Author: Richard Bledsoe

Commentary: Inadequate Art

Richard Bledsoe Commentary, Culture War, Establishment, Richard Bledsoe
A urinal in a restroom is just a urinal.
Put it in a gallery.. and it becomes art.
Strange times we live in. It’s going to be getting a whole lot stranger too, so it’s best to be prepared.
Art is my healthiest obsession, so I cultivate it. What I’ve seen in my contemplation of art and the systems that have grown up around it is both a terrible indictment and a glorious new chance.
The contemporary art world is still infected with replicating viruses caught from Duchamp’s urinal. For a century now we’ve been hearing the same joke, with variations on the same old punchline. To encounter Duchamp and his myriad offspring is to leave the world of art, and to enter into philosophy, semantics, theory. What we have been presented with for too long is an intellectual approximation of art, a commentary, not the thing itself. Art is not a discursive process, a debate, an explanation. It’s an encounter with something that can not be spoken, that exists beyond reason.
The way the art world is run encourages this mistaken view of art. Yesterday’s counter culture is today’s establishment, and the trendy radical ideas of a few generations ago are dogma today. Contemporary art all too often brandishes hostility, obscenity, or obscurity at its audience. Most people, when confronted with this type of contemporary art get the point-this is not made for people like you. Its inaccessibility lends it a spurious sense of superiority.
But this is not good enough anymore. With the tough times we have ahead as a culture, art can’t remain as a plaything of a decadent elite. The artists need to return to the true function of art-as an exploration of human potentials, universal experience, an evocation of a state of consciousness that there are no words for.
We need this now. The artists need to show us our strength. To keep playing referential games and sneering at the values of others would be to fail in our duties at a perilous moment. Too much of what is being presented as art is inadequate for these times. It’s getting to the point that this is worse than a mistake, it is actively destructive.
The good news is this era of error is ending. What takes its place is up to us.

Writings: A Sandwich for A Witch by Patricia Janes

Richard Bledsoe Patricia Janes, Writings

It was an early autumn day, as an old raggedy woman strolled away from her home. Her thin, stringy, yellowish grey hair hung loosely around her shoulders as she tightly wrapped her musty, threadbare shawl around her shoulers. Her bulbous, wart covered, long and pointy nose dripped a clear viscous fluid in the bitter wind. Her ashen, paper soupbone -thin arms tugged tighter at the frayed woolen fringes of the woolen shawl. Her knarled grey fingers looked like knobby tree stumps. Despite the cool, chilly air, the old woman had one thing on her mind; lunch.

She was hungry and searching the woods for a meal; a special meal. She heard rumors that the woods were inhabited by juicy young fairies and elves, and she was determined to find one.

It wasn’t long before she found a fairy. She was a thin girl about six years of age; not as hearty and plump as she preferred her meals. “But she’ll d0”, she muttered to herself. Her long chestnut brown hair was tied in the back with a pony tail. Her cheeks and hands were dirty from playing in the leaves. The knees of her flowered print leggings were brown with mud ,and her shoelaces were untied. Before the girl knew what was happening, the hungry old hag lifted the fragile young girl over her shoulder; she dangled like a limp rag over the old woman’s boney shoulder. The brown haired girl was overcome with shock; she was imobilized with fear.

”I must have one of those long tasty hard rolls to complete my sandwich”, she muttered to herself as she walked briskly towards the deli. Inadvertantly she tugged at the girl’s hair as if she were nothing more than a sack of potatoes. “OWWWWW!” yelped the girl.
Within minutes, the old bat was eyeing all the choices behind the counter; tomatoes, pickles, onions. Viscous green drool poured from her salivary glands as she stared at the pasta and potato salads. A fishy odor filled the air with each breath she took.

”May I help you” asked the man at the counter.

”Yes, l’d like a long ,hard , roll, mayo, oregeno, onions and tomato”.

”What meat would you like; turkey, ham or salami, madam.”

”I have my own, thank you.” Turning around towards the frightened girl, she waited impatiently with an open roll in one hand and a salt shaker in the other. “Now if you don’t mind, please step into that roll. Place yourself between the onion and tomato, Then I shall sprinkle some salt and pepper.”

