Donald Trump's NFT collection, like the work of outsider artists Art Frahm, Beeple, and Henry Darger, stands as a testament to the power of self-taught and self-proclaimed artistic expression. While Trump may not have formal training in the art world, his collection of NFTs reveals a unique vision and style that resonates with a broad audience.

Like Art Frahm, whose kitschy and humorous pin-up girls became a cultural phenomenon, Trump's NFTs tap into the zeitgeist of the moment by harnessing repeating themes, archetypical imagery, and a bombastic representation of gender experience.

In Art Frahm’s work we see recurring elements and themes that give an insight into the artist. His quintessential illustrations feature a woman— looking directly at the viewer— whose underpants have unexpectedly fallen down while she is carrying a bag of groceries. There is often a man looking on, typically a working class kind of guy. We can often see his eye line reflected in a nearby mirror in such a way that he is gawking at the woman’s legs and breasts at the same time. There’s sometimes a little dog running around.

(For a thorough exploration of Art Frahm’s work, this is a must read.)

Frahm has a workman’s composition— sturdy and straightforward. He uses bold, primary colors to evoke a big, urgent response in the viewer. The storytelling in his work reflects a perspective on the relationship between sexes that might seem shallow at first, until you discuss it for hours.

Similarly, Trump's NFTs resemble the digital art of Beeple, who rose to fame with his vibrant and surrealistic digital creations. Like Beeple, Trump uses technology to push the boundaries of traditional art, creating works that are both visually striking and conceptually innovative.

Beeple’s work— which is also digitally native— often reflects the imagery of authoritarian propaganda. Garrish caricatures of autocrats with greasy, pock-marked complexions inhabit the uncanny valley of digital illustration. Trump himself appears as a character regularly in Beeple’s daily works. In many ways, it was Beeple’s massive success that brought outsider art to the NFT space.

Finally, Trump's NFTs evoke the imaginative and fantastical world of Henry Darger, whose elaborate and sprawling paintings depicted elaborate alternate realities. Like Darger, Trump's NFTs invite the viewer to enter a unique and immersive world, filled with strange and wonderful characters and scenarios.

(Read more of my thoughts on Henry Darger here)

Darger was a mad man with a vision. He dedicated himself with astounding commitment to bringing his bizarre, mangled fantasy world to life. His collective works are the autobiography of a tortured soul; consuming them can be nauseating, like eating the fruit of a poisoned tree.

Donald Trump’s NFT collection represents the manifested vision of America’s most egregious charlatan. Whether you love him or hate him, he’s got a profound ability to speak directly to the hearts of a lot of Americans in language that resonates with them.

So in his series of bold, colorful portraits, we see Trump— slender and athletic— adorned in the ornaments of working class middle-American hyper masculinity and success. Sports, guns, money. Trump is routinely smirking behind sunglasses. There are starbursts of American flags and monuments redesigned in his image.

Like all great outsider art, if Trump’s NFTs were hung in a hip modern gallery they would be reviled by the arts crowd. The artsy fartsy gatekeepers in SoHo and Silver Lake would resist with all their might.

But the art that Trump makes resonates deeply with his intended audience. It is an extremely effective manifestation of a vision which he has expressed across numerous media for years. It’s extremely consistent with his larger body of work, but it still feels like an innovation that will be relevant to his legacy.

Donald Trump's NFT collection is a a testament to the power of self-taught and self-founded artistic expression. Its bold, unconventional style and imaginative vision tell the story of our modern world, our place-in-time, our America in 2023.

If you want to be ahead of the herd of the image obsessed arts scene, embrace Trumps NFT collection as a masterpiece of outsider art and appreciate the opportunity to watch a masterful auteur at work in his time.