Floating Couple with Baby and Deer

acrylic on canvas, 30"x40", 6/19

 

Detail

Detail

 Floating Couple with Flowers

acrylic on paper, 18"x24", 6/19

 

 

 

 

Floating Couple in Pencil

pencil on Strathmore paper, 9"x11", 5/19

Flower of Life

acrylic on cold pressed paper, 9"x12", 4/19

These few pictures, record the recent evolution of my visual ideas.  I chose these px's, out of many, to summarize an artistic exploration of several visual, artistic, ideas.  The top picture shows my latest picture, the emergence of a painting, the flowering, the growth, of an artistic stream. 

My work continues to lead me along a wide and wandering path of visible invention.  I will be 75 years old soon.  Art has been my most steady friend.  Always available, like a listening ear, but visual, a conversation with myself.  Making art, expressing the essence of my existence, an escape from the box of conformity, to mold my mind, to reinvent myself, as I transverse this particular (and peculiar)  time/life of unique experience.  A piece of paper, a canvas, is a small piece of real estate, where I make up the rules.  A white rectangle of material offers unlimited freedom of expression.  Yes, it is about me, me, me; but I want to communicate, to reach you, and you and you.  To let loose the babble of my mind. 

Here am I.  What ever that means.  Here I am reaching out to communicate with you.  We are all both the same and different.  Our individual minds are a blob of almost incomprehensible jelly packed with a jillion  neuron wires sealed in a bowl of bones.  Art is a way to transport ideas from my bone bowl to your bone bowl. (OK, that was funny. Sometimes I just cant help myself.) We are each alone until we courageously  perform authentic communication. 

OK, enough of that cacophony.

These four pictures are a summary of the progression of ideas.  Starting with the bottom picture, and progressing to the top picture.

 I became interested in the "Flower of Live".  A basic pattern that is part of "Sacred Geometry".  I watched  a lot of You Tube videos.  I played with the pattern, using a compass and other devices that had lain useless for years in a studio box. The Flower of Life penetrated my dreams.  I awoke slowly in the morning with visions of the flower dancing in my head.  The videos explained that the flower pattern illustrated how everything, material and immaterial, fits together. 

The bottom acrylic painting illustrates the pattern. 

Next, I played with pencil on paper.  As I sketched, casually, I wanted my art to be happy.  Much art is angry.  Ugly art is trendy. There is too much anger in the world.  Buddha said,  "That which you attend to grows".  I want to grow joy. 

I reexplored the work of Marc Chagall.  His floating couple is joyful.  I riffed on his couple.  Making simple lines and shapes.  I wanted it graceful.

 The couple wanted a baby.  So I brought in Keith Haring to birth a baby.  Then the baby needed a friend, a sitter, while Mom and Pop floated ecstatically in the heavens.  A gentle deer volunteered and was added to the picture.  A protective tree grew grounded and womb like, around the deer and baby.

Chagall and Haring reached across the years to help me with this series.  We are so blessed to have a glorious banquet of art history to enrich our lives and art.

Gold Fish Mashup Suite

 

 

Gold Fish, Warhol, Elvis, Mashup

digital painting, 6/2018



Gold Fish, Visible Couple Mashup

 

 digital painting, 6/2018



 

 

 





Gold Fish, Picasso Mashup

digital painting, 6/2018

Here are three Photoshop paintings, completed recently (6/2018).  Size is 103Mb for each individual picture.  I make prints with Arches paper and a new Pro Epson printer.

 You may ask, "What does it mean?"   And I will answer, "Your guess is as good as mine".

top picture, Warhol, Elvis, Goldfish Mashup,  Warhol did a picture, Double Elvis, with a gun totting cowboy.  Warhol, Elvis, goldfish and water, all mashed up.  Elvis is shooting and the fish are flying.

middle picture, Visible Couple Mashup,  Anatomy is so interesting.  As a child, I was eager to explore the Visible Man toy.  When the woman with an incubator belly came out, sometime later, I was delighted. 

bottom picture,  Picasso, Goldfish Mashup. A riff on another famous picture.  When creating a digital painting I alter the inspiration picture by photoshopping the entire picture. This Picasso woman is a recognizable image but has been completely redone.  I call the digital works digital paintings, because I have been a painter for such a long time and the texture looks like painting.


