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December 17, 2003
Leunig's cartoon is not very visual. It's more or less image as text.
It reminds me of conceptual art in the 1970s. In a good way not a negative way. Cartoons are normally not included as conceptual art.
They can be, since conceptual art means that artistic production should serve artistic knowledge and that the art object is not an end in itself. This is what this cartoon is doing:
Leunig
The cartoon captures the black and white mentality of foreign policy. You need the bad guy---a Hitler, a Stalin or a Saddam Hussein---to demonize. Its evil versus good.
Hussein has gone from being the Butcher of Baghdad to a cornered rat in a hole. The media flows of the last two days have been devoted to the hole, the beard and dirt.
Leunig operates in the critical mode.
What is being played in the media these last few days? An old fashioned morality play? Or a tragedy with the media acting as the chorus?
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...everyone's forgotten about Osama hey