Translate

Friday, November 9, 2012

President Barack Obama Reelected


 The presidential campaign of twenty twelve is over; Romney has conceded, Obama has accepted, the counting of ballots has ended and the results have been concluded…except in Florida.  It was another historic event as essentially every election is in our continually great nation. The re-election of President Obama is the result of an unparalled effort equaled only by another miraculous achievement; his own first election and first term. At this time no one knows with certainty what his next four years will entail but hopefully it will culminate in progressive and remarkable things.

 The campaign was grueling for all involved and difficult for all those lucky/unlucky enough to live in a swing state. The television ads were merciless. The phone calls numbing. The sad reality of modern politics is that attacks are necessary. Both sides are forced to counter-balance each other with negatively brutal attack ads not to get an edge but simply to stay even. There was a time when it was the Vice-President’s or running mate’s job to be the “Attack Dog.” This trend of relentless attacks started many elections ago. It increases every four years. On that count we are all losing. Celebrities were part of the fray as Morgan Freeman narrated a powerful commercial for President Obama; Clint Eastwood aired his trumpeting endorsement of Mitt Romney. Honey Boo Boo endorsed Obama as another little girl tearfully pleaded for an end to the madness “I’m tired of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney “was her lament.
There were also good opportunities within the course of things as citizens had opportunities to meet and see the candidates and their surrogates in the flesh. A personal favorite was a last minute rally featuring former President Bill Clinton at Patrick Henry High School in Salem Virginia. I attended with my cousin and a little over twenty-two hundred others. I was amazed at the number of Romney bumper stickers in the parking lot. (There were zero hecklers in attendance.) Clinton was insightful, charming and funny. He is an amazing speaker, a tremendous public servant and ultimately a great man. We enjoyed it! (John McCain was in the area that same evening. He attracted about three hundred supporters.)
 

 
Another related event I attended was the opening of Melissa Ichiuji’s “Fair Game” exhibition at Galerie Lareuse in Georgetown (Washington, DC.)  Melissa’s primary medium is stitched fabric. She is becoming increasingly famous for her provocative dolls and figures. She utilized her considerable artistic skills to create charactures, stuffed heads mounted like trophies on the gallery walls. Her subjects/victims were the participants of both sides of the election. She uncannily and deftly satirized in much the spirit of Daumier the likenesses of Herman Cain, Paul Ryan and Ron Paul. Obama, Romney and their wives were included among the trophies. The Obama piece was met with such controversy that Sarah Palin (who is little known for her art world interests) has since purchased it.


I was able to enter the fray in many discussions on my job and through social media. Along with face to face discussions I created a number of graphics and cartoons for display, inspiration and humor. Many are featured here as illustrations. Obama’s acceptance speech was expectedly eloquent, heartfelt, touching and rousing. The President is gifted as much as he is the nation’s gift. Hope has been revived for many as some seem to be slipping deeper into delusion and dismay as a result of their shock and disbelief of the election results. Time and realization should bring them around and back to some sense of reality. We (the Obama supporters) will enjoy this brief season of happiness and satisfaction. This is the kind of moment we wish for; a spirit of co-operation and shared purpose that could last for months; possibly years. We can dream.  

Monday, October 1, 2012

A Lonesome Ghost: For Halloween




A Lonesome Ghost

By

James Jones

I came upon a lonesome ghost

along a lonesome road

He had a hundred things to say

In life a heavy load

He carried with him into death

Oh yes; beyond the grave

to carry for eternity

in life he’d been a knave

 

We walked together for a time

A path of pain and sorrow

We shared our tales of tears and woe

today became tomorrow

 

He was the saddest ghost of all

The saddest that I’ve seen

Not so unusual to see a ghost

upon a Halloween
 

 

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Wangechi Mutu

 
 
 
Her work is of equal parts beauty, charm, intrigue and an unusual sense of glamour. Wangechi Mutu finds herself among the most celebrated and collected artist of her times. She is featured in the world’s most elite magazines and shows in every major venue. Wangechi’s creations reflect the ivory and bronze sculpture of the High Benin Culture and the marvelous collages of Romare Bearden. Mutu’s work is equally marvelous! Mutu’s mixed medium pieces are also akin to the works of the lovely Bette Saar in approach. Mutu’s Kenyan background is a strong element of her visuals without limiting it to being purely ethnic.  This is a good thing; her works are universal in appeal. The spirit and the reality of Wangechi Mutu is ultimately; like all great artist, uniquely her own. The requirement of originality is met superbly by Mutu and we are all the more enriched by it.

 
Mutu is a graduate of Yale and like her fellow graduates Kehinde Wiley and John Currin represent the contemporary leaders of the 21st Century art scene in a grand manner. Wiley and Currin are almost exclusively painters while Mutu embraces medium as varied as sculpture, installation and video. In this she is very much a force in the art world. Mutu is best viewed (as is a chacteristic of all the best artist’s work) in person. A walk through the works of Mutu is a treasured phenomenon, it is the greatest pleasure.

                                                                                                                                                 
“I’m really trying to pay homage to the notion of the sublime and the abject together and using the aesthetic of rejection, or poverty, or wretchedness as a tool to talk about things that are transcendent… we really do have to pick up pieces and remake and rework things and translate them into something new and hopeful.“
Wangechi Mutu
 
 
She is an artist very much attuned to the cultural, astethic and political climate of our times. All of this brilliantly evident in her art and life. Wangechi Mutu is to celebrate!