The man strained from the counter to look behind the old woman; seeing nothing he simply shrugged and computed her bill. He suspiciously inspected the credit card she provided. It had an expiration date from 1985. “I am sorry but we cannot accept this card, do you have another” he asked. At that, the old crow became argumentative and threatened to boil him in a pot of steaming brew. Concerned, he called for security. Seeing an opportunity for rescue, she screamed. Immediately, upon arrival, The security guard restrained the old woman and contacted the police. Apparently, the senile, old woman had a habit of wandering away from the nursing home where she lived. It was discovered that she was responsible for the abductions of a handful of other young girls, claiming that she was simply looking for her supper. In her bedroom at the facility, the putrid remains of flesh, greasy fat and bits of bone, as well as slimy strands of assorted colored hair, were recovered from a huge plastic trash bag, stuffed under the bed.
-Patricia Janes

Establishment “Art” – Rock On

Richard Bledsoe Commentary, Establishment

A Call For Boulder Art

Fred Flintstone would appreciate this.

Right next door to the La Brea Tar Pits (translation: The “The Tar” Tar Pits), the Los Angles County Museum of Art  has plunked down a 340 ton piece of granite, precariously straddling a trench designed so wandering pedestrians can experience of a sense of impending peril. It’s called, somewhat inaccurately, “Levitated Mass.”

Artist Michael Heizer states he had the idea in 1969. The idea seems to have been, “Hey, I’d like to move a big rock from somewhere to somewhere else.” Heady stuff they were smoking back then. Now 43 years and $10 million dollars later the vision has been realized, an homage, we are assured, to human engineering feats performed since prehistoric times-though I don’t think the Druids or Egyptians had access to cranes and semis.

I’m sure the piece is impressive to encounter, in a spectacle kind of way, a geologic variation of the sort of “World’s Biggest Ball of Yarn” offering that small towns dream up as tourist traps. It’s a colossal Found Object, an environmental Ready Made, a hunk of Earth Art dropped into midst of LA LA Land.

But what does “Levitated Mass” say about the artist who thought it up? What does it say about the culture that made it? The work maintains a stony silence.

At least in Bedrock, the artist would have been named Pablo Picrockso, or something.

Notes From The Studio: Storage

Richard Bledsoe Studio

Artists have an amplified version of a common problem:

Where am I going to keep all my stuff?

Here is my home acrylic studio is part of my solution-a combination of a thrift store cabinet and a some-assembly-required Swedish shelving unit.

Stacked and paint, and ta da!

A hybrid studio furniture storage unit!

Quotes: Networking

Richard Bledsoe Commentary, Quotes, Remodernism

“It’s very true that an artist who networks well will have better opportunities than one who doesn’t network well. But great networking skills without great art won’t change art history.”

-Mark Kostabi

 

Remodernism does not accept the current philosophy so prevalent in the art world-that who you know is more important than what you do. The establishment has been pushing art that does not rely on skill or vision, because that allows them to favor cronies whose work does not have artistic merit. To join in this dynamic, the only talent that matters is the art of sucking up. Short term success, at best. Artists should understand their role in the mighty continuum of art, and make works that aim for the ages, instead of trying to be in sync with fashionable trends. If our scene is to improve, our artists need to be themselves, working obsessively at their unique visions.

Quotes: Words to Live By

Richard Bledsoe Commentary, Quotes

“I must create a system or be enslaved by another mans…”

-William Blake

Blake lived by these words, supremely confident in the truth of his vision.  He endured obscurity during his lifetime. His now priceless illuminated books sat gathering dust for decades, displayed at the counter of his grubby print shop;  Available for a pittance, and still never bought.

Blake never gave up. He always believed his work to be divinely inspired, meant for a mass audience. History has proved he was correct.

Artwork: Richard Bledsoe

Richard Bledsoe Artwork, Commentary, Richard Bledsoe

 

“Beast of Glass”
Richard Bledsoe oil on canvas 24″ x 36″

When I was painting this image, a forerunner of my Bestiary series, I was somewhat obsessed with the idea representing the uterus-it was important that the animal be female. Later I found out the hippopotamus was an ancient Egyptian fertility symbol.  A grinning gift from the collective unconscious, a rubenesque mammal wading in the milky sea.