Water is a continuing element in my art.  Several of my recent pictures and many past pictures have featured water.  I love swimming, kayaking, and gazing at water.  Ocean, Gulf, lakes and creeks.  My studio flooded twice in 2015.  There was some damage, the bottom of the sheetrock had to be redone, I accept this threat, because, nature is so beautiful here.

On the property here we have two creeks.  One small, the other larger.  There is a relatively low population density along the creek and running toward the Pearl River.  This is a bird flyway and is bountifully populated with wild animals. 

 



Tina Turner, Feral

 

 

 

Tina Turner, Medusa

 

 

I watched a Tina Turner biography on the tube, and realized what an impact she has been in my life. I saw her perform twice, in the mid 70's.  It was at a low point of her fame when she played small venues.  Richard, who is now my ex and still my friend, and I saw her at the elegant Blue Room of the old Roosevelt Hotel.  Seated at tables, sipping vintage wine, the audience listened politely to her snarling trumpet voice.  Now I ask you, with all due consideration:  What kind of robots listen to Tina Turner politely?  I was the only person who stood up and danced merrily. 

 

 A few weeks later, Richard, friend Bob Stout and I saw her at a dark club in Metairie.  She was an explosion of female power.  The sound waves coming from her were arrows solid matter. Her presence, her movement was monumental.  There was dancing in the aisles.    

 

Shooting out from Tina were waves of palpable energy which pulsated through my mind and body and endowed me with super powers.    She was an inspiration for my inner feral, which awaits even now, decades later, downstairs from my usually polite personality, for a situation which calls for snarling and striking. 

As Tina sang, "You better be good to me".
 

These two pictures are large digital files produced in Photoshop.  I created an acrylic on 16"x24", Arches paper version of the "Tina Turner, Feral" picture.  Next I plan to paint the Medusa picture on paper.  I exaggerated her snarl, the asymmetry of her mouth.  Her eyes came out wise and kind.  Working with her amazing and beautiful features for several weeks was an additional power infusion to my being.

 

 

 

Close Ups of Tina Turner

 

 

 

 

 



Alter Altar in Amber

Alter Altar in Amber

 





Notice:

I just read an important notice from Google, something about Europeans and cookies and that I should confirm whether or not something or other is working.  I am putting this chore on my to do list and will complete it when I have time.  Since writing this blog is about the limit of my computer literacy, complying with this notice will take a lot of time. I may be able to find time between nap time and couch potato time. I think that I have some time in my closet.  I will put on head gear to protect me from a potential product (stuff) avalanche, before I open the closet door, to search for more time.  Please bare with me until I do get around to regulating what ever rigmarole ragtime riff raff that I should rig up.  I am pretty sure that I have cookies in my kitchen, so I will go and take care of them now.  I am giving notice that I may or may not have cookies on this blog.

Brangelina Mere Mortals

Brangelina Mere Mortals

We will all die,

sooner or later.
So seize the day.

 

POP Religion

pop art

pop up gallery

popsicle

poppa

pop up toaster

pop tart

pop tart

pop, pop, fizz, fizz

pop gun

pop, pop, bang, bang

pop goes the weasel

pop U lar

pop U lated

pop up book

pop ideology

pop dogma

pop sin

pope

pop on ice

pop rocks

pop rx

pop corn

pop fever

pop riffing

  Brought to you by the  More Guts Than Brains Coalition.



  

 





Tripolo Gallery, POP Religion Show

Tripolo Gallery

POP Religion Art Show

Save the date:   Opening, this Saturday, August 9,  6pm-9pm.  Paintings will be on view for several weeks.

