I inspect the meticulous layers and sophisticated use of color: “The discipline and commitment to a particular mode and approach in a serious way, makes EJ’s works art.” I pause, “The paintings seem rather buyable to me. There’s a decorative value to them. I could imagine a young live streamer with expendable income putting that lime green one on the wall.” Another pause, “And then, there's also effort and intention involved. One person makes a doodle on the back of their homework, another invests a year investigating doodles on large format canvases and puts it in a gallery for commercial sale. Is not the intention and follow-through relevant to what defines art?”
Read MoreCultural Commentary
Vision of the Artist in Society /
I once believed that we could all be like artists — heroically discovering our own path (in the Rankian sense). That every individual was a unique factor — in the Jungian sense — able to determine their potentiality into life expression through the development of awareness of what interests & inspires them. I believed in Individuation as a cause. But, I’m not sure I buy that now; I’m not sure that this is enough.
Read MoreThe Nude Body in Art: Charting the Shadowy Beginnings of Art /
In antiquities, there was a social complex between the promiscuity, child-sacrifice, in relation to the great mother archetype, as a totality that induced tensions with various forming cultures and their cults. The hero, as an early masculine identity and myth, is the typology that resists the dissolving effects of the maternal unconscious. The development of moral structures and social codes is strengthened by a concentration on the hero archetype, representing the masculine in the struggle against the maternal unconscious.
Read MoreNYC Art Criticism on Video: Meaning, Beauty & Personality /
With the East Coast of America opening up again, I am pursuing coverage of the art world with videos.
Read MoreThe Nude Body in Art: Introduction & Art Historical Foundation /
A previous article, simply titled, “The Nude Body in Art” is one of the most viewed posts on this website. It is therefore prudent to ask once more: Why is there so much nudity in art? The nude body in art had a special place in history, but there’s a new relationship to the nude body — as well as art itself — today. The history of the nude and of western art itself are, actually, the same. Art of the nude body was a necessary production in order to get in touch with the instincts, but in the new context today, there’s a different relationship to it.
Read MoreMapping ORIGINS: The Art of Integration /
Artists seek resolution of inner and outer tensions, personally, in relationships and between cultural groups. This is a call to rise above flagrant moral negligence on the part of the academy, curators and artists themselves, to recognize that what we do has consequences, on a personal, national and global stage. In order to grow together:
Read MoreWhy Paint? Artist's Sacrifice & The Shadow Goddess /
I remember the controversy of whether or not the “Balthus should still hang at the Met,” and the formidable articles asking “If Men Should Still Be Able to Paint the Female Nude” in 2019.
What is art history and painting, “without the nude” though, anyways?
The model makes themselves available, vulnerable, open; the artist does too.
Every portrait is a self-portrait. — Spring Art Review: Why Paint? Contemporary Art and the Academic Painter's Sacrifice to Beauty (The Archetypal Shadow and Feminine, Great Mother, as per Carl Jung, Erich Neumann) (Essay Describes Kali, The Artist, The Jew, The Black Model) (A Review and Summarization of my work)
Read MoreThe Coming Decade: What to Expect in Culture & Art /
Pioneering markets (Germany, Silicon Valley) have been integrating insights of Western psychology and Eastern spirituality, Meanwhile, in the past decade, Paganism was America’s largest growing religion. The reintroduction and proliferation of cannabis, recreational and laboratory use of psychedelics, affects the cultural psyche causing vast individuals to calibrate or fall into catastrophe over their innate spirituality, religious archetypal substructures and inner conflicts. This is a backdrop of what’s to come.
Read MoreMystic Eros: Chris Ofili at Zwirner and Frieze /
Entering into a stripped down, pristine antique townhouse, and up a flight of spiraling stairs, amongst the dapper Upper East Side milieu, I came upon Ofili’s largish canvas of a green mermaid figure, mysterious, intoxicatingly swimming in bejeweled waters of the deep psyche.
Read MoreGerhard Richter, David Wiseman, The Hudson Yards: The Cultural Realization of The Aesthetic Life /
New York City: Within a few square miles in Chelsea and the new construction in the Hudson Yards, a strange renaissance of contemporary culture and art is flourishing. Amongst all of this, it is hard to tell whether or not the hyper-real and superficial aspects of this renaissance are so excessive that we are doomed, or that, redeemingly, it is rather that these are flaws and areas of gray in a bizarre cultural evolution. However, there is undoubtedly the sensation of a moment in culture that is of great importance.
Read MoreThe Black Model at the Crux of Western Culture: Sweeping Exhibition at Musée d’Orsay /
The “Black Models” show at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris reveals the Western neglect of the archetypal feminine, which accounts for racial and gender subjugation and ultimately a disregard for the planet itself. In this view of the show, we poignantly discover a cultural progression, but also a dire need for further understanding today.
