There is tension between wanting art to transcend and wanting it to reflect reality back to us. Plus: Are Dems finally ready to retire the purity tests?
I have participated in several protests from TN to IN and also keep tabs on protests in other states. The “artwork” of grassroots protest signs is both humorous and poignant. And visually creative. Maybe y’all are looking in the wrong places for artistic expression.
I think "HE" shouldn't have "taken over" the Kennedy Center, but I'm sure that those that left will figure out another way to do what they've always done to honor those in artistic fields every December. If they have to find a "center" elsewhere they will and at least that will go on. I will NEVER watch what "HE" has to offer because it's cheap gold lame and ugly!
Art does have a political impact if not necessarily immediate. The Nazis knew this and banned what they didn't like. When they "proved" it with "degenerate" art exhibitions, the shows were thronged. Similarly the Soviets sequestered what they didn't like. Political art has power, social and political power, but as part of something larger. As a "thing i itself" able to change the world, not so much. Apropos of nothing really I have seen a number of Hitler's watercolours (in Florence in 1984 as a sort of appendix to an exhibition honouring Ridolfo Siviero, who recovered many works expropriated by the Nazis and in the process was handed the Hitler works by a widow of a high ranking Nazi). Hitler was not a bad landscape painter but as this piece says, he was hopeless at depicting people. Of course his choice of subject matter, traditional and "realistic", revealed his mindset and the notion that later art, no longer realistic, was degenerate, Hitler could have been one of those commercial artists who render "impressions" of architects' plans.
The mockery is crucial. Naked fat Trump, covered with liver spots and stretch marks, with his saggy old ass and tits and his tiny flaccid cock peeking out from beneath his wrinkly gut.
If you can display that publicly, you’ve still got a free country.
There is another word you have left out: joy. I am doing a local art walk this weekend and I am showing my most colorful and whimsical ceramics. People need joy if they are going to resist the dangerous insanity of TrumpMuskMAGA. Strauss put it best: “It is no small thing to make people dance.” Plus, as a visual person, I would prefer to eradicate TrunpMuskMAGA from my brain altogether.
There are other artistic options besides literal representations of Trump’s face. Artists aren’t interested in his face. Cartoonists are though, and there are some excellent cartoonists right now.
Even though it came out before Trump, Veep is still some of the highest art of Trump I for me at least as far as narrative art goes.
This time around Andor is really shaping up to be as timely imo. Well worth a watch for people looking for a bit of hardscrable meditation on hope and rebellion.
Whoever thought to hang this pasty, pale, cellulite-laden effigy of Trump deserves all the praise we can muster. Drivers on the overly dull desert highway will appreciate a break in the monotony. But careful to stay on the road. 🙃
Re: Hitler and making Germany great again, there are numerous differences between 1930s Germany and 21st Century USA. Germany was beaten in the first war, and still dealing with the harsh peace terms imposed by the victors.
America's failures, supposed "loss of greatness", were factors mostly of Trumpist propaganda. The economy was doing pretty well, some inflation notwithstanding, but even that was improving. Crime was down in the real world.
But in Trump's vision we had it worse than Germany did in the 1920s. And his cult believes every lie.
Sent the below in to the NYT Op-Ed (to no avail). So, I thought I'd share it here. Peace.
Nothing More Queer than the Nature of Love.
Or How Out of Sync Has a Universal Concept of Love Always Been
At the end of this essay is a poem for National Poetry Month in America.
Poetry is not naive to reality. For me, it's a form of questioning the spectrum of reality,
as it persists. As if: Are there actual paths to communication? And how do we substantially turn away from mutual hatred and cruelty? Can words help; or can words help whom?
We see our world, and that it’s unendingly difficult for all types of people to perceive and accept all other types of [good] people, and that it’s exceptionally more difficult for specific types of people to do so. But if there are objective guidelines about perceiving others (and oneself) maybe the first guideline is to incorporate the concept of love; and not the concepts of inchoate fear, ‘justified’ hate, and aggression.
