Jim Carrey's career is pretty complicated. He's a man who was once viewed by the public almost solely as an over-the-top screwball; someone whose larger-than-life roles were like watching a live-action cartoon. Audiences loved him and Carrey starred in three of the biggest movies of 1994 (Dumb and Dumber, Ace Ventura and The Mask). However, he then he surprised us by proving that he possessed enormous range.

Movies such as The Truman Show, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Man on the Moon were rightly praised and recently, a behind-the-scenes documentary examined Carrey's intense method acting. Between his candidness regarding his struggles with depression and his far heavier roles, it was clear that Carrey is a complex character.

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However, Carrey's career has taken another unexpected twist of late. The actor has decided to try his hand at being an artist and has shared his work on social media for all to see. The trouble is that recently his art has got topical, political and intensely critical of the Trump administration. On March 17, a caricature of a woman believed to be Sarah Huckabee Sanders went viral on Twitter, captioned: "This is the portrait of a so-called Christian whose only purpose in life is to lie for the wicked. Monstrous!" Other caricatures Carrey has shared include unflattering portraits of Donald Trump, Mark Zuckerberg and Florida Senator Marco Rubio. All of them have provoked speculation and scrutiny. 

So what has motivated Carrey to become an amateur artist? What is he hoping to achieve with these paintings? His unofficial website documents his many forays into the world of art and notes that: "Jim Carrey has been drawing and painting since he was a kid. And for several years now, Carrey has been making art that is as expressive and emotive as his work as an actor. When he is not involved in new movie projects much of his time is spent in his New York art studio ... Jim Carrey's art can be viewed at Wyland Galleries Beachwalk - Waikiki, Hawaii and Wyland Galleries Lake Tahoe, California where he is a permanent artist."

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A documentary released in August 2017 and entitled I Needed Colour looked at Carrey's artistic exploits. Carrey revealed that he had got back into art as a form of therapy after the death of his former girlfriend Cathriona White in 2015. Carrey was later implicated in a wrongful death suit, filed by White's husband, who alleged that Carrey had used his "immense wealth and celebrity status" to illegally obtain the medication White had overdosed on. Carrey explains: "Suddenly ... at a time when I was trying to heal a broken heart, I decided 'well maybe I'll paint.' When your heart is in love you're floating weightless. But when you lose that love, you have to re-enter the atmosphere and it can get pretty rough. "

Carrey also revealed that his art became something of an obsession for him in the wake of White's death, stating: "When I started painting a lot, I became so obsessed that there was nowhere to move in my home. The paintings became part of the furniture; I was eating on them. I found myself looking around myself, on a really bleak winter in New York, and it was just so depressing, and I think I needed colour." But even if we see Carrey's art as a way for him to recover after a personal trauma, then that hardly explains why he's been drawing what look like political cartoons for his Twitter followers. That subject matter seems to be less about therapy and more about outrage.

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In the documentary examining his method acting (Jim and Andy: The Great Beyond), Carrey opens up about his own personal philosophy and states: "There's the avatar that you create, and the cadence you come up with that is pleasing to people, and takes them away from their issues, and makes you popular, and at some point you have to peel it away. It's not who you are ... You got to the office and you put a monkey suit on and you act a certain way and you say a certain thing and you lie through your teeth at times and you do whatever you need to do to look like a winner. And then at some point in your life you have to say 'I don't care what it looks like.' I've found the hole in the psyche and I'm going through and I'm going to face the abyss of not knowing whether people will be okay with that."

It seems that Carrey is admitting that he doesn't want to just be a puppet performer, blindly bowing to what the public wants to stay famous and relevant. Here, he seems to be saying that he isn't afraid to challenge the public's image of him by tackling subjects that are seen as too "serious" for the persona that most people associate him with.

Perhaps this is why Carrey's art is often so intentionally so provocative and such a blatant expression of Carrey's political values: it's an outlet for him to be controversial and condemnatory - one that the medium of comedy and big-budget studio films cannot provide without the risk of alienating the public.

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However, Carrey's endeavours have attracted scorn from Twitter users and aficionados alike. Writing for British newspaper The Guardian, art critic Jonathan Jones stated: "If his art helps and heals him, that’s great. He just should not be showing this stuff to anyone and expecting anything except derision ... Please, say it’s a joke. The art Carrey has been filmed making would be turned down if he offered it to a Salvation Army store. It gives amateurs a bad name."

Others have condemned Carrey's cartoons for being lurid, profane, or in the case of the caricature of Huckabee Sanders, anti-Christian. In a piece Carrey entitled "Fifty Shades of Decay" he depicted a naked Donald Trump having censored sexual intercourse with a figure who resembled porn actress Stormy Daniels; who claims to have been paid off to keep quiet about the details of a prior affair.

Maybe some people find Carrey's caricatures offensive, but personally, I don't think he should be excluded from the same freedom of expression and joy of creation that all of us are entitled to; particularly if he finds it psychologically beneficial. OK, so maybe some of Carrey's views sound a little bit new age and spacey, but I don't think he should be written off as crazy or narcissistic for exploring other creative outlets. There's nothing to stop anyone from picking up a brush and bringing something into being, regardless of the end result. Let's celebrate that, instead of being suspicious of it.