Read MoreHilma af Klint at the Guggenheim After Dark: Mystical Endeavors in Art /
From October 2018 through April 2019 the Guggenheim Museum in New York City is exhibiting the monumental works of artist and mystic Hilma af Klint. The solo exhibition, “Paintings from the Future,” has on display astoundingly mystical, large format paintings, as well as exquisite works on paper. One notable gallery room — which has become a must-Instagram for those in the art world — includes a dozen epic works that scale ten feet high.
Read MoreThe Lover Archetype in Modern Men: Soundcloud Rappers, XXXTentacion as Dionysus /
Both Orpheus and Dionysus are archetypes commonly active in the personalities of contemporary artists. An artist with an undeveloped “Orphic” disposition will tend more towards a longing, romanticization and dramatization — a poetic, almost mystical love. The artist tinged more with an immature “Dionysian” typology will be affected by extreme emotionality and even reckless, violent behavior. These typical scenarios are caused by living out a collective pattern — an archetype — which has an impersonal disregard the individual wellbeing.
Read MoreThe Lover Archetype in Modern Men: Dan Bilzerian, The Ultimate Playboy as Addicted Lover /
Dan Bilzerian is a mega Instagram celebrity. He is known for a lavish life. Especially, audiences are drawn to his consistent presentation of voluptuous women, whom he flaunts, as a modern American playboy. His internet persona has made him famous, even infamous, for wild adventurousness, endless sexual exploits, large parties, as well as a macho-interests such as guns and weight-lifting. Many men admire him; they admit that, if they could, they would indulge themselves — have sex with many enticing women without commitment, travel and adventure without restriction. Other men condemn him, labeling him superficial, or fake. They research and expose the fantastic tale of his success as false. The extreme wealth, detractors say, wasn’t achieved by high-stakes poker gambling alone; it was acquired through his financial criminal father. Either way, in open admiration or envious attacks, many men are mesmerized by his lifestyle. In many of his viewers, there is a part, either conscious or unconscious, that wishes they had what Bilzerian has. This is evident in looking through the comments on his Instagram, which boasts a massive 25 million followers.
Read MoreSEED Exhibition: Feminine Psyche and Mysticism in Art /
It has been very joyous for me to discover a community of artists and enthusiasts exploring the matters of the psyche through art. SEED, a group show curated by Yvonne Force Villareal, focuses on themes of the feminine as mystery and the importance of the mystical mind. It does so with expressive excellence, in the form of paintings, sculptures and mixed media works.
Read MoreDemoiselles d’Instagram: Exploration of the Feminine in Society and Art /
The “D’Madsoille de Instagram” series, presented by Tibor de Nagy, offers an opportunity to delve into these matters and contemplate what it means to consume and therefore support the production of objectifying, sexualized images today.
Whether it has been men’s reductive treatment of women, the courtesans of history, or Instagram models using their sexualized bodies as a basis for a career, an inner relationship to the archetypal feminine that is limited and ruled by libido is at the core.
Read MorePaul Gauguin: The Dark Stage of Alchemy /
Paul Gauguin, throughout his painting career, remained attached to this unconscious relationship with the anima complex, and its corresponding projections. This is evident in the fact that the recovery of his own savage nature and pursuit of a lasting art was dependent on a relationship with Tahitian women.
Read MoreSam Harris and David Benatar Debate Anti-Natalism: Breaking Through the Philosophical Quibble /
David Benatar is a philosopher and writer who insists that a universe without human beings is better off than one with them. He believes, that because sentient beings can suffer, in varying degrees, it is better that they never lived. Additionally, once living, suicide is, in the majoirty of cases, a moral wrongdoing.This school of thought is known as “Anti-Natalism.”
Read MoreNew Age Ridiculousness at Columbia University Program /
Among his seemingly random meanderings throughout the class, events that took place included, a girl crying to the class for 20 minutes about the very personal death of her grandfather, a loose discussion on the concept of time and how we don’t live in the moment, several aggressive table pounds by the professor, and a couple of phrases that made shallow sense, like “life doesn’t go fast, we go fast”.
Read MoreAn Artist’s Case for the Moderation of Technology /
The excessive technological stimulation causes many of us to ignore the Life which exists in slow and open moments when we are able to absorb each other and the world around us. Recognition of the downtempo pace of a pre-technological existence is a needed counterbalance.
Flashy screens, moving images, endless songs to stream and infinite news stories are all alluring. Widely accessible content, from comedy to calamity, becomes addictive to our minds which are designed for curiosity. Please, in the days after reading this pay attention to your own habits.
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