323 North Columbia Street, Covington, LA, 70433.
 Phone 985-789-4073.

I am so pleased that the wonderful and gracious Donna Duffy is showing my paintings from the "POP Religion Series" in her beautiful Tripolo Gallery. I hope that you will take this opportunity to see my work looking good in this gorgeous setting. The gallery is in the charming old town section of Covington  with coffee house, restaurants, fine shopping and lots of art nearby.

The list of paintings to be shown is still in the decision making process. We will surely hang, "Jagger Devil", as it is an exciting attention grabber.  I know that you want to see it as a painting, looking so much more vibrant than its appearance on your computer.  "Marilyn Aphrodite" will be flirting off the wall.  "Belushi Bacchus"  will be leering his crocked smile.  "Baby God Crying", will be screaming his head off.

 Also, I want to show a few works from the "Radiance Series", just recently painted.  I have been trying to put into words what this series is "about".  An artist verbalizing what images are "about" is treading a slippery slope, that might be better avoided, however, people ask, and it seems that words must be produced.  I wish that the images would visually communicate, almost psychically transport, from my mind to your mind, but not everyone is fluent in the language of images.  Words help to bridge the gap.

  The "Radiance Series", are pictures of women's faces, but they are not portraits, they are studies of psychological or spiritual states or moods.  I think that three of the paintings tell a story of emotional growth.  "Pensive", shows a deep contemplative state.  "Dragonfly Woman", is awakening to expanded consciousness. And "Endurance Fluid",  is experiencing the consciousness state of nirvana.  So, these three will make a nice exhibit trio.

I am not re-posting these pictures, you can just scroll back to the two most previous entries to see them.

I hope to see you at the opening, but if you cant make that, the paintings will be hanging for a few weeks and you can pop in to take a look.

POP Religion

POP Religion

 

 

The series "POP Religion" came about in a natural flowing process .  Artistic, intuitive research into myth and spirituality over a time period of several years (I may even say, several decades, or a lifetime), has inspired me to create this series.  Led by my Muse I witnessed the evolution of a cohesive/confused concept that has kept me painting, creating with enthusiasm.  It has been a revolution in my mind expressed and communicated with paintings. The images display a     sincere/ironic vibe.

 

POP Religion, the concept, in 25 words or less:

This series is artistic research into the human need to believe in something, anything. It is a quirky personal pantheon of reverent/irreverent images.  POP Religion believes in Gods, Goddesses, Celebrities,  Royalty, Art, and QUESTioning.
 

These writers on myth theory have influenced my thought processes;  Joseph Campbell,  Sir James Frazier, and Carl Jung. 

 

Cardinal Woman

Acrylic on canvas,  20"x16", 2014

 

Digital painting, 23M flat file, 2023

 

Hey yall, we are not going to live forever.  In the words of Gauguin, "Where did we come from.  Why are we here.  Where are we going?"  You wont find any answers here, just some confounded meandering.  

 

Saint Louis Cathedral

acrylic on canvas, 36"x48", 2006

This painting, was created seven years ago.  It was made at a time when I was exploring the textures of acrylic impasto. I am using it now to introduce POP Religion

Holy Ghosts hover in the alcoves of a woozy church.  Maybe, it is better not to enter.  Are you brave? I don't know, it is all so confusing.  This is not a real church it is a painting.  POP Religion is not a real religion, or is it?   Is it a hoax, a joke or a concept? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Belushi Bacchus

oil and acrylic on canvas,  36"x48", 2012

 

Bacchus is the god of Mardi Gras.  He reigns over hedonistic abandon.  Woohoo, he is the party god.   His revelers act out impulses beyond the borders of  social constraint. 

Bacchus, (Dionysus to the Greeks), is the protector of those who do not fit into conventional society. He symbolizes chaos and danger, the escape from human reason. Bacchus worshipers seek  a place beyond the borders of the known and civilized. His is a freedom, mystery religion.