We know Jim Carrey best as the rubber-faced actor from farcical comedies like Ace Ventura, Dumb and Dumber and Liar, Liar. Like other comedic actors, he ventured into drama and impressed critics - especially in The Truman Show and Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind. But who would have ever predicted he'd become a political artist?

After opening up about his love of painting in a viral documentary, Carrey started pumping out brutal satirical portraits. Mostly he roasted public figures from the Trump administration, such as Sarah Huckabee-Sanders, Jared Kushner and The Donald himself. Liberals cheered, while Trump supporters taunted him: "Why don't you stick to acting?!"

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Well, now the 56-year-old star is returning to acting, starring in Showtime's dark comedy Kidding. Carrey plays Mr. Pickles, a celebrated children's TV star whose personal life implodes, forcing him to fight his demons. "I'm not back [to Hollywood] in the same way," Carrey explained to The Hollywood Reporter. "I don't feel I'm little Jim trying to hang on to a place in the stratosphere anymore — I don't feel like I'm trying to hold on to anything."

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In THR's cover story, Carrey reflects on his past, present and future. His decision to go from The Mask to Monet wasn't complicated. He simply saw painting as a new creative outlet.

"I just didn’t want to be in the business anymore. I didn’t like what was happening, the corporations taking over and all that. And maybe it’s because I felt pulled toward a different type of creative outlet and I really liked the control of painting — of not having a committee in the way telling me what the idea must be to appeal to a four-quadrant whatever."

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In the beginning, Carrey was a stand-up with a gift for physical comedy. After stealing the show on Fox's In Living Color, he pursued a movie career. But he didn't want to conform. "My plan was not to join Hollywood, it was to destroy it," said Carrey. "Like, take a gigantic sledgehammer to the leading man and to all the serious­ness."

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On Monday, Carrey spoke to the Television Critics Association about his new show, framing it as an exploration of identity: "I think the idea of identity, the search for identity, what it is, who we are, what’s an authentic person is a theme that’s always been attractive to me. And I think that there’s definitely something in this piece that calls me as far as the idea of being hit by a freight train in life and trying to hang on to the idea of yourself that you had before it happened that’s really attractive."

Carrey certainly was hit with a freight train in life, facing a wrongful death lawsuit from his ex-girlfriend. But the actor sees a silver lining to all the personal turmoil. "After everything I’ve been through, I feel like I can sit down with most people," he said at the TCA panel. "Look them in the eye and say, ‘What is it? What did you go through? ‘Cause here’s what I went through and guess what, it’s still love. It’s still good.’"

Jim Carrey is one of the most beloved comedians ever. From Ace Ventura to Liar Liar, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind to The Truman Show, whenever he appears on camera he's guaranteed to make the production better - even if everything else sucks. Once upon a time, the Canadian comic was best-known for (literally) talking out of his ass. But as the years have passed and he's gotten older, Carrey hasn't been afraid to reveal a softer, gentler, more introspective side to his nature.

It turns out that he's got a philosophical bent, a method actor's approach to his work, and recently he's been dabbling in art and painting. Yes, on social media, Jim Carrey is better known for his grotesque and satirical cartoon caricatures, which he regularly posts to his 18.6 million Twitter followers. He has often been vocal in the past about his own voting preferences, and in the case of Republican President Donald Trump, he hasn't been afraid to mince words regarding his opinion of him and his administration.

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Carrey's latest venture in his ongoing anti-Trump art campaign was to create a new cartoon, based on a famous newspaper strip that many of us are familiar with. In a picture posted to his Twitter feed, Carrey sketched the cartoon figure of a little boy urinating on Trump’s grave. The picture was captioned: "Oh how I urine for this all to be over!" The little boy in the picture, who had spiky hair and striped shirt on, looked uncannily similar to the character of Calvin, from Bill Waterson's seminal 1985-1995 newspaper strip Calvin and Hobbes.

Just prior to this, Carrey had posted another caricature of Trump and Kim Jong-un at their meeting at Singapore. This particular piece was captioned: "Let’s Make A Deal: You’ll be a real world leader. I’ll sway the midterm elections. And together we will save the world from the bloodthirsty Canadians."

What has led the famous funnyman to pursue art so voraciously? A documentary released in August 2017 called I Needed Colour shed some light on Carrey's artistic exploits. Carrey revealed that he had got back into art as a form of therapy after the death of his former girlfriend Cathriona White in 2015, explaining that: "Suddenly ... at a time when I was trying to heal a broken heart, I decided 'well maybe I'll paint.' When your heart is in love you're floating weightless. But when you lose that love, you have to re-enter the atmosphere and it can get pretty rough."

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He added: "When I started painting a lot, I became so obsessed that there was nowhere to move in my home. The paintings became part of the furniture; I was eating on them. I found myself looking around myself, on a really bleak winter in New York, and it was just so depressing, and I think I needed colour."

Nowadays Carrey's art seems to be less about therapy and more about his own outrage. But one thing's for sure, it never fails to be provocative.

