A lie thrower (The TASS Window №625) 1942

This TASS Window, number 625, called “A lie thrower” is a political poster probably made with stencils, and maybe some hand-painting. The palette is limited, almost drab, except for the aggressive yellows that pop out and feel somehow urgent. The image is of a Nazi officer cranking a machine aimed at another guy in a suit, some politician maybe, who’s basically a loudspeaker, blasting out these jagged yellow lies. It’s a pretty brutal image, but there's a dark humor to it, as in: what a ridiculous thing to invent! This machine whose only purpose is to spew garbage. I keep thinking about that crank, the physical labor of cranking out lies. What does that feel like? There’s something about the flattening of space and form in this poster that reminds me of Philip Guston, if he were a political cartoonist. Like Guston, the Kukryniksy collective isn’t afraid to embrace caricature, to get down and dirty in the service of speaking truth to power. Ultimately this piece tells us that lies may be loud, but truth will always be louder.