 



Prometheus in his Sean Connery Incarnation

Acrylic on canvas,  48"x36", 2014

 

Digital painting and Epson print, 17M flat, 2013



details

 

 

Prometheus brought fire to humans when they were shivering and ignorant cavemen. The big honcho of Elysian Fields, Zeus, CEO of the heavens, wanted to keep fire, (a metaphor for intelligence) for himself alone. Prometheus stole fire from Zeus, so he was punished with eternal suffering.  This Promethean savior of humankind was chained to a rock, an eagle attacked and ate his liver everyday.  Overnight his liver grew back, only to be eaten again.

Recently Prometheus has been reincarnated  as Sean Connery.  After enduring the sadistic punishments of Zeus, this is like a vacation incarnation for him.  He enjoys being 007 and a movie star. 



 

Marilyn Aphrodite

acrylic on canvas, 24"x24", 6/2013

 



Marilyn Monroe is the reincarnation of the Greco-Roman goddess Aphrodite/Venus. She celebrates the sensuous symphony of physicality.  Marilyn has captured popular imagination since 1952, in my opinion  that qualifies her for goddess status.

Oprah Cleopatra

digital print

detail

 

 

Breaking news!!! Hot flash!!!

It has been discovered that Oprah is the reincarnation of Cleopatra!

Cleo had grown bored of everlasting languid lounging on the loveseat in LalaLand.   So she reinvented, reimagined and reincarnated herself as the Queen of Television.

 

This important event has been verified by Archie Long, an archeologist in Egypt who is an old and dear paramour of Oprah's.  Upon close examination of the famous Cleopatra Odalisque Statue of Giza, he found a gluteal area tattoo with phallic symbolism.  He was surprised and excited to find the unusual ink that matches the exact tattoo and placement he fondly remembers stroking on Oprah's caramel skin.  The tattoos match perfectly, it can not be a coincidence.  They prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the TV Queen was previously the Egyptian Pharaoh Queen.  

Tune in to award winning program TELL IT LIKE IT IS, tonight on the Irreverent Channel.  Clark Kent presents an in depth interview with the renowned archeologist Archie Long.  This amazing, ground breaking discovery will change your life.  Don't miss it. Tonight, channel 9393. 

John Lennon Jesus

Digital painting and Epson print, 22M flat, 2013

Love one another.  All you need is love.  Love your neighbor as yourself.  Give peace a chance.

Mary, Queen of All

  mixed media on canvas, 24"x18", 2010

 

 

 

details

 

 

 

Mary, Queen of All

 

 

This vibrant picture speaks of compassionate love.  A collage of  pictures of a variety of women form the familiar Mary image.  Janis Joplin appears in the heart center.  Compassionate goddesses are worshiped historically world wide.  These forgiving, supportive myths speak to a deep need for the enveloping arms of perfect motherly love. 

 

The artistic process for this picture started with my collection of original digital female figure paintings, created over several years.  The layout was plotted digitally and  puzzle like sections were printed and cut out using archival Epson ink and paper. The cut out collage elements were then embedded into layers of acrylic paint.  Golden brand acrylics were used to create a pearly glowing halo. 

 

 

 

 

Baby God Crying

oil, acrylic on canvas, 36"x48', 2013

 

 

Artist have continually mined the rich vein of the artist giants that came before.  In this painting I "mash-up" a thirteenth century Mary picture with a realistic Jesus, throwing a tantrum.

  

 

 

 

Mary and Krishna

oil, acrylic on canvas, 36"x48", 2013

 

 

Yashoda and Jesus

oil, acrylic on canvas, 36"x48", 2013

 

"Mary and Krishna" and "Yashoda and Jesus", are companion paintings, titled together as "Switched at Birth".    These paintings illustrate the similarities in religions world wide. Birth of a savior stories contain universal elements.  They teach us that people everywhere seek the sweetness of protection and compassion.   

 

For more info about these pictures and the similarities of Jesus and Krishna myths, see my blog entry for June, entitled, "Mary and Krishna, Yashoda and Jesus".

 



 

  

 

 

 

Jagger Devil

acrylic on canvas, 24"x24", 7/2013

 

The devil is a convenient repository for all that is judged as negatives.  He is the basement closet where badness is locked up.  With a devil thought concept evil is nicely organized into one hated mind space. With a devil for scapegoat humans can imagine that negativity is isolated from their everyday existence. No pantheon is complete without a dumping spot for evil.

