I apologize for not being high-minded today...

Given the current situation, this is in bad form. But I hadn't heard of the Uzbeks until I saw this bit on SCTV.

Another painting...

(#5 of 5)    30" x 31 1/4"

(Painting #5, details)

I think this one is finished. The marks, lines, shapes and palette are starting to move beyond a phantom-like recall...slowly becoming current, more now than mere physical memories of having once painted.

The Right is always wrong

I've posted some version of this before, but it's worth a look every  month or so. One might listen to this and think..."Why so harsh Mr. Burroughs? After all you're dead, and certainly things have improved in the past 24 years"
Just read a Sarah Palin Facebook post. Listen to Rand Paul talk about how mountain top removal is okay if the mountain belongs to you or your company. Watch anything uttered by Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL). Think about the politics of South Carolina and Arizona.
Oh, let us not forget the Gulf of Mexico.

You can never be too harsh when discussing the American right wing.




UPDATED: American politics have become a zero sum game. Let's face it, some of the right wing, libertarian and fiscal conservative bullshit is attractive to a lot of Americans. Processed within a life of work, debt, fear and hassles of every proportion, the "I've got mine, screw you!" mentality hits a chord.

Whether the issue is guns, re-segregating private businesses, illegal immigration or the deficit, a moderately clever right wing strategist can appeal to a large number of Americans who struggle enough on a daily basis to have long ago walked away from the idea of citizenship; the concept that the real founders folded into both the Constitution and the Bill of Rights (and yes, they were wealthy and white, but philosophically visionary). The challenge that the founders faced (and well meaning Democrats/liberals still face today), is convincing the population to take the bet that helping the least among us, and advocating for the middle class over corporate power, will benefit the whole and preserve a modicum of social stability and harmony. The more rightward politics move, the less anyone really benefits.

Come on...reasonable federal gun laws, the EPA, Social Security, Medicare...state sponsored law enforcement, fire protection and local social services for the poor, the addicted and the crazy...does anyone really think that eliminating these things will make life better?

Really? Come on.

A Painting

(#4 of 4)    30" x 31 1/4"

Reaching back to my own painterly abstraction from the early 80s. I have been trying to work through "not painting:" many years of not painting. Consequently, I thought it was necessary to mine old ways to see if I can cycle up to the present. To keep it going, it seemed that tapping into "pleasure principle" work of my past might help me want to work.

Who knows, maybe in a few months I'll be (re)doing the disconnected image and text anchored work of the "late capitalist" period (late 80s-90s)...you know...images of a smiling Ronald Reagan, barking dogs and a mushroom cloud.

Memorial Day, 1994

My mother when she was a teenager.

She died on May 30th...16 years ago. I still miss her.

Leon Golub

Mercenaries IV, 1980

I studied with Leon Golub in the mid-80s. He was a mystery before I met him...I only "knew" him through his work...very large paintings with a dark perspective.
In reality, he was very thoughtful, generous, gentle, and funny. He pushed young artists to read art criticism and write about their work and the cultural/political moment...to become aware of the assumptions and speculation that surrounds artmaking, and the art object...to become familiar with the players, other than the artists, that actually shape, promote and often misdirect the life of an art object.

Leon was from Chicago, it was subtle, but growing up with a family from Milwaukee, I always felt there was something familiar in his physical gestures and speech; a "son of an immigrant" toughness that existed in the upper mid-west, a crucible for labor unions and social activism.

The clips below were lifted from Golub/Spero, a documentary produced by Kartemquin Films.






Later, his work did change from the iconic canvasses of the 70s and 80s. In 2001 he described his new work:

"my work these days is sort of political, sort of metaphysical, and sort of smart-ass."

He was a funny guy who consistently worked just beyond the art world's approval.



















Stop Rushing Me!, 2003

American art museums are still slow to embrace Golub's overtly political work...given this decade's revelations of government sanctioned torture and covert operations...why does this body of work remain "controversial?"

Ridiculous.

For Ramiro

My solitary blog follower...



...oh, and fuck Arizona.

