Thank you for bring -Saunders, Frances Stonor. The Cultural Cold War: The CIA and the World of Arts and Letters- to the attention of your audience. It was one of the most important, interesting and influential books I have read.
Thank you, and for sharing on Twitter. I’m following you there but I’m a mute observer. I am not reacting in any way, ha, I’m treating Twitter like it is a TV news station. So you know.
Figurative art is my favorite. There is something glorious in capturing the human form in all its magnificence. I really like your figurative work. Thanks for this interesting article.
"Without exaggeration, one could argue that abstract art serves as a metaphor for psychosis and that figurative art is a metaphor for human evolution." - Michael defines the difference between separation and oneness. Between bullshit and authenticity. It takes courage to say these things as an artist.
Wow! Thank you for writing this. I had no idea. As a person looking at art from a distance, I had questioned how some images, appearing to be splashes on a page, could be construed as a masterpiece. But I knew was eye was untrained. So I never looked much deeper and assumed my criticism was unwarranted.
What an excellent re-cap of modern art history, revealing important background information for us to know. I am so happy you're out there, taking a stand for beauty and for humanity, and for meaningful, reflective art, Michael.
You didn’t mention Peggy Guggenheim. In my art history classes, she was always the one credited with choosing ab ex over surrealism and promoted it heavily. Was she a CIA operative? I find a lot of ab ex boring & lazy but some I really like. It opened up new ways of thinking about art. However, ab ex is just a phase—I see it primarily in NYC but new figurative work is much more popular in other places, selling well. Ab ex still sells because it’s favored by the interior decorators of billionaires. And is used for money laundering…
I favor Tom Wolfe’s interpretation on the modern art scene (The Painted Word).
But when zombie formalism became the rage, I figured ab ex is pretty much done. You no longer have to be good—you just need a Yale art degree.
Yes. The wikileaks archive of '70s CIA documents is full of CIA sponsorships for both visual arts and "progressive" jazz. The goal in both cases was to spread chaos and disorder.
Deepstate blamed Russian Subversion for all of this stuff, and for a long time I believed it.
The Skousen list of alleged Soviet influences is just the CIA's own blueprint, all misattributed to Russia.
Here's the list, from a time when I stupidly believed the blame:
“Total objectification of a subject with no base in reality.” Yep. Glad you got that takeaway. 😀👍
Can you walk me through the last comment?
Fascinating and thought provoking.
Ah, we have contact! Hi Margo!
Thank you for bring -Saunders, Frances Stonor. The Cultural Cold War: The CIA and the World of Arts and Letters- to the attention of your audience. It was one of the most important, interesting and influential books I have read.
I know, right!? She's awesome and important historically.
Hopefully the beginning of a beautiful friendship......
Absolutely! I am very happy you reached out to me.
Very educational, thank you Michael. Posted it on Twitter @FrontierArt1
https://x.com/frontierart1/status/1765545617634541669
BTW, your X account is excellent!
Thank you Michael. I think you might also enjoy the poem and article:
https://www.versesvisions.com/p/east-meets-west-a-civilizational
This one talks about how self and ego are understood in Eastern cultures and philosophies and how they are treated in Eastern arts
Thank you, and for sharing on Twitter. I’m following you there but I’m a mute observer. I am not reacting in any way, ha, I’m treating Twitter like it is a TV news station. So you know.
Figurative art is my favorite. There is something glorious in capturing the human form in all its magnificence. I really like your figurative work. Thanks for this interesting article.
Thanks Jenn, it should have come with a red pill warning! Actually I decided to add that warning to the essay.
"Without exaggeration, one could argue that abstract art serves as a metaphor for psychosis and that figurative art is a metaphor for human evolution." - Michael defines the difference between separation and oneness. Between bullshit and authenticity. It takes courage to say these things as an artist.
Wow! Thank you for writing this. I had no idea. As a person looking at art from a distance, I had questioned how some images, appearing to be splashes on a page, could be construed as a masterpiece. But I knew was eye was untrained. So I never looked much deeper and assumed my criticism was unwarranted.
What an excellent re-cap of modern art history, revealing important background information for us to know. I am so happy you're out there, taking a stand for beauty and for humanity, and for meaningful, reflective art, Michael.
You didn’t mention Peggy Guggenheim. In my art history classes, she was always the one credited with choosing ab ex over surrealism and promoted it heavily. Was she a CIA operative? I find a lot of ab ex boring & lazy but some I really like. It opened up new ways of thinking about art. However, ab ex is just a phase—I see it primarily in NYC but new figurative work is much more popular in other places, selling well. Ab ex still sells because it’s favored by the interior decorators of billionaires. And is used for money laundering…
I favor Tom Wolfe’s interpretation on the modern art scene (The Painted Word).
But when zombie formalism became the rage, I figured ab ex is pretty much done. You no longer have to be good—you just need a Yale art degree.
Yes. The wikileaks archive of '70s CIA documents is full of CIA sponsorships for both visual arts and "progressive" jazz. The goal in both cases was to spread chaos and disorder.
Deepstate blamed Russian Subversion for all of this stuff, and for a long time I believed it.
The Skousen list of alleged Soviet influences is just the CIA's own blueprint, all misattributed to Russia.
Here's the list, from a time when I stupidly believed the blame:
http://polistrasmill.blogspot.com/2007/08/skousens-prophecies.html
Michael, also you might like this post and the poem I wrote about truth and beauty:
https://www.versesvisions.com/p/beauty-is-truth
Wonderful post and context.