Artist Isabelle Brourman talks about her controversial painting “Olivia Nuzzi Nude” and other famous works that show the chaos in American politics. The series shows real-time chaos through courtroom sketches and striking portraits of people who are divisive. Brourman’s art uses watercolor, acrylic, and ink to record important events.
Brourman became well-known for drawing celebrity trials like Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard and pictures of President Donald Trump after an assassination attempt. Her “Nuzzi Nude,” called “How to Disappear,” shows journalist Olivia Nuzzi wrapped in an American flag with skin patches that look like the sky and her eyes closed in the middle of a scandal. Despite Nuzzi’s scandals involving RFK Jr. and criticism of her job performance, the piece ran in Vanity Fair’s Hollywood issue.
Nuzzi’s abstract nude caused a lot of trouble because of accusations of unethical behavior, such as having an affair with RFK Jr. and sneaking a recorder into Brourman’s bag during a Trump sketch at Mar-a-Lago. Ryan Lizza, her ex-fiancé, wrote about these claims on Substack, questioning her journalistic integrity. There was some tension at Vanity Fair over Nuzzi’s hiring and lack of contributions.
Brourman compares the Nuzzi and Trump portraits to times when people feel weak and wonder what will happen next. Her art includes America’s “deportation machine” and other themes that are out of control. Part of Jeffery Deitch’s “The Great American Nude” show at Art Basel Miami Beach.