We can only hope that all this christo-fascist, regressive, racist, teabagging bullshit is a sign that the fever induced delirium of the Reagan/Bush/Clinton/Bush era is about to break.

John Carter of Mars

In 1972 I escaped the fear, confusion and banality of puberty by spending hours on end reading Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter of Mars series.

















I am reminded of this by the passing of Frank Frazetta. My only break from marathon reading sessions was to copy the Frazetta's illustrations on the ERB book covers. I doubt my copies were very good, but drawing them, at 14, did give me the opportunity to obsess over things that I desired, but absolutely didn't have; physical strength and half naked girls.
I also recall being fascinated by Burroughs' use of post-death and astral projection to get John Carter from planet Earth to Mars. Neat trick.

TWELVE years had passed since I had laid the body of my great-uncle, Captain John Carter, of Virginia, away from the sight of men in that strange mausoleum in the old cemetery at Richmond.

Often had I pondered on the odd instructions he had left me governing the construction of his mighty tomb, and especially those parts which directed that he be laid in an open casket and that the ponderous mechanism which controlled the bolts of the vault's huge door be accessible only from the inside.

"No one could have predicted..."

I don't think Democrats quite grasp (Republicans are indifferent or actually believe their own free-market bullshit) that many more people now see the connection between the financial industry/corporate money that goes to politicians and the steady destruction of the middle class.
Obviously many factors at work...manufacturing moving overseas (massive generational job losses)...corporate globalization (they no longer depend on American consumption for profit)...

The middle class was created to generate wealth for the top 5%...not needed anymore...bye, bye.

Slimy grifters.

Cynical Ratfuckers (see defintion below)

Dirty tricks are unethical, duplicitous, slanderous or illegal tactics employed to destroy or diminish the effectiveness of political or business opponents. The term "dirty trick" can also be used to refer to an underhanded technique to get ahead of an opponent (such as sabotage or disregarding rules of engagement).

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

This is a solid description of how deceptive the right-wing can be in their attempts to overturn and co-opt well-meaning efforts to inform the voters/citizenry. It isn't a new strategy, but in the digital age, it is much easier to disguise the dirty trick or ratfuck.

I've got to get this out of my system...

OK...done.

I Was Here but I Disapear (sic)

This movie was important to my adolescence. Saw it in 1977 with a couple of soon to be punk friends in a Louisville "Art Movie" house that doubled as a gritty porn theater during the day.

I Love YouTube

Fantastic live performance. Bonus footage of the creepy British guy with atrocious teeth.

Somebody's House Party: Louisville, 1975

Not uncommon in the mid-70's to go to a suburban house of a friend or acquaintance... parents out of town for the weekend...upwards of 40 "teenager" cars strung out along suburban streets and cul de sacs...to drink a lot, smoke weed and hi-jack the stereo. When a couple of us would tire of hearing Steely Dan or Little Feat for the zillionth time, we would move to the stereo system, appear to appreciate it's quality or brand; Pioneer, Marantz, etc., and begin to ease the volume down as if the track was ending. The other co-conspirator(s) would be prepared to quickly switch records to something less cheesy or straight. It could be Jimi Hendrix, Weather Report, Stanley Clarke, Frank Zappa or Billy Cobham...




At the time, I was miserable, struggling with existential fear and good old fashioned alienation.
Still, good music, good times.

UPDATED: An actual house party, the Spears', 1976. My back is to the camera.

Related to Previous Post: The Society of the Spectacle

REM It's the end of the world from Jiri Spac on Vimeo.

"IN A world that is really upside down, the true is a moment of the false."

Guy Debord



While this mash-up is viscerally satisfying to watch (because it feels true), it truly isn't.

We have Reached Our Cultural and Political Nadir

ht/bettycracker

Where will ALL of this lead. I am not very optimistic.

I Wish Life Could Be Swedish Magazines

In 1979, just after the Sex Pistols crashed, Iggy comes through.




Further back (1973), a pretty solid mash-up... Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket, and Search and Destroy

Black Baby Abduction and To Sir With Love

redstateupdate.com

These guys crack me up. Stay for the song!

Why Always Stoned?

One of my favorite Jonathan Richman songs.

And another.