DAILY ART FIX: Explore Over 3,000 Victorian Illustrations of Shakespeare’s Works

Art world links which caught my eye…

The genius of Shakespeare is his subtle explorations of the human condition. His insights are so universal that his works have been adapted and presented to take place throughout history, from ancient Egypt to outer space.

Now a researcher has gathered together an online collection of Victorian illustrations of the Bard’s classic scenes and characters.

While reading Shakespeare’s works is still a thrilling experience for literary fiends, illustrations can help bring a little of the stage’s magic to the page. Michael John Goodman—who describes himself as an “independent researcher, writer, educator, curator and image-maker”—has made this magic easy no matter what edition you have. His Victorian Illustrated Shakespeare Archive collects over 3,000 illustrations from 19th-century British editions of Shakespeare’s Complete Works.

Read the full article here: MY MODERN MET – Explore Over 3,000 Victorian Illustrations of Shakespeare’s Works

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I don’t fundraise off of my blog. I don’t ask for Patreon or Paypal donations. If you’d like to support the Remodern mission, buy a book. Or a painting. 

Learn more About My Art: Visionary Experience

My wife Michele Bledsoe has written her own inspirational book, Painting, Passion and the Art of Life.

Remodernism Video: BEFORE THERE WAS FAKE NEWS, THERE WAS FAKE ART

Visit other posts for more commentary on the state of the arts.

Please send any inquiries to info@remodernamerica.com. Thank you!

DAILY ART FIX: 10 Questions for an Artist Who Grows Her Own Pigments

Art world links which caught my eye…

Ellie Iron’s Book “Feral Hues: A Guide to Painting with Weeds”

Contemporary artists are spoiled by the abundent supplies of pre-made art materials. In earlier eras, the creation of paints using pigments and binders was a laborious process.

One artist has taken on a project to create her own colors again, using plants and weeds. Although I have not seen many images of the art she applies her creations to, and her interview quotes are full of progressive proselytizing, it’s an interesting exploration.

“Ellie Irons: There are many joys, which is why I’ve been entranced by the process for so many years: an ever-deepening and shifting connection to urban ecosystems and the land that supports them that emerges through careful, considered harvesting practices; the smells, colors, and textures that reveal themselves when plant parts are processed by hand in the studio; the joy of sharing the process with other humans who also become entranced by the relatively simple act of lovingly harvesting often overlooked weedy plants and creating paint with them; the process of attuning to the cycles of vegetal life sprouting, growing, blossoming, fruiting, senescing across the seasons and years — there is always something to delight in and harvest, in any habitat, even in deep winter, which I find comforting and reassuring in this age of climate chaos and instability.”

Read the full article here: HYPERALLERGIC – 10 Questions for an Artist Who Grows Her Own Pigments

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I don’t fundraise off of my blog. I don’t ask for Patreon or Paypal donations. If you’d like to support the Remodern mission, buy a book. Or a painting. 

Learn more About My Art: Visionary Experience

My wife Michele Bledsoe has written her own inspirational book, Painting, Passion and the Art of Life.

Remodernism Video: BEFORE THERE WAS FAKE NEWS, THERE WAS FAKE ART

Visit other posts for more commentary on the state of the arts.

Please send any inquiries to info@remodernamerica.com. Thank you!

DAILY ART FIX: BOOKS – ONCE AMONG THE DEAD

Art world links which caught my eye…

Reblogged from Michele Bledsoe’s blog The Secret Kingdom.

My wife writes about a special project she illustrated and published.

Once Among the Dead is the second book I worked on for my sister, Patricia.. and my strange little drawings have found a comfortable home within its pages. The painting I used for the cover has always been a favorite of mine… and is undeniably fitting for this unique collection of poems and stories. The first time I read it, I was left wandering around stunned for hours. Speaking to my sister afterwards, I described it in a single word: Potent.

ONCE AMONG THE DEAD

It is about time to make death mainstream. Death is seen as mysterious and feared by so many in today’s society. Yet it is a common everyday occurrence.

Once Among the Dead is a collection of meditations on death, dying, grief and loss. The themes range from the clinical, to the philosophical, to the spiritual. Raw, emotional and brutally honest, the poetry and prose are at times difficult to read. Grotesque and beautiful, this strikingly unique book contains elements of horror, hope and salvation.