Not as partisan heresy, but as a human and/or spiritual endeavor, I’d ask Marjorie Taylor Greene to write a poem about love. Let it not include sexuality, or let it include sexuality. Let it not include hate, fear, or aggression. Let it contemplate her relationship with God, or what she imagines her God’s capacity to love is. Let it contemplate others’ love for each other, and for their children. Let it contemplate the opposites of love that she has mostly expressed for others, and why it emanates from her. Let her poem contemplate how fate made her; and how fate has made everyone.
I wonder if it’s possible for her to humbly contemplate love; or what her limits are- in that people truly have intrinsic, or nurtured limits. I wonder if it’s truly possible for Donald Trump to contemplate love. Or House Speaker Mike Johnson, or his wife. Or Vice President Vance, or his wife. Or Mark Zuckerburg, or his wife. Or Supreme Court Justices Thomas and Alito (and their wives), and/or how the other conservative Justices and their families perceive love. Or how Putin perceives love. Or how Marine Le Pen perceives love. Or Joe Rogan. Or Ben Shapiro. Not as ‘absolute’ Christian, or Jewish, or Muslim, or Buddhist love, but as pragmatic, humanistic love; as opposed to the human feelings of hate and fear that are translated into ‘justified’ cruelties (regardless of deep, religious hypocrisy per any religion).
Not as bipartisan naivete, but shouldn’t it be (or could it be) that in our politics and societal structures, as well as, or emerging from our interpersonal approach towards each other, that love (and courage) were central considerations? That this concept wouldn’t feel trite. And that even still, in regards to intrinsic humanness, we'd have structured laws to address human behavior
and [good] penitentiaries.
Poetry encourages hopeful voices of complex love to be present unceasingly.
Voices like Cory Booker’s. Voices that need a chorus. A chorus to challenge daily,
‘Donald Trump’ and ‘Marjorie Taylor Greene’, et al… to contemplate love; and to incorporate love into their positions of power, and into their understanding and crafting of policy. As if journalists (and/or the religious media) were to ask ‘them’ daily to talk specifically about-
human love on earth; and secular human society. And the White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, would be asked each day about her personal concept of love; and her administration’s concept of love-
at her daily press briefing.
Nothing More Queer Than Love
Yes, I shouldn’t win the prize. But maybe 100th place.
Or no, I should win. Or maybe in whichever place my poem falls…
is what it sounds like to be me- notwithstanding if I'm ‘good’.
If there were no mirrors, I couldn’t see my face.
But I could see, or almost see, the structure of me that sings
when I’m touched.
Or I sing as an invisible mind,
when it sees another’s face, and body.
Or hears another’s visible thought.
Today, I read a scientific piece that argues that homo sapiens
evolved from proto apes in Western Europe, in Turkey and Bulgaria- and not Africa.
At first, it hurt my feelings- because my skin is brown.
Then I tried not to care.
Though not regardless of what others might think and feel-
as if thought and feeling… precede thought and feeling.
I’m writing a piece about Rachel Zegler as Snow White,
and I’m feeling that she won the part, because-
of all of those who tried out, she was profoundly magnetic,
and her voice was spiritually intoxicating.
I imagined that those who say- with feeling; and/or without thinking-
that they’re not racist, and that they don’t see color,
would embrace anyone as Snow White.
As if they were still children, like boys and girls.
Or until- as all who dream what they dream; and feel and think.
I imagined that a name could be Snow White.
Or it could be True Black.
Or it could be Kind Storm.
Or it could be Intrinsic Princess and Prince.
I imagined my niece playing Snow White, with her beautiful voice and beautiful brown skin.
I imagined my neighbor’s child playing True Black, with their beautiful voice
and beautiful white skin.
I wondered if innocence is briefly White or Black?
Or that innocence is every color, with the brief meaning of innocence.
I imagined that being born different each day
would be no more queer than being myself- from where to love.
And that love is strong, and universally strange.
And that love can argue about the details of its beauty, weakness, and strength.
I hear it from hip hop and soul still. Beyoncé, Jay Z, Eminem. Probably younger artists I'm too old for. These people have mastered their craft to create something beautiful as well as provocative. I don't see that in modern visual art so much. Seems like it's always just looking for a gimmick and the execution is not Michelangelo.
I have participated in several protests from TN to IN and also keep tabs on protests in other states. The “artwork” of grassroots protest signs is both humorous and poignant. And visually creative. Maybe y’all are looking in the wrong places for artistic expression.
