Boom! John Oliver, young artist reach millions of fresh eyes with Federal Duck Stamp Contest
Last Week Tonight host John Oliver's humor and a young artist's nerdy flare breathe wide-reaching life into the 2021 competition
If I had $25,000 handy I swear I’d skip out on the myriad repairs needed on my aging SUV to buy the original painting of a redhead duck hunting hunters hunting ducks now up for auction on eBay.
That’s how high the bids are already on a selection of hilarious duck-stamp wannabe paintings commissioned by comedian John Oliver of Last Week Tonight.
His is one of two mainstream boosts that pushed the 87-year-old Federal Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp (Duck Stamp) Contest in front of millions of fresh eyes this season, even though the winner of the contest was the highly traditional James Hautman. He happens to be one of three highly skilled Minnesota brothers who, between them, have won 14 times.
But leave it to an HBO late-night Brit with 4.5 million viewers and a whopping two years under his belt as a naturalized Yank, and a delightfully nerdy non-binary 22-year-old Minnesota artist who took the contest to more than 2 million followers on TikTok, to breathe fresh air into a tradition that has indeed grown stuffier than any duck-hunting octogenarians I’ve met.
Kira Finnell not only reached millions through TikTok but landed news stories at Buzzfeed, several other publications, and in a spot on CBS Mornings—none of which will hurt her Etsy sales, I’m sure. None of it hurts the duck stamp program either. Good for Finnell, and good for the grandpa who introduced the artist to the contest three years ago that she now shares with millions who otherwise might know nothing about it.
As a gray-bearded 59-year-old waterfowler and Iowa State University grad who is perhaps a bit too proud of those extremely thin ties to fellow Iowan J. N. “Ding” Darling, creator of the first duck stamp in 1934, and as one who always has to double-check the spelling of “TikTok,” and as a writer who still is not sure how to properly exercise “she/they” in his prose, let me say this (in the typical words of Oliver and the spirit of unflinching profane usages among younger generations): I think this is fucking awesome!
The mainstream attention comes, fittingly, as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removed the Trump-era “celebrating our waterfowl hunting heritage” requirement from the contest.
That rule mandated artists include “hunting-related accessories or elements” in their paintings. Nothing says, “I’m growing old and desperate for attention” like mandating your presence in the work of artists you’ve invited to participate in a contest. (eye roll emoji)
The greatest hunting-related imagery of all time in a duck stamp was the 1960 King Buck stamp. A black Labrador holding a mallard in its mouth is all about hunting and conservation—but it also is a tough fit because, arguably, it was more of a dog stamp than a duck stamp. Still, it was fantastic, and not mandatory.
Hunting scenes don’t belong in every single entry. That’s just dumb. It’s also a little “off” with ducks typically depicted in prime breeding-season (springtime) colors set in autumn hunting scenes. Duh.
Hautman’s winning 2021 stamp includes a pair of floating wooden duck calls on an old lanyard caught up in some cattails near a pair of lesser scaup. Umm, OK, maybe some old hunter finally got fed up with his old Faulk’s Regulars and gave those suckers a toss? It’s a fantastic, realistic, and beautiful depiction of the lesser scaup—despite the mandatory litter.
As one might expect, over the past few years, artists came up with some creative bits because of that rule. Audubon reported on this last year. I especially appreciated the ones that included spent shotgun shell hulls, which we all know are all-too-often part of wetland scenery.
I don’t know if any artists included cigarette butts, Little Debbie snack wrappers, or a pickup at a boat ramp with busted-out windows, but those might have been good fodder as well.
Hunters and hunting traditions have and continue to provide immeasurable benefits for wildlife species, but we don’t have a monopoly on generosity or love for waterfowl, and we don’t have to mandate our presence to continue to stay relevant or to carry out some misguided attempt to curb declining numbers of hunters.
The duck stamp is our country’s oldest continuous conservation effort and every waterfowl hunter aged 16 and older is required to purchase, sign and affix one to their hunting license.
Many hunters purchase several stamps, and many non-hunters and collectors also purchase several stamps and artist’s prints. Waterfowl lovers are the driving force behind the sales of prints that make the “million-dollar duck” contest worth the pursuit of hundreds of wildlife artists everywhere because the contest itself doesn’t include a cash prize.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service credits the program with preserving more than 6 million acres of wetland habitat and contributing more than $1.1 billion to conservation over its 80-plus years.
I’m happy the traditional art of one of the Hautman brothers won again, but I can sure appreciate Oliver’s commissioned “Duck with a Pearl Earring” by Omar Rayyan too. Eric Joyner’s Nintendo “Duck Hunt” spinoff with the realistic blue-winged teal and the Nintendo retriever in the background is classic in its own way.
Every time I look at the eyes of that redhead drake with the over-under tucked in its wings in Josie Morway’s “Duck Hunting Hunters” I have to laugh. It’s friggin’ hilarious!
None of the prints commissioned by Last Week Tonight garnered a single contest judge’s vote, even “Duck Judges” which shamelessly begs for some votes by depicting the duck stamp judging process with ducks as the judges. But Oliver is auctioning off the originals of the show’s five works with all proceeds going to the duck stamp program. Bidders already have laid out $70,000 in the auction, which closes late Friday.
“Duck Hunt” already is bid up to $21,000, “Duck Judges” is over $18,000, and my favorite “duck Hunting Hunters” is over $15,000 and likely will climb.
“Feuding Artist Handshake,” is bringing up the rear with only $5,900 bid as of Thursday afternoon, but that feud between traditional artist Tim Taylor and the annual crowd-pleasing (but rule-breaking) abstract artist Robert McBroom would appeal only to diehard duck stamp contest fans (although I wouldn’t be surprised to see the feuding artists bidding on it).
Maybe that “stamp” actually is one of the best to note changing times. It illustrates the whole deal, doesn’t it? A staunch traditionalist makes peace with the artist who represents anything but. Maybe someone will buy that painting and get Taylor, McBroom, and Oliver to sign it. Then they could probably sell it on eBay for even more and donate those proceeds to the duck stamp program.
Now that would be fucking awesome.
