President Barack Obama 

Thomas Blackshear's portrait presents Barack Obama amidst symbols of power and legacy. The seal of the President glows like a halo, a visual cue that echoes ancient Roman imperial portraiture and Byzantine religious icons, immediately associating Obama with notions of authority and reverence. Flanking him are portraits of Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr., figures of monumental importance in the American narrative. These images connect Obama to a lineage of transformative leadership, suggesting a continuum of struggle and progress. Notice the classical columns framing the composition, evoking the architecture of ancient Greece and Rome. This recalls the Renaissance's fascination with classical antiquity, where the rediscovery of Greek and Roman art and ideas shaped a new humanism. The artist invites us to contemplate how symbols resurface across centuries. They are vessels of collective memory, imbued with the hopes and anxieties of different eras.