I noticed it, too, Chuck. Figured it was the television diaspora from political convention ennui, all left too early to tune in to Prairie Home Companion, had to go somewhere.
There's a piece in the latest art mag on Classical Realism, and others elsewhere on portraiture, though I don't recall that SOG was mentioned there.
Perhaps we're just catching up with ourselves, or we're in the dog days of summer.
P.S. For the afflicted, Prairie Home Companion is always available at
www.mpr.org, current and archived. Not that there's anything wrong with all portraiture all the time.