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deletedOct 3
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Thank you Mary. Yes, I think Dadaism qualifies as nihilistic art. Though there is a lot mixed aesthetics that plays off of it. There is a fantastic piece by Picasso, of a bike's handlebars and seat juxtaposed in such a way to look like a bull's head and horns. Freak'n brilliant. Picasso saw those abstract shapes in the bike's features and cleverly turned them into representational art. Great eye. Dada was playing with finding "found objects" i.e., trash, and displaying it has art. Picasso couldn't go 100% in with that as it was a empty gimmick (anti-art, nihilism), he still had to create something representational from unlikely sources. I tend to be binary, either do anti-art 100% or do representational art 100%. Obviously I chose the latter. : )

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And their orgasmic pinnacle of it all culminated in the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics. So if anyone was in doubt of the ‘nihilistic cabal’s’ reach, they laid it bare that night. It is now so widespread and ingrained into the art world, they have no fear, not a spec of it. How do we fight this worldwide epidemic of anti-humanism? by listening to your mom michael and One by one creating works by humans, about our shared experiences, about our humanity, about our beauty.

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Thank you Lauren, I will be sure to tell my mom that her advice touched a cord, she turns 93 next month. Truthfully, I don't know how widespread it is, it could only be a few thousand people in power, perhaps a bit like how the conquistadors, with a few hundred men conquered South America?

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I believe it is very widespread as it is happening in to many countries to be a coincidence.

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Definitely not a coincidence!

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Sep 26Liked by Michael Newberry

Nobody will see or remember the 20th century's welfare art by the end of the 21st. Whether or not the trend of creating it endures, the pieces themselves won't. Just a few cubic meters of trash to add to the endless landfills and uhaul storage centers. A fittingly meaningless end for "art" that represents meaninglessness and waste.

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That's a powerful perspective! It makes one wonder if the postmodern artists have profound doubts about the value and meaningfulness of their art?

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Sep 27Liked by Michael Newberry

One can only hope.

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Sep 26Liked by Michael Newberry

will get back to you .. Were an early mornin read - & spent far more time considerin ‘it - than the read itself or backtrackin yer backtrail

.. can now see ‘relationships or evolutions (convolutions ?.. even ‘symbiotic parasitism in play - Yes ‘Wealth & Elitism.. Am i actually observing how ‘Media’ as we thought we knew it .. is now ‘The First Estate ? Does this mean ‘White Cube’ also reflects ‘Nihilism in Politics ? The great unwashed are being ‘groomed to Love an ArchEnemy ? Because they’re ’exciting or freakshow titillating ? (Governance is ‘boring ..)

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Thank you for your response! It seems you’ve used my article as a springboard for exploring more complex themes, which I find fascinating.

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Sep 27Liked by Michael Newberry

.. sometimes ‘society / the ‘public - or even Artists are presented with or ‘confronted with obvious Contrasts or Choices.. even Confusions ..

Thus the Astonishing Outdoor Public Sculpture you Spotlit - versus - the ludicrous High Art ‘blobwork’ you Spotlit & questioned in a White Cube Installation

That Post of yours ‘captured the ‘capability of bringing the Two together for ‘social consideration.. That is valuable to me.. as a documentary observer & valuable to others as well ! Yes.. your Post was a ‘major wake up call’ - ‘what is going on here !

You ‘asked what should not be - ‘a tough question ! What Is Going On At White Cube !?!

As well as on a ‘broader sense’ of ‘High Art or ‘Fashion.. Such ‘stuff i wonder about haha.. in my early morning peregrinations via ‘substack ! ! 🦎🏴‍☠️

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Ha, thank you, loved the walkthrough!

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Sep 26Liked by Michael Newberry

Sadistic pranks are the stock-in-trade of modern artists. One "public sculptor" named Dale Eldred somehow rooked the city government of Kansas City, Ks. They paid him to modify part of their downtown streets into a bizarre undrivable roller-coaster, which was meant to be a nastily ironic comment on the beautiful hilly terrain there. Stores went bankrupt before the city finally tore it down and restored real streets. He also swindled KU into installing a DANGEROUS giant human trap, sort of like a railroad trestle on a prop. Public protest and graffiti eventually persuaded the idiotic university admin to "preserve" the statue in a place where nobody could see it.

http://polistrasmill.blogspot.com/2005/09/crescents.html

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Spot on. : )

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Sep 27Liked by Michael Newberry

Your art-joy is contagious and uplifting. I have not seen “lady of the lake”; she is gorgeous! I love the way you’ve painted her hair, almost like a halo. I love that she was the stepping stone to your space series, how very cool the way inspiration strikes. This made me unreasonably sad:

“where the sublime is nihilistic, formless, has no appeal to our appreciation of beauty, and violates our sense of reason. “

I have stood in front of art works, sobbing my eyes out because of how beautiful they are. I wish that kind of joy on every human.

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Thank you, Jenn, for your kind words. I appreciate and relate to your deep emotional responses to special artworks. I'm glad I could share the sadness I've felt reading Kant and encountering disparaging works.

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Sep 27Liked by Michael Newberry

Not only have you found your joy, but you radiate it through you arr and your writing. This is how we combat the nihilism - with true meaning and beauty wrenched from the soul. Thank you.

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Thank you. I'm delighted that you get the message of joy from my work, and indeed, you remind us to keep our focus on soulful meaning and beauty.

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“ Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public.” H. L. Mencken

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