art wars -- painting the resistance

Rush Limbaugh and Alex Jones when cornered by divorce lawyers in courts of law cop to just being entertainers, testifying that what they say isn’t meant to be factual, just incendiary. Their hateful, stupid diatribes are only for the amusement of their rabid, socially degenerate audiences, and the first amendment protects them from liable liability. So just what the hell is going on?

So what if art turned out to be more powerful than nuclear weapons? A heavy nuclear exchange in SE Asia would be terminal for us all, but there might be some ways we just wouldn’t want to live, like drones in an ant colony, such as that. Whatever our fate, it isn’t about guns, not any more. It’s about art. The Kremlin has special openings for theater majors, video production people, and creative writers willing to sabotage democracy for a few bucks, a better car and nicer apartment. The russians want mock trials, staged 'spontaneous' demonstrations complete with counter protestors, and provocateurs willing to caricature any point of view and make it preposterous. This is not technology, this not weaponry, this is not economic leverage, just a little play-acting, a bit of thought paralyzing poetry, the mind control of consciously weaponized art.

Warhol is the great architect, the genius who invented the system. He screwed the culture for money and fame, demeaning our character, and sabotaging our notions of integrity and accomplishment. After all, ‘in the future everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes,’ his most famous quote, makes actually striving for any achievement, all the hard work and dedication, seem pretty pointless. Well, everyone knows the russians love art. They’re using Andy’s techniques, fragments of public discourse whipped into a toxic froth of regressing familiarity that dissolves and diminishes our sense of self, and it’s not for the money, but just to watch us crumble as a nation, as an idea, out to eliminate the notion of personal freedom apart from state control.

We’ve had artists dedicated to making life better for all of us, inspirational and invested in human freedom, Arthur Miller, John Coltrane, Ed Hopper, all demonstrating discipline and self-sacrifice, striving always for maximum integrity and excellence, and providing an example of what a fully human existence can attain. The hour is late, but new art can sprout green from the rudderless fermenting pile called ‘contemporary,’ incestuous and inbred. All over, all at once, common folk need to cleanse their eyes, to see what’s actually there in front of them, and that means looking at and learning from art. Art from the neighborhood is a good place to begin. Seek truth.