Jim Carrey Says the Political Phase of His Art Career Is Over. Now He’s On to Painting Mangoes

It appears the days of Jim
Carrey’s scathing, often viral cartoon paintings of Trump,
Mussolini, and
other power-hungry
politicians are officially over. Instead, fans of the
comedian-cum-artist can expect more… mangoes?

In an interview promoting his
new film, Sonic the
Hedgehog,
Carrey told Yahoo
Entertainment that
he’s decided to move away from the topical cartoons that have
decorated his Twitter page for years and won
him a gallery show at LA’s Maccarone
gallery. 

“To me, that was a time…where I
just wanted to be the lighthouse that was saying, ‘Hey, stay off
the rocks. You’re headed for the rocks,’” Carrey says of the last
chapter of his artistic career. “We’re still headed for the rocks,
but I’ve decided you understand my message. I don’t need to be
steeped in it anymore.”

The actor explained that he felt
mired in the back-and-forth, commentary-on-commentary world of
online political discourse and instead wanted to encourage people
to be good citizens and exercise their votes. He also suggested the
intentions behind his work were misunderstood. 

“What I want to tell people is
that it’s never been a matter of hating anyone, that I can sit down
with anyone in this country and break bread. I love people,” he
explained. “To me, we got tricked by politicians and weird
corporate concerns to believe that disagreement is hatred. I will
never go for that.”

Recently, Carrey has pivoted his
paintbrush from man to mango, becoming obsessed with the “fruit of
the Gods,” as he characterizes them.  

“They represent abundance and
sweetness and the gifts of the universe. So that’s where I’m
at.”

Carrey began sharing his
cartoons on Twitter around the 2016 presidential election. Within a
year, new paintings would come out on a near-weekly bases,
lampooning right-wing figures such as Roy Moore, Sarah Huckabee
Sanders, and Robert Mueller. He’s depicted Kay Ivey as a fetus,
Jeffrey Epstein as the Creature from the Black Lagoon, and
Sean Hannity
as a manatee. (The Ace
Ventura star has also been a long-time anti-vaccines
activist, comparing them to
“fascism.”) 

Carrey’s artwork has received
mixed reviews from critics. The Guardian’s Jonathan Jones
called him an “astonishingly bad painter and sculptor,” saying his
work “gives amateurs a bad name.” Jerry Saltz, on the other hand,
called Carey “definitely an artist,”
comparing his cartoons to those of R. Crumb.

In remembrance of Carrey’s
political period, here’s a collection of some of his more inspired
efforts:

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Career Is Over. Now He’s On to Painting Mangoes appeared first
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