I think "HE" shouldn't have "taken over" the Kennedy Center, but I'm sure that those that left will figure out another way to do what they've always done to honor those in artistic fields every December. If they have to find a "center" elsewhere they will and at least that will go on. I will NEVER watch what "HE" has to offer because it's cheap gold lame and ugly!
I submit for your review Mr. Jesse Duquette. Eviscerating MAGA daily.
Art does have a political impact if not necessarily immediate. The Nazis knew this and banned what they didn't like. When they "proved" it with "degenerate" art exhibitions, the shows were thronged. Similarly the Soviets sequestered what they didn't like. Political art has power, social and political power, but as part of something larger. As a "thing i itself" able to change the world, not so much. Apropos of nothing really I have seen a number of Hitler's watercolours (in Florence in 1984 as a sort of appendix to an exhibition honouring Ridolfo Siviero, who recovered many works expropriated by the Nazis and in the process was handed the Hitler works by a widow of a high ranking Nazi). Hitler was not a bad landscape painter but as this piece says, he was hopeless at depicting people. Of course his choice of subject matter, traditional and "realistic", revealed his mindset and the notion that later art, no longer realistic, was degenerate, Hitler could have been one of those commercial artists who render "impressions" of architects' plans.
Andor on Disney+ is the ultimate artistic response to Trumpism. Watch both seasons.
The mockery is crucial. Naked fat Trump, covered with liver spots and stretch marks, with his saggy old ass and tits and his tiny flaccid cock peeking out from beneath his wrinkly gut.
If you can display that publicly, you’ve still got a free country.
There is another word you have left out: joy. I am doing a local art walk this weekend and I am showing my most colorful and whimsical ceramics. People need joy if they are going to resist the dangerous insanity of TrumpMuskMAGA. Strauss put it best: “It is no small thing to make people dance.” Plus, as a visual person, I would prefer to eradicate TrunpMuskMAGA from my brain altogether.
There are other artistic options besides literal representations of Trump’s face. Artists aren’t interested in his face. Cartoonists are though, and there are some excellent cartoonists right now.
Even though it came out before Trump, Veep is still some of the highest art of Trump I for me at least as far as narrative art goes.
This time around Andor is really shaping up to be as timely imo. Well worth a watch for people looking for a bit of hardscrable meditation on hope and rebellion.
Whoever thought to hang this pasty, pale, cellulite-laden effigy of Trump deserves all the praise we can muster. Drivers on the overly dull desert highway will appreciate a break in the monotony. But careful to stay on the road. 🙃
Re: Hitler and making Germany great again, there are numerous differences between 1930s Germany and 21st Century USA. Germany was beaten in the first war, and still dealing with the harsh peace terms imposed by the victors.
America's failures, supposed "loss of greatness", were factors mostly of Trumpist propaganda. The economy was doing pretty well, some inflation notwithstanding, but even that was improving. Crime was down in the real world.
But in Trump's vision we had it worse than Germany did in the 1920s. And his cult believes every lie.
Where has this naked sculpture of trump been hiding? These images need more circulation!
There’s a great song on Spotify called the Swasticar Blues by Charlie Root.
Sent the below in to the NYT Op-Ed (to no avail). So, I thought I'd share it here. Peace.
Nothing More Queer than the Nature of Love.
Or How Out of Sync Has a Universal Concept of Love Always Been
At the end of this essay is a poem for National Poetry Month in America.
Poetry is not naive to reality. For me, it's a form of questioning the spectrum of reality,
as it persists. As if: Are there actual paths to communication? And how do we substantially turn away from mutual hatred and cruelty? Can words help; or can words help whom?
We see our world, and that it’s unendingly difficult for all types of people to perceive and accept all other types of [good] people, and that it’s exceptionally more difficult for specific types of people to do so. But if there are objective guidelines about perceiving others (and oneself) maybe the first guideline is to incorporate the concept of love; and not the concepts of inchoate fear, ‘justified’ hate, and aggression.
