Author: Richard Bledsoe

Establishment “Art” : Oh No Yoko

Link Richard Bledsoe Commentary, Establishment

Imagine Yoko Was An Artist…I Wonder If You Can

Yoko Ono originally gained notoriety as a member of the Fluxus art movement of the swinging 60’s. As part of the establishment’s on-going mission to remove concerns like technical prowess  and coherence from art, Fluxus was celebrated as a Dada do-over, yet another challenge to the stuffy idea that art involves the skillful creation of a tangible object.

In addition to promoting conceptual art, the Fluxus community was identified by founder George Maciunas as a radical leftwing movement, dedicated to spawning art communes modeled after the glorious collectivist farms of the Soviet Union. When attempted, these ventures predictably failed to thrive.

Yoko made a name for herself with pieces like Cut, a performance where she invited the audience to strip her naked by strategically snipping off her clothes. Once she caught the eye of activist Beatle John Lennon, Yoko was able to withdraw to a comfortable life of privilege, far removed from the strains involved in creating artworks like Apple (an apple placed on a box-when it rots away, it is replaced with another apple. Repeat indefinitely).

Yoko added her avante-garde vocal stylings to Lennon’s recordings, wailing like Woody Woodpecker hammering away at John Cage’s skull, while occasionally referencing her past  artistic triumphs (limited edition bronze Apple, anyone?) But one can’t coast on reputation forever, so in the the spirit of mushy multicultural Londonistan’s take on the Olympics, Yoko has been trotted out as a Post Modern Old Master.

Her new work “To The Light”  consists mainly of three heaps of dirt, a faded vintage War Is Over poster, and lots of hype around the empty slogan “Imagine Peace,” which is  conveniently available on commemorative towels and water bottles .

One can only wonder if the victims of Soviet collectivism are part of the fallen she is so hamfistedly homaging.

Artwork: Richard Bledsoe

Richard Bledsoe Artwork, Richard Bledsoe

“Behold!” – Richard Bledsoe oil on canvas 30″ x 36″

“I heard the second beast say, ‘Come and see.’ And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him…” – Revelation 6:3

This painting was started at my former studio space at the Paper Heart in 2007. When that venue closed the painting was moved in an unresolved state to my current studio Deus Ex Machina, and became the first oil painting completed there in early 2008.

This was the first work in what I refer to as my Bestiary-a series of original paintings focused on the animal as allegory.

The love of nature channeled through the symbolizing imagination. The acknowledgement of feelings stirred by beasts-the contradictory sense both of kinship and utter, unknowable difference. The assignment of moral attributes and spiritual significance to creatures of primal instincts. A tribute to life’s bizarre and powerful manifestations.

Sold to a private collector in June 2012.

Commentary: Art and The Bafflement of the Public

Richard Bledsoe Commentary, Quotes, Remodernism

“The history of modern art is also the history of the progressive loss of art’s audience. Art has increasingly become the concern of the artist and the bafflement of the public.” – Henry Geldzahler

Accurate summation by a notable curator, historian, and critic. As artists we have become guilty by association with masses of meaningless dreck being passed off as art. The audience is baffled because they intuitively recognize art has gone wrong. It’s time to stop all the relativism-the mushy morass of subjectivity that is used like a weapon against quality.

There is Truth, there is Beauty, there is Excellence. Artists above all need to commit to higher standards for themselves and the works their peers. Remodernism is about leaving behind the lax sensibilites of Establishment Art, and making a stand for principles.

Words To Live By

Richard Bledsoe Quotes, Tolkien

“A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of wolves and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down, but it is not this day. This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you ‘stand, Men of the West!'”

-JRR Tolkien