Have you had enough of Celebrity painters? I don’t have anything against working artists who become celebrated and popular through their work – I’m talking about people who have gained notoriety through other means and decide to take up art to exploit that fame.  For two recent examples there is George W. Bush (43rd president of authorized torture fame) who will exhibit his awkward attempts in Dallas at his presidential library and then there is George Zimmerman (shot Trayvon Martin in Florida) taking up appropriation pop painting and selling for $100K on eBay. How do a war criminal and an arraigned killer sully decent efforts by honest artists to create art? How can you believe art is about real feelings when you have notorious criminals trying to hustle their way into artistic respectability? It’s a sad commentary on the contemporary art scene that these clowns are taken seriously enough by mainstream media to gain press attention and merit exhibits on their meager and insincere efforts. Instead they should both be getting investigated for criminal activities during their time in the limelight. Almost makes you pine for the nostalgia of the recent past when only Hollywood stars who took up making art would get such publicity. Bring back Sylvester Stallone and Tony Bennett!