In an America marked by growing disunity, there’s a need for art that brings us back to basics, that remind us what America is really about. We are fresh off the Fourth of July, barbecues and beaches are the order of the day, and patriotism is in the air. It’s summertime in America, and we are feeling the freedom. Artist Sean Salter has been feeling it, too, and has been hard at work creating patriotic art with a twist.

This isn’t your traditional staid portraits, or screaming-eagle-superimposed-on-a-flag motif. Salter used his background in animation to create something cooler than what you’ve seen before. A scroll through his Instagram feed will tell you that this is something different. Why did he take on presidential portraits? For Salter, the answer is easy, “I love American History, and I love drawing.”

As for the subject matter, that’s something close to his heart.

George Washington and John Adams by Sean Salter

 “Talking to younger generations, they really don’t know much about the presidents. Not the important things. Even when I was a kid, it was something that was glossed over. Sure you’d learn about Washington, Lincoln, FDR, and who ever was the current president, and definitely who ever was the teacher’s favorite, but the others? The real history? The damage done, the accomplishments made? Never. So I want to start that conversation. Who were these men? What did they do? Did they help or harm liberty?”

That conversation, Salter hopes, will lead to a greater understanding of America. “I really just want to convey the real History of the greatest experiment known as the United States,” he said, “The good, the bad and the ugly if you will. I want to show how this nation has set out to fight for and defend liberty and how its also been very much against the concepts of liberty.” A supporter of the Second Amendment, Salter is working on another series featuring portraits of historical American figures with their guns. Currently, he’s completed portraits of Alexander Hamilton, Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Jackson. The latter two are available in his online store.

Art has always been a reflection of society. What we hang on our walls, even what we have printed on a mug or post on Facebook tells others who we are and what we stand for. This intersection of art, politics and history is especially prominent during times of revolution or change. During the American Revolution, patriots like Jonathan Trumbull understood the importance of art in politics and worked in both areas.

In the years after the American Revolution, Trumbull was offered a position in France as Benjamin Franklin’s private secretary. He turned down the offer to pursue art, saying: “The greatest motive I had or have for engaging in, or for continuing my pursuit of painting, has been the wish of commemorating the great events of our country’s revolution. I am fully sensible that the profession, as it is generally practiced, is frivolous, little useful to society, and unworthy of a man who has talents for more serious pursuits. But, to preserve and diffuse the memory of the noblest series of actions which have ever presented themselves in history of man; to give to the present and the future sons of oppression and misfortune, such glorious lessons of their rights, and of the spirit with which they should assert and support them, and even to transmit to their descendants, the personal resemblance of those who have been the great actors in those illustrious scenes, were objects which gave a dignity to the profession, peculiar to my situation.”

There are so-called progressives in America who would have us forget our past, ignoring what has happened, or only focusing on the bad. We need to nurture a culture of education that will allow people to learn and decide for themselves. It can be hard to find art which speaks to patriots, reflecting their love of America and her history. With artists like Sean Salter, we can both enjoy the art and turn a new generation toward one of the great and inspiring moments in human history: the American Experiment.