 





Bleeding Jesus

acrylic on board, 16"x20", 2011

 

The Christian myth of Jesus fulfills a chasm of human needs.  Here is a god that can save us from ourselves.  Humans are driven more by primitive emotions than by reason.  Emotion trumps reason.  Human behavior is frequently self defeating and socially counterproductive.  Jesus suffered for our sins.  He offers redemption.  I don't know about you, but I need to be saved from a lot of my stupid mistakes, my past actions.  Redemption myths offer hope that we may be "more better" in the future. Hope that our regrets may be washed away with blood and we will be sin free, white as snow.  Well, it is nice to think so, except for all the blood, which is gory.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Source of Water

Acrylic on canvas, 24"x18", 2008

 

 

 

 

The metaphor images of woman/water has historically reoccurred in art. Vemeer painted "Woman with a Water Jug, in 1660.  In 1856 Ingres painted woman as a spring, bringing forth water, he was inspired by an earlier painter.  Woman and water as the source and spark of life, weaves through art history as a iconic thread of human existence.

 

  Water is more necessary for life than food.  A person can live for weeks without food, without water he may survive at most a few days.  We are at least 80% water.  Before entering this earth through the woman birth canal we float in a watery womb. 

 

Water reflects light.  It is also transparent, revealing another layer, a fluid realm beneath the surface.

 

The pairing of woman and water celebrates the amazing fertility of life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Phoenix Flying

Digital painting and Epson print, 21M flat, 2013

 

The mythical Phoenix bird is the original come-back-kid.  She lives and soars for 1000 years.  At the end of the millennium she crashes and burns.  The Phoenix dies by fire every 1000 years, then she rises from the ashes, reborn, to live and soar another 1000 years.  This myth fulfills our need to be reassured that we can rise from the ashes of our stupidity (personal stupidity and racial stupidity) and finally get our shit together.

 

 

 

 

 



 

 Gidget, Gadget and Gizmo

Digital painting, Epson print, 18M flat, 2013

 

This is just a funny little picture at the end

 

 



 

 A few notes:

 

This blog entry was updated September, 2014

  

These writers on myth theory have had influence on my thought processes;  Joseph Campbell,  Sir James Frazier, and Carl Jung. 

 

Many visual references have contributed to this series,  too many to name.

 

My posts are unedited, any misconduct is my error, mine alone. 

 

I rely on Wikipedia for reference.

 

Yashoda and Jesus



Mary and Krishna

Oil on canvas, 48"x36", 2012

 

 

 

Antenna Gallery, Mixed Messages

 

These two paintings will be in the Press Street's Antenna Gallery, Mixed Messages exhibition.  Opening Saturday June 7, 5pm to 9pm.  On view through July 1.  Gallery hours 12 noon to 5 pm, Monday through Sunday. Call 504-298-3161 before arrival. Address:  3718 Saint Claude Avenue, New Orleans, La.  Hope to see you there!

 

SWITCHED AT BIRTH is a pair of paintings,

MARY WITH KRISHNA and YASHODA WITH JESUS

 

These two paintings are from the series, "POP Religion".  POP Religion explores the myths that humans live by with irreverence/reverence and with humor.

 

In this pair of paintings the babies are switched between the two mothers.  The Caucasian mother holds the blue skinned baby, and the blue Indian mother holds the pink baby.  The Christian Mother Mary is holding the Hindu Baby God Krishna.  The Hindu nurture Mother Yashoda is holding the Christian Baby God Jesus.

 

The inspiration for these pictures is the similarities between the births, myths and teachings of Krishna and Jesus.  Similarities between Christianity and Hinduism. 

 

Both Krishna and Jesus were divinely conceived, brought to earth via miraculous insemination.  God planted holy sperm seeds in the human mothers' wombs. 

 

Krishna was born in a prison, Jesus was born in a barn (manger means a feeder for livestock).  So they were both born in lowly, unlikely places.