Not as partisan heresy, but as a human and/or spiritual endeavor, I’d ask Marjorie Taylor Greene to write a poem about love. Let it not include sexuality, or let it include sexuality. Let it not include hate, fear, or aggression. Let it contemplate her relationship with God, or what she imagines her God’s capacity to love is. Let it contemplate others’ love for each other, and for their children. Let it contemplate the opposites of love that she has mostly expressed for others, and why it emanates from her. Let her poem contemplate how fate made her; and how fate has made everyone.
I wonder if it’s possible for her to humbly contemplate love; or what her limits are- in that people truly have intrinsic, or nurtured limits. I wonder if it’s truly possible for Donald Trump to contemplate love. Or House Speaker Mike Johnson, or his wife. Or Vice President Vance, or his wife. Or Mark Zuckerburg, or his wife. Or Supreme Court Justices Thomas and Alito (and their wives), and/or how the other conservative Justices and their families perceive love. Or how Putin perceives love. Or how Marine Le Pen perceives love. Or Joe Rogan. Or Ben Shapiro. Not as ‘absolute’ Christian, or Jewish, or Muslim, or Buddhist love, but as pragmatic, humanistic love; as opposed to the human feelings of hate and fear that are translated into ‘justified’ cruelties (regardless of deep, religious hypocrisy per any religion).
Not as bipartisan naivete, but shouldn’t it be (or could it be) that in our politics and societal structures, as well as, or emerging from our interpersonal approach towards each other, that love (and courage) were central considerations? That this concept wouldn’t feel trite. And that even still, in regards to intrinsic humanness, we'd have structured laws to address human behavior
and [good] penitentiaries.
Poetry encourages hopeful voices of complex love to be present unceasingly.
Voices like Cory Booker’s. Voices that need a chorus. A chorus to challenge daily,
‘Donald Trump’ and ‘Marjorie Taylor Greene’, et al… to contemplate love; and to incorporate love into their positions of power, and into their understanding and crafting of policy. As if journalists (and/or the religious media) were to ask ‘them’ daily to talk specifically about-
human love on earth; and secular human society. And the White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, would be asked each day about her personal concept of love; and her administration’s concept of love-
at her daily press briefing.
Nothing More Queer Than Love
Yes, I shouldn’t win the prize. But maybe 100th place.
Or no, I should win. Or maybe in whichever place my poem falls…
is what it sounds like to be me- notwithstanding if I'm ‘good’.
If there were no mirrors, I couldn’t see my face.
But I could see, or almost see, the structure of me that sings
when I’m touched.
Or I sing as an invisible mind,
when it sees another’s face, and body.
Or hears another’s visible thought.
Today, I read a scientific piece that argues that homo sapiens
evolved from proto apes in Western Europe, in Turkey and Bulgaria- and not Africa.
At first, it hurt my feelings- because my skin is brown.
Then I tried not to care.
Though not regardless of what others might think and feel-
as if thought and feeling… precede thought and feeling.
I’m writing a piece about Rachel Zegler as Snow White,
and I’m feeling that she won the part, because-
of all of those who tried out, she was profoundly magnetic,
and her voice was spiritually intoxicating.
I imagined that those who say- with feeling; and/or without thinking-
that they’re not racist, and that they don’t see color,
would embrace anyone as Snow White.
As if they were still children, like boys and girls.
Or until- as all who dream what they dream; and feel and think.
I imagined that a name could be Snow White.
Or it could be True Black.
Or it could be Kind Storm.
Or it could be Intrinsic Princess and Prince.
I imagined my niece playing Snow White, with her beautiful voice and beautiful brown skin.
I imagined my neighbor’s child playing True Black, with their beautiful voice
and beautiful white skin.
I wondered if innocence is briefly White or Black?
Or that innocence is every color, with the brief meaning of innocence.
I imagined that being born different each day
would be no more queer than being myself- from where to love.
And that love is strong, and universally strange.
And that love can argue about the details of its beauty, weakness, and strength.
I hear it from hip hop and soul still. Beyoncé, Jay Z, Eminem. Probably younger artists I'm too old for. These people have mastered their craft to create something beautiful as well as provocative. I don't see that in modern visual art so much. Seems like it's always just looking for a gimmick and the execution is not Michelangelo.
Perfect.
I've missed the last couple of Secret pods. When are they sent?