The New Media Journal | Obamas Overhaul White House Art Collection

The New Media Journal | Obamas Overhaul White House Art Collection: "A cultural revolution is under way at the White House, where the Obamas are decorating their living quarters with modern and abstract artwork.

Out have gone traditional landscapes, portraits and still life paintings. In have come new pieces by contemporary African-American and Native American artists, with bold colors, odd shapes and squiggly lines.

Works by big names from the modern art world such as Jasper Johns and Mark Rothko rub shoulders with lesser-known artists such as Alma Thomas, an African-American abstract painter of the 1960s and 1970s.

One of the most striking – and apt, as Mr. Obama wrestles with his Afghanistan policy – is Edward Ruscha’s I Think I’ll..., a painting about indecision which superimposes phrases such as “I think I’ll ...” and “maybe ... no' and “wait a minute' on top of a blood red sunset.

Thomas’s Watusi (Hard Edge) now hangs in the East Wing, where Michelle Obama has her offices. The acrylic on canvas, on loan from the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, shows a jumble of geometric shapes in bright reds, blues and greens."