 

Both Krishna and Jesus were hybrid human and immortal Gods.

 

As Gods incarnate in human bodies, both were the chosen Saviors of flawed and suffering humans.  Both Gods were dedicated to saving humans from themselves.

 

Both Krishna and Jesus were humble and lead simple ascetic lives.  Both associated with downtrodden people.

 

Both healed the sick and raised the dead.

 

Both taught tolerance, mercy and kindness;  compassionate love.

 

There are many similarities in their lives, leading some scholars to theorize that the two myths stemmed from the one same story, and the differences in the myths are explained by their word of mouth retelling over time and traveling over a geographical area.

 

Other scholars, like Carl Jung postulate that the many similarities in not just these two myths but in many myths worldwide and over historical centuries is a result of an oversoul or spiritual connection between all humans everywhere and for all times.

 

Another factor in the similarities of world wide myths is the universality of the human dilemma.  In the words of artist Gauguin, "Where did we come from?  Why are we here?  Where are we going?"  We cant stand not knowing.

 

POP Religion is influenced by the writings of Joseph Campbell, Sir James Frazier, Carl Jung and by historical visual depictions of world wide myths.  The seriousness of these influences is balanced by humor.  Because if we cant laugh at ourselves, then we are really in trouble.

 

 

Note:  the "Yashoda and Jesus" picture here is the digital image that I used as preliminary study for the canvas painting.  The painting is different, the figures are similar but the background of the canvas picture is of clouds. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Art Show on a Table,2

 

Art Show on a Table, 2

 

 

 

 Art Show on a Table

 

 

Dancer in Opal

 

Dancer in Opal

Ink jet print, 24M, 12/2013

Dancer in Opal is an illustration of a transcendental state.  I have had experiences like this since I was a child.  Once I saw a burning bush.  My father, sisters and I were walking in our woods.  A young pine tree zapped me with a full view of its iridescent shimmering aura.  Abruptly, my father whacked my butt, once, sharply,  to pull me out of the "episode".  Evidently going into spontaneous trance states is inappropriate.

 

 

 

 Dancer in Opal Head

 

 

 

On Art Methods

Art has been a joy for me since childhood.  I loved finger paints, and remember being aware of colors early.  Over the years (I am 69) I have made art almost continuously.  Oil and acrylic painting and drawing were enduring loves. 

 

I started doing Photoshop in about 1999.  A neighbor gave me a bootlegged copy.  I was hooked immediately.  Over the course of teaching my self Photoshop I saw that my painting skills transferred to digital painting relatively easily.  Both mediums employ brushes, translucence/opacity, line, volume, color, texture and other creative tools.  Both mediums have advantages. 

 

In Photoshop you can take a finished version of a picture, duplicate it and use it again in a new way.  And make prints of both versions.  Maybe you saw the "Opalescent" picture in the last blog entry, that digital picture evolved into this ecstatic picture.  I drew a silhouette of the dancer, the silhouette was filled with the "Opalescent" cutout.  I may soon use a print of this px as a plan for an oil on canvas.  Or I might adapt the dancer for collaging.  So art evolves and stays interesting.

Digital art has been around for a few decades now.  It is taking time to be a recognized as suitable for fine art.  Just as photography took time to be recognized as a legitimate artistic expression.

I have been rejected for shows because I collaged original digital cutouts into acrylic paintings.  I like the tiny detail obtained with digital prints.  Smaller detail than I am willing to paint with a "real" brush. 



 The current David Hockney, exhibit of digital paintings, at de Young Museum, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, Calf, USA, is a signal that the best digital art is being recognized as fine art.  Hockney has been at the top of the art food chain since the 1960's..  He is called a living master of oil painting.


Tis the season!  Have a loving and joyful holiday seasoned with sweetness. 







Cardinal Woman

Cardinal Woman

Ink jet print, 12/2013

 

 

This recently completed painting speaks for itself,  I can't think of any words that would add anything to its beauty, except maybe "Death is the beauty of the rose". 