Jim Carrey is best known for his stand-up comedy and roles in both in drama and (mostly) comedic movies, but in recent years he's taken up a different hobby: painting.

In a cover story for The Hollywood Reporter in August last year, Carrey spoke about the way he approached acting when he started out. "My plan was not to join Hollywood, it was to destroy it," Carrey said. "Like, take a gigantic sledgehammer to the leading man and to all the serious­ness."

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And with his painting, it looks like he's taken a familiar path, using it as a creative outlet for his frustrations:

"I just didn’t want to be in the business anymore. I didn’t like what was happening, the corporations taking over and all that. And maybe it’s because I felt pulled toward a different type of creative outlet and I really liked the control of painting — of not having a committee in the way telling me what the idea must be to appeal a four-quadrant whatever."

Carrey surprised many by jumping into hot political issues with his artwork, making all sorts of bold statements, with a wide range of negative and positive responses to his work. Many of these satirical pieces take aim at the Trump administration:

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And he hasn't been silent about the many school shootings that have occurred in the United States, and has criticised both the NRA and Trump for their views on gun legislation.

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From these paintings, it's pretty clear what Jim Carrey's views are on the push for stricter gun control, which has been spearheaded by survivors of the Parkland school shooting. So it's no surprise to learn that he wasn't too happy when Louis CK recently mocked these survivors in a leaked stand-up comedy routine.

Louis CK has been out of the public eye for several months after various women accused him of sexual misconduct, after he forced several women into locked rooms with him, masturbated, and reportedly blackballed those in the industry who made accusations. He later admitted that he had, in fact, done what he has been accused of, taking a step back - until his controversial return to the stage in August.

An audio clip from one of his recent performances revealed that he had mocked both transgender individuals and victims of school shootings. In one distasteful comment, he said:

"You’re not interesting because you went to a high school where kids got shot. Why does that mean I have to listen to you? Why does that make you interesting? You didn’t get shot. You pushed some fat kid in the way, and now I’ve got to listen to you talking?"

Needless to say, many took issue with his comments, including school shooting survivors and the family of those killed.

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Carrey has now taken aim at the comedian for his comments, making it clear that he sees the stand-up as insignificant compared to vocal Parkland shooting survivor Emma Gonzalez.

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And, for those that missed it:

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Carrey has made his opinions very clear in the past, but this may be the first time he's taken aim at a fellow comedian. One thing's for sure, he's not afraid to speak his mind.

Jim Carrey is currently starring in Showtime's dark comedy Kidding, about a children's television icon who tries to retain his sanity as his personal life falls apart. While speaking with The Television Critics Association, he described the show as an exploration of identity: "The search for identity, what it is, who we are, what’s an authentic person is a theme that’s always been attractive to me. And I think that there’s definitely something in this piece that calls me as far as the idea of being hit by a freight train in life and trying to hang on to the idea of yourself that you had before it happened that’s really attractive."

Jim's identity has certainly transformed over the years. Many of us grew up watching the rubber-faced actor in zany comedies like Ace Ventura, The Mask and Liar, Liar. Then he ventured into dramatic roles, getting critical acclaim for The Truman Show, Man on the Moon and Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind. It seemed like he'd continue bobbing between comedy and drama, but no: He started an entirely new career as a painter, creating vibrant, surprisingly good portraits. In a documentary, Jim explained his life-long passion for art, and how he discovered that color was missing from his life.

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However, Jim's political paintings have gotten the most attention. On Twitter, the 56-year-old actor has pumped out portraits at a manic rate, savagely mocking prominent right-wing figures. President Donald Trump is a favorite target. Previously Jim mocked Trump's embarrassing meeting with brutal North Korean Dictator Kim Jong Un. He also skewered Trump's obsequious relationship with American president - I mean, Russian president - Vladimir Putin. Now, just in time for Halloween, Jim has unveiled a monstrous painting of Donald Trump.

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In Jim's latest creation, Trump is a grotesque cyclops, reaching out to the viewer with clawed hands. Perhaps to snatch away your affordable health care, separate your family at the border, or grab you by the p****? And maybe the single eye symbolizes Trump's monolithic partisan views, which fuel dangerous rhetoric demonizing the other political party? It's open to interpretation! In the caption, Jim writes, "Some people aren’t pretending to be monsters. Happy Halloween."

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And yesterday, Jim shared a hellish painting, depicting Trump supporters burning in hell. (And making hell great again?) "The GOP are now completely invested in Trump’s economy of LIES," wrote the artist. "They say they’re gonna give you HEALTHCARE while working to destroy it. They make up lies about refugees while KIDNAPPING INNOCENT CHILDREN! Vote Democrat. Help save the future. DON’T FOLLOW THE RED HAT TO HELL!"

To Jim, the current administration is scarier than any ghost, goblin or zombie. Online, Trump supporters tell him to "stick to acting," while supporting a reality TV show host as president, but it doesn't look like Bruce Almighty will shut up any time soon. Last Friday, he accepted the the Charlie Chaplin Award for Excellence in Comedy from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, and took a shot at the Trump administration during his speech: "Almost half of America at this moment believes there is a sinister deep state diabolically plotting ... to what? Give them health care?”