What is it that is so compelling about Alain Le Quernec's "Vote" poster? It is not like any I've seen before. It's both disturbing and alluring, nasty and comic (or comically nasty). I asked him to talk a bit about his election time weaponry.
"For me, Trump is a black hole in U.S. history. I was so exhausted that I [created] this scalp poster as a form of therapy. But I was afraid of its violent physical meaning. I was thinking to add the title 'The Custer Syndrome.' But I hesitated to publish it. Instead I got the idea to write 'vote,' and that changed everything. Vote is a democratic word that makes the scalp image virtual instead of physical."
The 76-year-old veteran poster designer has published two other images about Trump. He writes:
"The first one [was] in April 2016 when he was just a candidate. I never imagined he could be elected, and I remember that made me think about the power of a picture. A few days before [the] election I sent it by mail to some friends, telling them: 'look at this picture; it looks powerful today but tomorrow it will be meaningless because Trump will not be elected and will vanish.' I was wrong. He was elected, and unfortunately the picture remained powerful."
The last image, “Pax,” was made for an exhibition of peace posters. "The idea for me was: Is it possible to make a violent image for a peace poster?" Le Quernec asks. You be the judge.
