Jesse Duquette - I Don't Know That I Could Ever Fully Divorce Myself From Political Cartoons (Artist from USA)

I began drawing about Trump while Sean Spicer was giving the very first press conference and made the weird assertion that the inauguration had "the biggest crowd size ever, period". I figured that if they were going to casually lie about something so irrelevant, what greater hell could this metastasize into?

1. Tell us about your background and journey.

My background is rooted firmly in the amateur department. I am a self-taught illustrator with no formal training beyond a mercifully brief stint in art school, which I immediately recognized as being not for me. while I loved being around other people all making their kind of art, I couldn't stand the rigidity of lessons and exercises that I found impossible to connect with. 

I always knew exactly the sort of drawings I wanted to make and was too obstinate to allow anyone to tell me what - or how - to draw them. It is one area where my drive to be as open as possible and always learning runs into a brick wall. 

The journeys getting to where I am now - documenting Trump and, more generally, white supremacy at large - is a result of the timely dovetailing of my main twin interests: obsessive doodling and radical politics. No one is more surprised than me that this strange trip has resulted in two books published.

2. What inspired you to pursue making illustrations particularly about the Trump administration?

I began drawing about Trump while Sean Spicer was giving the very first press conference and made the weird assertion that the inauguration had "the biggest crowd size ever, period". I figured that if they were going to casually lie about something so irrelevant, what greater hell could this metastasize into? 

I made a quick drawing of Spicer at the podium making the claim, added a quote from Orwell's "1984" and posted it to social media along with a caption claiming I would continue to document every day of the administration. and despite my tendency towards abandoning projects ten minutes in, I somehow managed to make good on my claim and stuck with it. Though I do have to credit the fairly endless and easy material they provided me with every damned day.

3. How did you overcome criticism and negative comments?

No argument or mind was ever won over on social media so I try to bear that in mind and steer clear of the comments. but given the nature of the drawings and subject matter, I fully expect negative comments or people attacking me. 

If that were not the case, I probably wouldn't be doing it right. Being a human, the mean comments can be a little hurtful at first but then I remember that whoever is lobbing these weird volleys at me over a cartoon probably has bigger problems than I do; I'm just their temporary foil.

4. What are your future goals?

A future goal of mine would be to work on a children's book, something fun and maybe a little spooky. The books I read as a child were hugely formative for me and still knock around my head to this day. 

That sort of work was more my interest before the whole trump mess began and it would be nice to get back into occasionally drawing monsters based on fiction rather than fact. Though I don't know that I could ever fully divorce myself from political cartoons.

5. How do you keep yourself inspired and motivated?

Unfortunately, there are always things happening that inspire these kinds of drawings. certainly every day, at least. When I come across or read something that provokes a reaction and I can think of a meaningful way to draw what's in my head, I just have to draw it and get it out or I can't relax. 

Which I suppose is its own kind of motivation. Privileged dopes like myself have a responsibility to speak up about these kinds of things - whether it's white supremacy, misogyny, neo-colonialism - to, at a minimum, normalize that kind of conversation. the motivation is to make someone laugh, upset a racist, or - at best - put onto paper what someone might be thinking or feeling in their own head.

6. Who is your favorite artist and why?

I don't really have a favorite artist, though the illustrators of my youth still loom the largest over what I do. people like Shel Silverstein, Bernard Waber. and if I could paint, it's Alice Neel, for me. but these are all of a type - dead and white. 

I love them, but still. learning more about contemporary artists - Black, queer, Latinx - is on my short list of to-dos for this summer. maybe that will help me break out of my hermetic ways and find some new inspiration.  

Jesse Duquette

Interviewed By - Serene Ingle