Finding the Real in the Midst of All That Fake Crap

Over the Top, mixed media with encaustic on panel, 30" x 30", 2011

Mona Lisa, mixed media with encaustic on panel, 30" x 30", 2011

These two new pieces are headed for Arden Gallery in Boston on Saturday if you are in the neighborhood and want to see them in person. The newest material I am using in the mix of elements is record album covers. If you click on the images to enlarge, you may see some evidence of that.

Authenticity
Last Sunday I sat in our newly-arranged dining room, which is now more like a reading/sitting lounge, and read the NY Times. I haven't done that for a while and it was great to page through all that stuff and try to find something of interest. What struck me was how many articles I saw that dealt with authenticity or The Real. I guess now all those TV reality shows have finally become reality. That is, there is nothing real any more; there are just people claiming that they are real.

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Rant alert: By the time I got to the end of this post, I was rip roaring, so if you're not in a mood for a political, anti-war rant, stop reading now and just think mild, pleasant thoughts.
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A case in point about authenticity: Stephanie Rosenbloom under "Cultural Studies" cites the following people who claim they are "authentic:" Michele Bachmann, Anderson Cooper, Sarah (Duchess of York) Ferguson, Jon Huntsman, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Katie Couric, Rick ("I hate the Gays so much that I must be one") Santorum and Pope Benedict XVI.The only names missing from that list are the Kardashians, authentically fake celebrities - famous for nothing except being famous.

According to Rosenbloom's article, the problem of people claiming to be authentic, which makes them automatically inauthentic, is that they are maintaining virtual selves in their social media personae. We are all apparently split personalities because of Facebook or because we're trying to be celebrities/politicians. We all want to edit out the boring parts (the "real" parts?) and just get to the personalities and faces we want to present as our authentic selves.

Or, if we can't blame it on Facebook and Twitter, we can chalk it up to Oprah, who popularized finding your "authentic self" in the 1990s (she's gone now and can't object). If it's not that "O," then it's the other O, as in the prez. You have to know that Obama's in trouble when Maureen Dowd turns on him, as she's been doing in her columns for a while now. Last Sunday she called him the Sleeping Beauty President who only awakes when his polls take a downturn. He's a split-personality president, she says, who is divided between Energizer Barry and Enervating Barry and that confuses people (no wonder) because we never know which one we're gonna get.

This sets the stage for Rick Perry, who always comes across (this is me talking) as Worse than Bush.

He is authentically frightening. When the languid, non-combative Obama is the only figure standing between this bible-thumping, death-sentencing, climate-change-pooh-poohing, evolution-denying, swaggering, anti-intellectual and us, we are in some disastrous trouble. I thought we had dug ourselves out of the black hole of Bush-Cheney, but it's not looking good.I am authentically worried by the looming reality of this possibility. And let alone the horrific damage he can do to our country, how can I even stand listening to Lamebrain II? Don't make me have to live through this again. Pullease!!!

Post 9-11
Then there was the article about 9-11 headed "Outdone by Reality: How artists and writers struggled to find a deeper meaning--or simply turned up the volume and headed for the Jersey Shore." You see what I mean about reality shows permeating culture? Could this fake authenticity have started with the 9-11 attack? Yes, it happened and it was horrific, but look how many politicians took advantage of it -- starting with Bush and Juliani? And then Bush-Cheney started the unending wars that have bankrupted our country and killed and wounded so many thousands. Meanwhile, we all go on with our lives and pretend those wars are not happening. No, it's not Vietnam all over again because there is no draft. There are no marches in the streets, no protests except for a few "nuts", there is no civilian pressure to end the wars. In fact, it's the reverse. People worry that if the Defense Department cuts back, they will lose jobs manufacturing arms and materiels. Those wars could go on forever just like 1984. Who can deal with the reality of all this?

I have to stop reading the paper.

Relief and Rest In Peace

I went looking for an image for "relief" and Google didn't quite take my meaning. But that's OK because I do like this image that I selected from the many bas-reliefs they offered.

Some debate as to whether this is Innana, Ishtar or Lilith. Anyway, I like the pedicure.

Relief, the feeling
I finished the two commission pieces yesterday and felt so relieved to have accomplished the mission. I got a better feeling about them when I arrived at the studio after (day job) work on Tuesday afternoon. I think the photos I took did not represent the actual state of the work very well. In person they looked much better and there was less work left to do than I had agonized over. I spent a few hours putting on the finishing touches and went home feeling that the work was done to the best of my ability. Late today I delivered them to the photographer and tomorrow I should have images. I'm planning to deliver them to the gallery on Saturday for the client to see in person.

I am so looking forward to going to the studio tomorrow to begin new work that no one has seen before - including me.


R.I.P. Elizabeth Taylor

Liz as Cleo

Looking at the image of the ancient goddess above reminded me of Cleopatra and her Isis worship since I am currently reading the bio by Stacy Schiff. Of course it's impossible to read about Cleo and not think of Elizabeth Taylor in that horrible movie, especially today. I actually tried to rewatch it recently just to see what it was like after all these years. It really is horrific. Seeing some of the get-ups that Elizabeth wore is pretty amusing. She certainly was beautiful although she had an unpleasant voice. You'd think the studio would have given her voice lessons so she could learn to pitch it lower.

Elizabeth Taylor at the peak of her mature beauty

I read the "scandalous" bio of her by Kitty Kelley, which you have to take with a pound of salt. It was actually rather sad that most of Elizabeth's childhood was sucked away by the Hollywood star system. Her mother was a notorious stage-mother type who controlled everything and promoted her daughter's incipient hypochondriasis (there's a word for you). Bad behavior set in early and continued for most of Elizabeth's life. She did not have a reputation of being a good actress, despite all the postmortem accolades.

One thing that she absolutely does deserve credit for is the acceptance that she brought to HIV/AIDS and the fundraising that she spearheaded. She apparently first became interested because of her friendship with Rock Hudson, and then became closely identified with AIDS-related charities. She is reported to have helped raise more than $100 million to fight HIV/AIDS. She helped start the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) and also created her own Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation.

Rock Hudson with Elizabeth at the Golden Globes in 1985

She was someone who spoke out in public when she had something to say. In 2003 she refused to attend the Academy Awards because she opposed the Iraq war. She publicly condemned President George W. Bush for starting the war and calling on Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq because she feared it would start World War III. Good for you, Elizabeth! If only the media and the war-mongering public had listened way back then.

An Andy Warhol "Liz" sold at auction in July 2010 for $10.1 million