Author: Richard Bledsoe

Artwork: Richard Bledsoe

Richard Bledsoe Artwork, Commentary, Optimism, Richard Bledsoe, Studio

Fortunato

Richard Bledsoe “Fortunato” oil on canvas 20″ x 16″

Part of a series of literary alcoholics I’m working on-in this case from the Edgar Allan Poe story, “The Cask of Amontillado.”

This is the first oil painting I’ve completed since moving my studio into my house in December of 2012. I actually finished this painting a few weeks ago, I’m finding I’m working more frequently on my oil paintings since they are so easily accessible, and they are progressing quicker.

Genres: CoBrA

Richard Bledsoe Commentary, Genres, History, Quotes

CoBrA was an art movement that was named for the cities it originated in: Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam. 

After the horrors of World War II, a group of northern Europeans banded together to promote their vision of art with a series of exhibits, publications, and collaborations.  As a movement they existed for a few years in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

CoBrA favored expressionist painting techniques, spontaneity and experimentation. Inspired by the art of children, primitives, and the insane, they sought a kind of populism where art was made by and for everyone.

While their methods may leave their art crude and unresolved, their sense of art as a universal form of communication runs counter to the ever-present elitist tendencies that marginalize art in mass culture.

“Creation and revolutionary struggle have the same objective: the realization of life.” – Constant

Quotes: Paul Klee

Richard Bledsoe Quotes

‘My hand is entirely the implement of a distant sphere. It is not my head that functions but something else, something higher, something somewhere remote. I must have great friends there, dark as well as bright… They are all very kind to me.”

-Paul Klee

This quote reflects my experience of creating art. The sense of being a conduit, as well of the supporting forces of both enlightenment and the shadow side.

Article: Art World Price Fixing

Richard Bledsoe Articles, Commentary, Establishment, Quotes, Remodernism

BEN LEWIS: Who Put the “Con” in Contemporary Art?

From a few years, but a good description of some of the dubious practices that fuel the contemporary art market. I do not agree with his observation suggesting regulation is needed (why is more statist intervention the solution for everything?), but more transparency would help.

The money quote:  “The art world is dirty, corrupt and immoral, and, if there was a name for such a crime, these people would be charged with perverting the course of art history.”

The art world makes a good microcosm of the real world. A small group of a new aristocracy of the well connected use their influence to line their pockets, their offerings devoid of any real achievement or quality. This is the era of the fall of the “experts.” They’ve squandered their credibility with the terrible results of their schemes and actions.

Remodernism removes power from the hands of corrupt, self-serving elites, and gives it back to the people.

Video: Sears Presents The Vincent Price Collection of Art

Richard Bledsoe Commentary, Culture War, History, Remodernism, Video

A sales training film from the 1960s

An amazing piece of art history: when Vincent Price sold art through Sears Roebuck.

Fine art was made available across the United States; over 50,000 pieces were sold. The idea that art could be popular with a general middle class audience is lost in this era of elitist art attitudes.

Remodernism is bringing art back to the people-all people. As it should be.