 

 

 

Pajama Friday at Barnes and Noble

 

I went to Barnes and Noble yesterday.  B+N is one of my favorite hangouts.  No matter what city I find myself in,  (haha, that makes it sound like I get around a bit, when in truth I have become something of a recluse) the comfy environment and the pleasure of scanning books while drinking coffee and eating a croissant draws me in. 
 

I browsed the books.  I thought about buying a philosophy by  Neitzsche but the jacket quip emphasized nihilism, a perspective that rejects all moral principles and holds the belief that all human endeavor is futile.  This was not for me, I have decided to hold only those beliefs that support happiness or promote compassionate love.  I would rather be happy than right. Especially since the pursuit of right beliefs has only left me confused by all the contradicting information.  

 

I found the book, "Depression for Dummies", and thought about reading it but then I thought, I can do depression all by myself, I do not need to read a how to book, I can do sinking into a mudhole of despair without any instructions. 

 

I can also pull myself out of the mud.  All it takes is a little denial of the facts of life.  Positive thinking works but since it is so difficult to frame the facts of death and injustice in a positive light without turning summersaults of irrationality, I just call it denial.

I saw a perky person wearing cartoon printed flannel pajamas standing between the paned glass doors and the magazine display, she was amusing.  Then I saw two other people wearing apparel appropriate for couch potato time.  I guess it was pajama Friday.  Very interesting.  A kid in a grey onesie checked me out.  I bought Dave the book, "Exceptional Chickens" and a jigsaw puzzle of a world map.

But wait, in this one blog, I posted a picture of youthful bloom/cold death.  I wrote, death, beauty, rose.  And, I wrote that I deny death.  I guess that you can see the problem here, confusion?

Bye now,  gotta go watch my favorite new TV channel,  it is called "Crock A Shit Chanel", have you seen it?  My fave program is called, "Composting for Doomsday".









 

 

 

 



How Have I Offended Thee? Let me count the ways?

Poppies

Inkjet print, 2011

 

 

 



 

Three Eyes

Inkjet print, 2011

 

 

How have I Offended Thee?

Let Me Count the Ways

 

OMG!  My art is offensive!  OMG!  Offensive, tacky, scary and embarrassing.  Incomprehensive, seemingly pointless.  It goes beyond the boundaries of good taste.  People are frightened.  My family is embarrassed. They are afraid that their friends will find out about me.  I have heard thinly veiled suggestions regarding medication.  There are some twists in my artistic path that are shocking.  Frightening!  It seems that I have not only offended the Christians;  New Agers and atheist also beg to differ. Dog lovers, dog haters and compulsive shoppers are avoiding me.

 Everyone else is just laughing.  Laughing at me or with me?

I am so sorry.  I apologize if I have offended you.  No offense was intended.  May I offer an explanation?  I have art brain.  This is a poorly documented anomaly of human neuroanatomy.  It is a disease, recognized by very few doctors.  Symptoms include lack of boundaries and an ineffective inner brain editor which leads to inappropriate behavior.  Please pardon me, the devil made me do it.

Actually, my Muse made me do it.  If I don't follow her she pouts and goes away.  She requires free range.  Without her, I get artist block.  Without her, yes, I could paint and write, but it would be boring.
 

Oh, Yea!  Take a look.  Beware, art may scramble your brain.  And you may not like that, because it makes you think.  It is a challenge.  It may shock you out of the doldrums. Shake up complacency.



************************************************************************************
 

 Office of Reason and Good Sense
333 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC

                                                                                                                                        

Dear Janet, 

There are some things that we need to discuss.  I am trying to help you to be successful, I am taking my valuable time to speak to you for your own good. 
 

First of all, a little alliteration is nice, but too much repetition is just annoying.  Hyperbole has its place, but please, do tone the exaggeration down.  And irony?  Irony is tricky,  some people don't get it when you write the opposite of you intend to communicate.   So, please refrain from irony.  Are you actually aiming to convince people that you are crazy? Or, is that just an accidental effect?

