have greater creative possibilities and more communication power.
February 27, 2017 The cover of Time is an illustration titled Nothing to See Here, from artist Tim O’Brien, who has worked with Time for over 30 years, who The style is more realistic.
There was a storm in the picture, while Trump sat calmly at the table, reflecting the chaotic situation faced by Trump, who had just taken office at that time.
In telling the story behind the cover of this issue, O’Brien said: “Crating this cover is like imagining a movie. I have seen pictures in my mind: rain, wind lifting paper off the table, raindrops falling on the table.
When Time’s creative director Pine asked me in the mail if I could paint a Trump in the storm, I saw it immediately.”
Fictional images may also contain a more neutral perspective, which is crucial for cover pictures.
“Before this cover, if you’re a Trump opponent, you might see the chaos he created; but if you’re a supporter of his, you may see it – even if you’re a mess, Mr. President can still be calm.” Pine said it was the favorite of the 700+ covers he’s hosted.
There are four covers in this series. In April 2018, the problems facing Trump became more chaotic and difficult.
O’Brien created a sequel “Stormy”, in which the flood flooded the table and Trump sat motionless. Wait until the third cover of September 2018, “In Deep”, the whole picture was filled with water, Trump floated, and the iconic red tie swayed in the water.” If he is still sitting at this time, it will look funny.
Drawing him above the picture means that he is still resisting in deep trouble. O’Brien explained.
Published on Aug 17, 2020 The fourth cover, titled Plague Election, reflects the COVID-19 pandemic that has changed the landscape of the U.S. election. Previously, the water flooding the White House on the cover flooded outside.
Trump struggled on the water and looked in the direction of the White House from afar, surrounded by the coronavirus.
The rising water level is a metaphor for the chaos inside and outside the White House under Trump’s administration. The cover of this series of issues has also been dynamically displayed, and the wind and rain and waves add to the atmosphere.
Pine, who has been checking the cover of Time magazine for the past 12 years, believes that a series of cover works about Trump reflect that the magazine’s cover design is adapting to the spread of the social media era.
These covers are constantly being discussed on TV, video websites, photo sharing websites, social media. In this era, the cover of the magazine is more like a cultural carrier. You can’t hold digital photos in your hand, but the magazine is heavy and scaled, and it records history.” Visual artist Rodriguez said.
The cover of the latest issue of Time is called “Day One”, and the protagonist is Biden, who has just taken office.
But we still seem to see Trump’s shadow in the picture: McDonald’s on the table, red baseball caps printed with “Make America Great Again”, graffiti left by intruders on their desks, piles of mountains and scattered documents, and riots outside the window. The firelight.
The impeachment clause accusing Trump of “sedition” will be sent to the U.S. Senate today (January 25).
Trump, who left office with less glory, has temporarily left the political stage, but perhaps one day in the future, he will return to the media cover and bring another explosive news to the world.
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