Homage to Joel Hodgson and MST3K

Life is a critique of a silly movie... Happy 2013.

Sailor Clown Lost at SEE

2013 is Psychic Clean Up Time

OK...now that is over, the so called, dreaded end date of 12.21.12, we are still here.

However, I wonder, what is the next creative step?

After listening to Michael Tsarion for the past 2000 hours, no just kidding :), I have come to the understanding that now more than ever it is time to step inside the mirror room of Self and stare deeply so that a new consciousness is at hand.

Also, it is time to open up the closet of the mind and and clean it thoroughly.  As MT says, going through the darkness and the cosmic tyranny is a part of the purging process so that one comes to their own sovereign self hood, untainted by the manipulations and conspiracies of others.

No need to do anything but just be your self.  Now if we could just solve the incessant money problem, then all would possibly be well.

Wizard, 2012

Jonathan Feldschuh, Hadron Collider

Jonathan Feldschuh is one of the smartest painters alive.  He has a degree, Summa Cum Laude from Harvard in Physics.  I admire the architectonic visionary qualities I decipher from his work.  I believe it to be an interplay between science and art that is very poetic.

Postmodernism, Baroque Universe of Styles, Art Jungle

Modernism paved the way towards the world in which we live in now.  Based on often Utopian ideations, its sense of the artistic progression of world transformation was unceasingly historical.  History was something made by great minds who were fully conscious of their doings.

Postmodernism took that and flipped it, deconstructed it, parodied it, made it ironic and well, like Martin Kippenberger, made you wonder "why" in the first place.  As the Talking Heads said, it "Stopped Making Sense".

Why?  Well, the high end postmodern academic critique sliced, diced and disintegrated any sense of subjective worthiness, all the while building a hyper-capitalist art world empire.  You had to be in the know and if you had money to spare, it was all fair game and didn't really matter any way.  Like they say, all is fair in love and war, right? 

Well, not exactly.  In the end, intertexuality breeds more excuses to regurgitate more stylistic fancies and tangents.  As is evident by the plethora of artists and styles today, there has never been an end to artistic aspiration either.  As we can see, after postmodernism, it is hard to understand what it is all about however.  To me and to whatever degree as I have stated before in other writings, there is a baroque quality (a "Virtual Baroque") to the art world today.  This may be merely superficial and unimportant to recognize, but I mean it in the sense that if you take the overall visual field at this point, it is an overgrown jungle of ideas, representations, styles, genres and derivations.

The thing is, is that postmodern parody is over, as is the need to be ironic.  I hate to hear every time a painting gets critiqued that it doesn't pass the art world taste test due to its perceived sincerity or seriousness.  However, even if it is sincere, it doesn't change the fact that it lives out its existence in a universe like pool of visual expressions.  To some degree this relationship with all the other art "out there" makes it simply meaningless.  It is ironic still how anyone can take art seriously at all.  However, in postmodernism this was the artifice and now that is tired too.

What I think is that it is beautiful to see all this art.  It means something...however vague, regarding the fact that visual culture ceases to die.  What I believe is that we are in fact bringing new levels of meaning to all of it.  Artists are even more sophisticated than before and educated.  So many artists have MFA's today for example and although this is not a requisite to making great art, it is a testament to the level of knowledge and sophistication that is out there.

We are increasingly challenged by the attempt at some level of meaning.  Cutting through the jungle means simultaneously adding to its overgrowth.  It will not only grow over, but more ferociously than before. 

Taro Chiezo

I love the cheesy (Cheez Whiz) quality in Taro Chiezo's work as an example of what might be considered diminutive or hyper-pop as you may see it.  I think being Japanese gives one a special understanding of the face of globalism.  It is the Post-Atomic hyperspace society.  Also, the playful pastiche of Japanese visual culture comes through as something not merely postmodern, but with a visionary tinge, all the while representing an understanding of art history.  The last set of paintings remind of me what Joe Bradley is doing now. 

Hermann Brood

I met a Dutch Drug Counselor in Vientiane, Laos a few years ago who compared my art (a drawing I gave her) to Hermann Brood.  I had never heard of him until then, but after some research I was pleasantly surprised.  I have never been a real punk artist per se, although there are many aspects of the culture I do embrace, even some of the music.  I am more of a hippy to be honest at heart.  However, there was a Boston graffiti artist I felt connected to in the 90's named Greg Meyers (Paz) who is like Brood as a person and artist in so many ways.  A mutual friend compared my work to his in 1995.  However, we were two sides of the same coin. 

Martin Kippenberger (Parodic Genius)

I think everyone got into MK again right after 9/11.  It seemed that there was a resurgence of interest in his work.  I think of most of the 80's artists, he was overlooked more so than others.  However, his actual importance cannot be debated.  I would not call MK visionary in a classical sense, but there was something in his play that was equally very cosmic.  I have been deeply influenced by his ideas, although I must admit, in the 90's I sort of overlooked him as well.  It was after I started working in corporate America and making art in offices that MK became a sort of spirit guide if you will.

Spritual Paths or God is a Guitar Player

The end goal is singular: enlightenment.  The paths are infinite.

One man prefers red, the other purple.

One person paints their house one way, the other another way.

The judgement is personal and subjective.

Leave it that way and allow others to paint their houses how they want.

Or, be like strings on a guitar.  Each one has a different vibration...God is the guitar player.  When God touches you, vibrate your way, ultimately separate, but still part of a whole and you will become part of a great song.

Let God play the guitar.

Economic Collapse in 2012?

The USA once again stands at an economic precipice (fiscal cliff).  For those who still have income, it is easy to ignore the signs...for those who are unemployed and have no more benefits, well, the harsh realities are kicking in.  Families will be destroyed by economic collapse, which appears to be imminent. 

In the midst of all of this chaos...I ask myself, is love possible in spite of it all?  It seems hard to fathom, but I do believe, more than ever, love is key to solving the problems we face, not just in the USA, but around the world.  We can and should help each other as much as possible.  When I see small children fighting over burnt rice in Syria, my heart aches.

It is possible, the Arab Spring is prepatory for the USA in the future.  If the dollar loses its value and Europe falls completely, then eveything will rest on China and BRIC.  Once that takes place, the economic shift will be over and Americans will be reduced to the very thing they took advantage of for so many years.  Sorry, there is some bitter truth involved.  Reorganize, create farming communities, grow food to feed each other, move back to a more socialized, agrarian society and fight off any form of tyranny.  That might work.

Again, love is the key to understanding.  With true love, there is balance, grace, wisdom, real power, peace.  Had we balanced ourselves with love, we might have survived this.  To say the least, we have allowed our Mother Earth to become destroyed by our folly.  Once more, we capaitalized on the pain and suffering of others.  Now it is time to pay up.

Maybe I'm wrong or just overly sentimental...but, what is it really?  Answer the question for yourself.