 

Throw "cute" in the trash.  How do you expect people to take you seriously when your so called "work" is just too cute?

 

Most Important!  For Gods sake, stay away from religion and spirituality.  No one really cares and you don't know what you are talking about. 
 

 Don't you remember?  Two gallery curators, the people that can help you exhibit your work, have rejected your pictures because of the twisted religious aspects.  Are you listening?   If you want to be recognized as an artist, then you need to have broad appeal.  They told you, two influential taste makers told you,  "We like the pop art, but not the religious pictures."

You are doing it all wrong!

 

Stick to light and fluffy.  You can make "nice pictures",  people want to be reassured.

You must be consistent, find a pretty style and stick to it. No one knows what to expect from you.  Changing styles every few years doesn't work.

 

I know, you are confused.  Is that your tag line now?  Listen up.   Being confused is not a good way to brand yourself.   Don't embarrass your self.

 

I don't want to tell you these things again.  You are bright.  Listen up.  The annual evaluation is coming up.  So study the guidelines, and follow the rules.

 

Sincerely yours,

The Voice of Reason

 

 

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Lets Paint

Conspiracy of the Gods

 

I am working on a picture and story of Prometheus, Bringer of Fire. Prometheus is an ancient Greek Celebrity.   The working title is,  Conspiracy of the Gods, "Prometheus Tells All". 

 

Red Hot News!  See the exclusive Natural Inquirer interview with Prometheus,  The Bringer of Light.  The WakiLeaks whistle blower will explain the devious behavior of the Gods.  He exposes the ancient conspiracy to keep fire from humankind.
 

 

         

How Have I Offended Thee

part two

 

 

That writing that I did, the "Lets Gossip Barbie", was over the top.  It offended Christians, New Agers, and the complacent majority with it's subversive insinuations.  There was a lot of silly sex.  But I think that the most material that caused the most offense, had to do with compulsive shopping, which, along with dissing dogs, maybe a TABOO subject. 
  

ART is a vast planet, with rivers and mountains and forests, there are mysterious, unexplored regions.

 

I invite you to journey with me off of the map.  I want to help you open your mind, help you be the driver of your own life.  I want to scramble your preconceived notions.  Question the architecture of your belief system.  Don't forget to pack your sense of humor.

My work uses surrealistic art references to access the unconscious.  The unconscious parts of our brain have a huge influence on our behavior.  Perhaps, by making the irrational visible, we may come to know ourselves better.  If your brain is scrambled, maybe you will put it back together, maybe, you will reevaluate your thought processes, and be better than ever.  

Oh, yea!  I hope that it upsets your programing.  Believe it or not, you have been programmed.  All that stuff that school taught you?  Much of it is just crap, wrong.  Did you go to church?  You are really programmed.

 You have watched a hundred jillion advertisements, all intended to make you feel inadequate, an inadequacy that only expensive products can allegedly soothe.  All intending to program you into being a good little consumer. 

You have been molded into a cog for the consumer culture, a huge machine that makes stockholders rich.  And, puts you in debt so that you are slaved to a shit job.  Think about it, darling.

(I do recognize some boundaries, for instance I will not urinate on religious icons, like the most successful living artist of the day did. Damien Hirst used shock tactics to jump start his career.  I may be irreverent, but I do not want to be seriously inconsiderate to the people who have found some comfort in religion.)

12/9/13  
I was reading over this blog today and recognized a mistake.  Damien Hirst did not make the "Piss Jesus" art work, Andres Serrano made it in 1987.  Damien Hirst floated a dissected baby calf and a zebra in formaldehyde.  The similar offenses here are the source of my mistake.
 

 

In these words and pictures, that I post online, I most sincerely hope to communicate from my consciousness to your consciousness. Bypass the rational and communicate directly brain to brain. I color out of the lines of social constrictions to irreverently and subversively, challenge you to think for yourself.

 

OK, well, that is an overly ambitious goal.  Maybe, this is just a bunch of bull shit that I have made up to entertain myself. Whatever!