THE ARTIST IN RESIDENCE 18 : Enola Gay

yo!

the artist has noticed this American symbol..

how could he not..

seven years before he was born..

the skys over Europe..

were full of airplanes displaying this recognition symbol..

he thinks of this as the logo/pictogram..

of the American century..

AN AMERICAN LANDSCAPE

in American Art of the 1940 - 1950 period..

Abstract Expressionism..

was the result, in part, of a turning away..

from the horrors of the war..

the artist has read..

that the energy of Pollock's..

Summertime 1948

is descriptive of the energy released by the nuclear bomb..

the airplane that dropped the bomb was called..

Enola Gay..

Mark Rothko 

 

"There is no such thing as good painting about nothing"

THE ARTIST IN RESIDENCE 17 : A BOOMER'S PAINTING

yo!

here we are in the artist's studio..

what a mess..

well it's a grey January day..

and the studio is cold and unused..

THE LANDSCAPE THAT WAS

this canvas was started in 1984..

and was part of a series about Idealised Landscape..

an American USAAF decal from WWII..

with a quatrefoil in the centre of the star..

a promised land..

this image was his thing for a while..

this was the first one in 1985..

a nice dove of peace vibe happening here..

Lavender Mist..

probably the artist's favourite..

Jackson would have approved..

military vibe here..

you may notice how the colours of the rectangles..

either side of the star are different from each other..

the idea was mood and balance..

a balance of power..

A BALANCE THAT WAS

so 70 years of Pax Americana..

gone like snow on the water..

next time on..

THE ARTIST IN RESIDENCE

painting over paradise..

the fool on the hill..

the future that was..

PROMISED LANDSCAPE

 

         everyone believes in a promised land..

innit!

whether in some afterlife..

or here on earth..

you know..

some place where the grass grows greener..

and all the folks can live in peace together..

and the lamb can lay down with the lion..

and not get ate..

trouble is..

here on earth..

here in palookaville..

we can't always agree..

on who really owns  it..

it's all about identity..

and recognition..

just so y'all stay cool..

evvaboddy gotta know who boss..

an not fall out..

an play nice..

heaven and hell..

itta carrot anna stick..

choose honey..

not vinegar..

choice is yours..

but then..

evva body know..

 this is palookaville..

PALETTE EARTH

 yo!.. dark clouds gatherin.. innit!

 I was painting today..

 

and saw my palette and thought about stuff..

 

you know..

 

gaza..

 

ukraine..

 

an it don't look good..

 

 

 

 

 

WAR IS PEACE

 

I read this book..

The Unfinished War: 

Vietnam and the American Conscience

Walter H.. Capps

Beacon Press, 1982

Veterans of the war..

it said..

were damaged further by the lack of a proper welcome home..

and appreciation for their service..

and that the folks at home did not want to talk about the war..

and sought to sweep it under the carpet..

at the time of writing no memorial..

had been agreed upon..

and as such..

I was attempting to respond to this using..

oil paint on canvas..

however..

there is now and has been for many long years..

a truly great monument in place..

The black granite wall of names is one of the most familiar media images associated with the war, and after three decades the memorial remains one of the nation's most visited monuments. While the memorial has enjoyed broad acceptance by the American public, its origins were both humble and contentious. A grassroots effort launched by veterans with no funds, the project was completed in three and a half years. But an emotional debate about aesthetics and the interpretation of heroism, patriotism and history nearly doomed the project.

anyway..

I steamed ahead in the studio..

with my idea for a series of paintings like the one above..

There were to be 10 in all..

and each one was meant to represent a mood or state..

of american love or hate or grace..

remember pearl harbour..

and the american resolve and response..

these paintings are not political but emotional..

emotional states of a nation..

anyway..

STATES OF GRACE

AMERICAN LANDSCAPE

obviously..

none of this got anywhere..

per usual..

still I played around with the idea..

for some time..

and also..

this url

hope you got this far..

and liked the story..

it occurs to me that all the technology on display..

in the photo above..

was not available in 1982..

and will soon be superseded by newer stuff..

technology becomes obsolete so fast..

in 40 more years..

these devices may not exist or be so changed as to make these items..

laughable..

the painting though..

will have aged hardly at all..

and the idea will still resonate..

and lastly this url

TERRACOTTA WARRIORS

 

oil paint and gouache on arches paper..

drawn in the 'survivors' style..

 

if only all armies were all made of only terracotta..

instead of..

scorched earth..

and airplanes built with paper wings..

and drones and missiles..

were only kites..

to decorate the days..

and sleep on the wind..

 peaceful nights..

 

if only men..

and women too..

could make only love..

and never war..

or if they must..

create a proof that they once were.. 

make terracotta armies..

to bury in the ground..

to guard the peace..

without a sound..

 

Palookaville

yo! innit...

These days...

 here in palookaville...

nobody reads the msm...

not the papers..

not their blogs..

not their tweets..

not their tv news..

here in palookaville we don't vote anymore...

I WONDER WHY THIS IS

 maybe it's because we do not believe in them anymore...

we don't believe a word they say

perhaps it's because of the war..

or the wars..

the refugees..

the low wages..

the health care disaster..

maybe the fixing of interest rates..

propping up asset values..

bailing out the banks..

taxing only the little people...

maybe it's because of the power of the multinationals..

the now huge number of international companies..

too big to pay taxes..

IT'S ALL TOO BIG TO FIX

they say they are all too big to fail..

but really it's all too big to fix..

oh! they've fixed all of the above alright..

but we cannot undo all of the things they have fixed for themselves...

because they own the politics...

the media..

the internet...

they own the machine

HERE IN THE WILDERNESS

so here we sit...

like burks inna wilderness...

-------------

I do read mish though...

"Look at the result: Too big to fail is even bigger, toggle bonds and corporate borrowing are running rampant, no imbalances were fixed, QE is insane by any rational measure, and the Fed did nothing to rein in moral hazard risk taking.
The entire world would be much better off had not only Lehman gone under, but the entire banking system gone under.
Instead, bank are bigger than ever, corporate leverage is higher than ever, debt levels are higher than ever, and the global economy is setup for an even bigger collapse."

https://mishtalk.com/2016/10/22/another-lehman-blunder-coming-up/ 

And this...from naked capitalism (Nomi Prins)

"In this election, Hillary has crafted her talking points regarding the causes of the last financial crisis as weapons against Trump, but they hardly begin to tell the real story of what happened to the American economy. The meltdown of 2007-2008 was not mainly due to “tax policies that slashed taxes on the wealthy” or a “failure to invest in the middle class,” two subjects she has repeatedly highlighted to slam the Republicans and their candidate. It was a byproduct of the destruction of the regulations that opened the way for a too-big-to-fail framework to thrive. Under the presidency of Bill Clinton, Glass-Steagall, the Depression-era act that once separated people’s bank deposits and loans from any kind of risky bets or other similar actions in which banks might engage, was repealed under the Financial Modernization Act of 1999. In addition, the Commodity Futures Modernization Act was passed, which allowed Wall Street to concoct devastating unregulated side bets on what became the subprime crisis.
Given that the people involved with those choices are still around and some are still advising (or in the case of one former president living with) Hillary Clinton, it’s reasonable to imagine that, in January 2017, she’ll launch the third term of Bill Clinton when it comes to financial policy, banks, and the economy. Only now, the stakes are even higher, the banks larger, and their impunity still remarkably unchallenged."

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2016/10/nomi-prins-hillary-clinton-will-continue-the-big-bank-protection-racket.html