something fun for dark times!

I don't know about you but I find the atmosphere in and around the world so awful after the American election that has put a criminal in the White House. It's progressively appalling because the entire crime family expands with all his appointments.

Sacré Bleu! Quoi faire? We civilised people ask to our friends. How can this thing have happened to the greatest democracy in the world?

Well, it's probably 'karma', 'payback', 'hubris', etc, etc,,. We've meddled in so many elections around the world that went pear-shaped

because of us that we are no better than our European cousins across the pond. But hey!

So here are several of my absolute faves that have hung around my desktop for ages. This top one is the creation of a clever person here around Byron Bay. It was an installation at the local cinema a few years back. My brother is the fellow with the long hair in the chair. I loved this set of oversized balloons in suspiciously feminine colours more suited for a lingerie shop. But it works well in an otherwise nondescript but pleasant waiting lounge at the Palace cinema.     

I love this piece below by Sean Scully. It's clever and colourful, something that escapes me when I see many of his paintings.

 

Sean Scully

I wish I knew where this red balloon was jammed into a thin street between two brick buildings. It could be in London, possibly Amsterdam or Berlin? Anyway, we need more of these things.

Below, is a piece by the 'enfant terrible' of Los Angeles. Personally, I don't care much for Paul McCarthy's work. It's usually on the vulgar side of the sunny Californian street. It's the work of someone who did too much LSD. I don't get his work maybe because I haven't done drugs in a long time. And yet, here in the Place Vendôme he erects a butt plug as a Christmas tree decoration that infuriated Parisians. It's a double entendre which I think is slightly brilliant. I think for a four week installation it's not just tolerable but kind of cool. And though I can sometimes appreciate these narcissistic artists, in the end, he's a very, very bad boy and probably needs a stiff spanking!

Paul McCarthy

On the other hand I really love this clothes pin, I think for a parc in Switzerland but I'm probably wrong. It's green and civilised like the Swiss I believe. I do know that it's part of a golf course near one of the fairways. Nice!

Mehmet Ali Uysal

So the moral of the tale is to be curious despite all the dreadful things going on in the world. Vivre la création! 

 

Help! Marcel Duchamp ! Everyone's gotta get in the act!

This news blurb has been on my desktop a while now because I confess that I found it funny. Defacing ART in museums is obviously a serious concern for people who care about both ART and History so I'm not encouraging it by any means. In this case though it wasn't about defacing but adding eyes to a face. It happened in a museum in Russia somewhat recently. I could only imagine  some poor guy, (or gal) in a shabby uniform and absolutely bored out of his or her mind while standing  whole days at a time, month after month in a grey Russia with a dismal life. With a BIC pen in their pocket, did they suddenly think of this on the spur of the moment, or was it thought out over too much vodka one evening? 

Looking at it another way, isn't it possible that this act was an ironically subversive statement on the faceless quality of life in Russia? Maybe of everywhere? 

Wasn't the guard in question, acting more like a renegade artist than a bored employee of the state? Wouldn't Marcel Duchamp approve?

In any event, the poor soul was probably sent to a gulag in the north for a lengthy sentence. 

Below, is what happened to one of Wei-Wei's sculptures (Porcelain Cube) that was pushed over during the reception of his recent show at Palazzo Fav in Bologna Italy. Apparently, the saboteur snuck into the reception and tipped it over to everyone's horror. The fellow was identified as a Czech national and a wanna-be artist who was looking for attention. 

Ironically Wei-Wei himself smashed a 2000 year old ceramic vessel (but which he had bought himself) and documented it in photographs. His conceptual piece on that destruction is called 'Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn'. It was a protest against the violence and injustice perpetrated by those in power. Hmmm.

Well,,,,, I think the jumble of ceramic pieces laid out on a plinth looks pretty good as a project in itself.

Lastly, but not leastly, for your perusal from an advert on Ebay.au, I present nine John Deere bonnets from their L series lawn mowers. Somehow it speaks to me of the absurdity of not just Art but politics too. 

 

The wisdom of George Costanza's theory of the Opposite

Darkness Begets Darkness

Though I knew it was a real possibility, the fact of his re-election now sinks in like a slow case of diarrhea. I confess that I thought he was such a joke, I couldn't take it seriously and yet on a lark, I bet my brother a pizza one month ago that Trump would win. Such a cavalier attitude on my part comes back to kick me in the  gut. Oh well.

I actually saw a message from the sober crowd  amongst us, warning us not to drink or take drugs because of all this. Well, I'm no longer a drinker, but yes, if I were, I believe I would certainly have tied one on yesterday. I'm a realist and not too rattled by events so I'm going out to paint this evening because it's so clear, and a Bloom is likely. 

As we all know, the world will go on though it will be weird for sure, possibly it'll even be terrible for lots of people from Alabama to Kiev for variously diverse reasons. But I'm not going to lose sleep over these things that I cannot control. I voted, and that's that. But "It's a sure shame", as we used to say in the Kentucky of my youth. 

America is a complicated place and its menu is full of every kind of contradiction available. So the majority of Americans picked what they want, and apparently, they have the appetite for it. I am strangely relieved that Trump won the popular vote because if hadn't, it would be even more disheartening for us all. Somehow it's easier for me to accept our defeat like when our team loses badly to another and we cannot say that we didn't say get smashed. We just need to get up and go back to training harder for the next time.

So, for the rest of us who voted for Kamala Harris, let us take what little brilliance George Costanza ever offered up to the world and be the opposite of everything that Trump and Maga represents. 

Let's go on a diet and exercise, let us be kind to the less fortunate, let's dive into ART because we need it more than ever during these times. Let's write reams of poetry, paint big colourful pictures and let's make lots of music. But let's love too, and make hay! Let's not swear at others, or about them, and let's not demean others either. Let's educate ourselves to better understand how others live and think, and let's cherish our ability to be any kind of person we choose to be despite what MAGA will say. 

Trump is a miserable old man who wears an odd sort of tanning sauce that makes him look at times like an old pervert. Deep down, I think he even hates himself for not looking like George Clooney. With all that money and power he's still an insecure old man with few friends. So Let's get even by being as happy and fulfilled as we can. 

And let's also wish Kamala well in her new life wherever it will be. She will easily bring her skills to wherever they will be needed and appreciated in service to others. 

Let's be the opposite of everything that Trump stands for!  

These are from last night, a windy evening and a mediocre sky but I managed to have some fun. 

Evening Prayer Brunswick Heads, 6 November 2024 oil on canvas board, 30 X 25 cm

Evening Prayer Brunswick Heads, 6 November 2024 oil on canvas board, 30 X 25 cm

Evening Prayer Brunswick Heads, 6 November 2024 oil on canvas board,    30 X 25 cm