This December the Gagosian gallery, located on Park Ave. and 75th Street in New York City, presented about a half dozen of Spencer Sweeney’s latest works. The figurative painter, who is also a DJ and club owner, has been a legend of the Downtown scene for two decades. Sweeney’s latest works exemplify his approach to life and art, now as ever before, as free, spontaneous and full of vibrant energy.
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 MoreRuby Sky Stiler's "Fathers": A Mosaic of the Ancient and Modern /
Ruby Sky Stiler invigorates her work with a practice which acknowledges the vitalizing effect of metabolizing diverse material. It is this reconfiguration of the past and present in her work which is so appealing.
Read MoreThe Nude Body in Art: Sexuality, The Archetypal Feminine and Transformational Examination /
Through examination and consciousness wounds and lacks of the individual and collective psyche can be healed. If in the process we painfully shed undeveloped attitudes and opinions, we will be the better for it. Additionally, any inauthentic artistic expression will be left behind, and the deepest expressions valued for their transformative power and edifying effects.
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 MorePaul Gauguin: Desire and Immortality /
Paul Gauguin, a painter of the 1890’s, achieved an immortality through his art. Much of his drive to create was a compulsion in which he sacrificed his well-being to achieve. Yet, the contents of his imagination and intellect live on in the cultural canon of Western art, and his aesthetics propagated a new vision of art, influencing the likes of Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse. The psychological power behind such a drive will be explored in this essay, along with much more.
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.
Read MoreNegative Thoughts: Revealing Solutions and Retraining the Mind /
If we begin to observe the mind closely, we will see that it tends to emphasize the negative. My discovery of this was subjective and expressed poetically above. Interestingly, in the scientific literature there is vast evidence for a “negativity bias."
Read More
Bon Iver's Esoteric Digital Daydream: 22, A Million /
Justin Vernon spontaneously materialized, instantly finding a place in the playlists of American and European listeners in 2007, with the release of his album “For Emma, Forever Ago.” Heart wrenching and vulnerable, stripped down and timeless, that first album proved original enough for hipsters and accessible enough for soccer moms.
The mythology around Bon Iver began with that first album: he had broken up with his girlfriend and his band, contracted a serious illness, recovered and retreated to isolation in the woods of Wisconsin. There he hunted for his food and stayed in his father’s cabin.
Read MoreA Revival in Motherhood: Viral Video of Home Birth /
For a long time I have been fascinated with the processes of conception, pregnancy and birth. This interest was sparked when I saw the Business of Being Born. The documentaries overview of the modern history of birthing practices is fascinating and disturbing.
I find the trend towards simplifying, back to a woman's natural, instinctive power, combined with use of breath and mindfulness to be an astonishing revival, rich with everything good about humanity.
Read MorePoem: One Last Photograph /
She knew that the men, the ones who's souls had been stolen, were coming. But there was no way for her to know what that ending would bring. There was her depth, captured: her amber eyes foresaw something: The fate that a mass mob would impose; a life onto which she would cling.
Read MoreThe Suggested Pivot for Atheism: Rational Mind and Poetic Mind /
If, as a culture at large, which has been rapidly advancing scientifically, we can reactivate the appreciation of the poetry in life we would all better exist in relation to one another and to ourselves. This means seeing some aspects of life as facts of physics and others as facts of psyche.
Read MoreJoni Mitchell: Discussion of "Free Man in Paris" /
While reading about Joni Mitchell I was impressed by how prolific she has been. Her talent has been immense. Not only has she proven a fantastic instrumentalist and singer, but her techniques and aesthetics have remained uniquely her own.
Read MoreEaster: Osiris, Christ and Myths of Transformation /
The instinct that we must “sacrifice” to have the renewal is a fundamental representation of experience, found in our instinctual psyche. Our ancestors experienced the outside world, and inner world as a continuum. This meant that psychological processes had to be practiced outwardly to encourage consciousness, or rather capability towards sustaining themselves
Read MoreThe History of Alchemy: From Isaac Newton to Joe Rogan /
In the ancient past — Egypt for example — there were a class of people who had profound knowledge. Their knowledge came from some much more distant past (before the ice age) and the difference between that knowledge and the type people seek today, is that the ancient knowledge was always infused with what one could call a “spiritual” perspective.
Read More