Pop artist Saint Hoax has the answer to a question you didn't know you had: What would 2016 presidential candidate Donald Trump look like in drag?
The answer: Pretty fantastic.
Five celebrities get drag makeovers in Saint Hoax's newest Instagram series, called "Fame Drags You Out." It's a follow-up to his earlier series, "War Drags You Out," which focused on transforming political figures into drag queens. The artist included the presidential hopeful in his roundup because he sees him more as a "fame-hungry celebrity rather than a leader," he told The Huffington Post in an email.
Saint Hoax is also quick to point out that his treatment of these famous men isn't meant as an insult, rather "a visual commentary on virility and masculinity." Earlier this year, the pseudonymous Middle Eastern artist began taking note of Kanye West's media persona --"in every one of his pictures he put on an irritated [or] uninterested face," he told HuffPost -- and saw similar qualities reflected in other male celebrities.
"Even when they do break a smile (like Bieber and Franco), it’s more of a smirk," the artist said. "Their intimidating facial expressions are a way of showing their unbreakable masculinity." The five celebs he chose help "set the standards" for cisgender expression, he explained.
"I always like to produce gender-bending art because it makes people look at things differently," he added.
Indeed, some would argue that disrupting gender norms is the express purpose of drag. As Karl Westerberg, a contender on Season 3 of LogoTV's "Ru Paul's Drag Race" told ThinkProgress, drag is an "over-the-top parody" of gender. Another former contender, Benjamin Putnam, explained how the display of glam femininity forces us to question the traits that men (and women) are taught to embody, so we might be "kinder and treat each other better."
"People always comment on female representation in the media, and tend to ignore how this also affects men," Saint Hoax told HuffPost.
Through his unflinching imagery -- which almost exclusively combines pop culture icons with political satire -- Saint Hoax hopes to chip away at gender norms and other "ugly truths."
Also on HuffPost:
