Click image for more Patriotism.

I am not a big fan of Norman Rockwell. He is an American Propaganda painter - the opposite to the many Soviet Realist painters. His feel-good and homely images is American porn for patriots. These are images from the old America still in the heads of many US Neocons and die hard right wing Patriots.

But this America is long dead and won’t come back.

There is still small town America and American pie - but it’s kids listen to music from Negros on their Chinese iPods and watch porn from Sweden. Their parents drive Japanese and German cars - and pay Muslim countries huge amounts of money to keep these vehicles rolling. Their work has long been outsourced to India or Mexico …

More? Rockwell @ Wikipedia

Click image for a larger Connoisseur.

Watching the watcher. I can’t help myself thinking that Maestro Rockwell is taking the piss out of modern art lovers and painters as well?!

Right?

To be honest I am still surprised about Mr Warhols fame. He certainly was a great artist, but his work (in my eyes) are not as breath taking and special as Picasso’s. But I guess ‘The Factory’ which was not only just a cool place, but a celebrity hang out that played an important role. He was well connected and created his own fans and market in one go. I guess at a certain point he simply was a social anchor as well as Godfather to anything related to art in New York?

Another part of his fame is his commercial ’soup art’ - his understanding how to create mass media compatible mass art. I think in that respect he was truly groundbreaking:

In the future, everyone will be world famous for 15 minutes.

I think in this quote he summed up everything you need to know about today’s media society (although today it’s 15 seconds of fame on YouTube). His art reflected mass produced images of the same people / themes over and over again. Art was no longer an unique object, but a mass produced variation of an idea / topic.

Mr Warhol was not just a rich and famous person. He also did volunteer work for social institutions. He not only painted soup, he also handed it out. This - more then anything - honors him.

More? Wikipedia

Theme spotting for beginners - can you see Mr Hoppers ongoing objects and subjects?

Douglas Fraser is one of my favorite illustrators and modern artists. I have seen his illustrations in many magazines - and I always enjoyed them. His style is strong, his characters larger than life - yet he always puts some emotion and sense of depth into his work. Make sure to visit his great gallery. Enjoy!

Prologue

Some more videos after the fold.

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Leonard Bernstein was simply a fucking genius. I say that in that manner, because he fully indulged life and art with all naughty aspects.

Candide is actually very old material compared to his very modern ‘West Side Story’. It is based on novella by Voltaire. It first opened 1956 - and it’s 50th anniversary was celebrated by a special performance in Paris last year.

Watch the big master conduct the song "Glitter And Be Gay" himself. Or click the player below to hear the overture.

More? Buy the DVD at Amazon or read the great Guide to Candide

One of the oddest crossover art collaborations ever.

Disney did a lot of experimental work and many educational short movies after the war. Destino was in it’s early stages when it was cancelled - but Disney’s nephew resurected the project 1999. It seems like that a DVD is coming soon?

I hope we’ll get more of this stuff and Disney is brave enough to create some more arty and ‘deeper’ stuff.