Commentary: The Remodernist Manifesto

Richard Bledsoe Commentary, Remodernism

I discovered the art movement Remodernism when I came across the online posting of the manifesto written by Charles Thomson and Billy Childish. Here were some artists who articulated what I was feeling, identifying problems in the art world and describing the way forward. This was what first made me realize I was not alone in my frustration and disgust, that others around the world felt the same way I did-and what’s more, they were doing something about it.

-Richard Bledsoe

REMODERNIST MANIFESTO

Through the course of the 20th century Modernism has progressively lost its way, until finally toppling into the pit of Postmodern balderdash. At this appropriate time, The Stuckists, the first Remodernist Art Group, announce the birth of Remodernism.

1-Remodernism takes the original principles of Modernism and reapplies them, highlighting vision as opposed to formalism.

2-Remodernism is inclusive rather than exclusive and welcomes artists who endeavor to know themselves and find themselves through art processes that strive to connect and include, rather than alienate and exclude. Remodernism upholds the spiritual vision of the founding fathers of Modernism and respects their bravery and integrity in facing and depicting the travails of the human soul through a new art that was no longer subservient to a religious or political dogma and which sought to give voice to the gamut of the human psyche.

3-Remodernism discards and replaces Post-Modernism because of its failure to answer or address any important issues of being a human being.

4-Remodernism embodies spiritual depth and meaning and brings to an end an age of scientific materialism, nihilism and spiritual bankruptcy.

5-We don’t need more dull, boring, brainless destruction of convention, what we need is not new, but perennial. We need an art that integrates body and soul and recognizes enduring and underlying principles which have sustained wisdom and insight throughout humanity’s history. This is the proper function of tradition.

6-Modernism has never fulfilled its potential. It is futile to be ‘post’ something which has not even ‘been’ properly something in the first place. Remodernism is the rebirth of spiritual art.

7-Spirituality is the journey of the soul on earth. Its first principle is a declaration of intent to face the truth. Truth is what it is, regardless of what we want it to be. Being a spiritual artist means addressing unflinchingly our projections, good and bad, the attractive and the grotesque, our strengths as well as our delusions, in order to know ourselves and thereby our true relationship with others and our connection to the divine.

8-Spiritual art is not about fairyland. It is about taking hold of the rough texture of life. It is about addressing the shadow and making friends with wild dogs. Spirituality is the awareness that everything in life is for a higher purpose.

9-Spiritual art is not religion. Spirituality is humanity’s quest to understand itself and finds its symbology through the clarity and integrity of its artists.

10-The making of true art is man’s desire to communicate with himself, his fellows and his God. Art that fails to address these issues is not art.

11-It should be noted that technique is dictated by, and only necessary to the extent to which it is commensurate with, the vision of the artist.

12-The Remodernist’s job is to bring God back into art but not as God was before. Remodernism is not a religion, but we uphold that it is essential to regain enthusiasm (from the Greek, en theos to be possessed by God).

13-A true art is the visible manifestation, evidence and facilitator of the soul’s journey. Spiritual art does not mean the painting of Madonnas or Buddhas. Spiritual art is the painting of things that touch the soul of the artist. Spiritual art does not often look very spiritual, it looks like everything else because spirituality includes everything.

14-Why do we need a new spirituality in art? Because connecting in a meaningful way is what makes people happy. Being understood and understanding each other makes life enjoyable and worth living.

Summary-It is quite clear to anyone of an uncluttered mental disposition that what is now put forward, quite seriously, as art by the ruling elite, is proof that a seemingly rational development of a body of ideas has gone seriously awry. The principles on which Modernism was based are sound, but the conclusions that have now been reached from it are preposterous. We address this lack of meaning, so that a coherent art can be achieved and this imbalance redressed. Let there be no doubt, there will be a spiritual renaissance in art because there is nowhere else for art to go. Stuckism’s mandate is to initiate that spiritual renaissance now.

-Billy Childish/Charles Thomson 1.3.2000

Notes From The Studio: Richard’s Acrylic Painting Setup

Image Richard Bledsoe Artwork, Richard Bledsoe, Studio

The Home Studio with work in progress

I do my acrylic paintings in my home studio. Acrylics are a water based medium; they are non-toxic and easy to clean up after. Michele and I share the front room of our house as our studio.

This is my easel by the front door, featuring a work in progress. On the table is the CD player (music is crucial to the creative mood), coffee cup (caffeine is also essential), brush tub for brush cleaning, and a space for paints, brushes, books and papers to accumulate.