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“A monolithic orthodoxy has marooned artists in a ghetto of received opinion and cut them off from fresh ideas…In the twenty-first century, we are looking for meaning, not subverting it. The art world, mesmerized by the heroic annals of the old avant-garde, is living in the past.”

-Camille Paglia

Writing about art has become a questionable activity.

This is largely because the priorities cultivated by the current cultural establishment are also very questionable.

Real art knows no boundaries; it communicates across all times, across all cultures. Art is as much an aspect of our species as the opposable thumb, and just as prevalent. Art conveys the legacy of our common condition, the fellowship of life. Art is the universal language of inspired humanity.

Art is for everyone.

Unfortunately, today’s institutions have broken from this timeless awareness. Instead of being reverenced as a communion for all, contemporary art is being treated as a wedge, a social signifier of elitist attitudes. Officially sanctioned art is all too often is based on theoretical formal matters and sociological notions designed to exclude, rather than engage, the general public.

Art has been marginalized in our culture by the mismanagement practiced on it by elites. In doing so, they have blocked access to powerful resources – denying our society the inspiration to live up to ideals, the encouragement to think and feel deeply, the yearning to harmonize with truth and beauty. As a result the mass audience has turned away, instinctually rejecting the superficial and nihilistic aspects of contemporary art championed by an imperious would-be ruling class.

To defend their shrunken turf, the art world has lapsed into dogma. They’ve tried preserve their own privileged priest class status by retreating further into obscurity and hostility, belligerently deriding those communities who repudiate or rebuff creative class presumptions.

But beyond all this narcissism and power tripping, the simple human love of, and need for, art endures. Great art is being made outside the ideologically-driven official channels, by artists who are seeking to express their own personal visions.

Without the institutional support it’s harder to have these contributions recognized; however, we live in an era dominated by a miraculous tool. Thank God for the internet! The establishment filters can be bypassed.

All too often the efforts of independent artists go without notice. This blog will be an effort to document some of the amazing accomplishments happening under the radar. In addition, it will address inspirational mass media offerings-commercially produced books, films, and music-that also manage to evoke the deep places of the imagination, as well as observations on the state of the arts.

Much cultural commentary tediously dwells on peripheral concerns, using the pedantic lecturing tone of the academy. It takes a lot of hot air to pump up the bubble that allows inadequate art to survive. Enough with the endless, dull deconstructivist nitpicking. This clichéd approach to analysis is more about flaunting the supposed cleverness and politically correct values of the critic than exploring the mystery of art.

Also, enough with the ridiculous jargon so often used in an attempt to magnify non-existent accomplishments. Like any specialized field, art making and appreciation has a specific vocabulary, but the use of terminology cannot replace the visceral experience good art gives. Those fluent in the artspeak gibberish may believe the use of inflated language presents an arcane sophistication that will distract from the shortcomings of their ideas. However, their sophistry is no substitute for achievement; the spirit remains unmoved by their equivocations.

Remodernism is an art movement first codified by UK artists Billy Childish and Charles Thomson. It is the recognition of the spiritual renaissance taking form in the arts all around the globe.

This is our moment in the mighty continuum of art and life. The current caretakers have been careless, leaving our culture’s deepest needs unmet while they pursued their own self-serving agendas. We can do better than this. The Remodern Review contributes an enthusiastic perspective on unfolding renewal of art.

-Richard Bledsoe