Patricia Lynn Dompieri is also the author of Lemon Bee and Other Peculiar Tales. Both of her books have been illustrated by Michele Bledsoe.

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I don’t fundraise off of my blog. I don’t ask for Patreon or Paypal donations. If you’d like to support the Remodern mission, buy a book. Or a painting. 

Learn more About My Art: Visionary Experience

My wife Michele Bledsoe has written her own inspirational book, Painting, Passion and the Art of Life.

Remodernism Video: BEFORE THERE WAS FAKE NEWS, THERE WAS FAKE ART

Visit other posts for more commentary on the state of the arts.

Please send any inquiries to info@remodernamerica.com. Thank you!

The Remodern America Manifesto Part 2: Inflection Point

Richard Bledsoe “Hollowsaurus” acrylic on canvas 24″ x 36″ 2018

When I published my 2018 book, Remodern America: How the Renewal of the Arts Will Change the Course of Western Civilization, I concluded the work with a 10 point list I called the Remodern America Manifesto.

In this document, I provided a summary of what is wrong with the contemporary art establishment, proposed new solutions, and defended why art still matters. 

The first part of the manifesto defined the problems.

The second part describes the crisis point reached and what the turning of the tide will mean: a shift of our civilization from the Postmodern to the Remodern mode.

4. Art is a more enduring and vital human experience than the power games of a greedy and fraudulent ruling class. The managers crashed the culture in pursuit of their agenda. They defend their usurped authority and privileges with doublethink, misdirection, and intimidation. Their time has run out. Reality is crashing back through their carefully constructed facades, and a time of reckoning has come. Enduring changes start in the arts. Remodernism defeats Postmodern desecration.
5. Remodernism reboots the culture. Remodernism is not a style of art, it is a form of motivation. We express the universal language of inspired humanity. We do not imitate what came before. We find in ourselves the same divine essence of love and excitement which has inspired masterpieces throughout history. We are strengthened by drawing on traditions thousands of years old. We integrate the bold, visionary efforts of the Modern era into a holistic, meaningful expression of contemporary life. Remodernism seeks a humble maturity which heals the fragmentation and contradictions of Modernism, and obliterates the narcissistic lies of Postmodernism. Remoderism is disruptive innovation applied to the moribund art world.

Many cultural critics discuss problems, but solutions are rare. The great thing about Remodernism, which encourages a DIY attitude, the power to make a difference goes back into the hands of people: artists and patrons alike.

This is an especially promising development for the United States, which the people will make back into the land of the free. The next stage of the manifesto, to be featured in an upcoming post, discusses change in America.

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I don’t fundraise off of my blog. I don’t ask for Patreon or Paypal donations. If you’d like to support the Remodern mission, buy a book. Or a painting. 

Learn more About My Art: Visionary Experience

My wife Michele Bledsoe has written her own inspirational book, Painting, Passion and the Art of Life.

Remodernism Video: BEFORE THERE WAS FAKE NEWS, THERE WAS FAKE ART

Visit other posts for more commentary on the state of the arts.

Please send any inquiries to info@remodernamerica.com. Thank you!

The Remodern America Manifesto Part 1: Defining the Problem

Richard Bledsoe “Study for a World Review” acrylic on canvas 20″ x 16″

When I published my 2018 book, Remodern America: How the Renewal of the Arts Will Change the Course of Western Civilization, I concluded the work with a 10 point list I called the Remodern America Manifesto.

In this document, I provided a summary of what is wrong with the contemporary art establishment, proposed new solutions, and defended why art still matters. 

It is said the first stage in addressing any problem is first admitting there is a problem. Theses are the three points which describe the current sorry state of the arts.

THE REMODERN AMERICA MANIFESTO

The Reconstruction of an Art of the People, by the People, for the People

1. Art is undergoing a crisis of relevance. Elitist malfeasance has marginalized the visual arts in popular culture. In doing so, the New Aristocracy of the Well-Connected block access to powerful resources. They deny 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. People instinctually reject the superficial and nihilistic contemporary art championed by an imperious would be ruling class.

2. Ruling class totalitarians use Postmodern art as a tool of oppression. Elitists have weaponized art into an assault on the foundations of Western civilization. This deceitful cabal seeks to destroy any principled perspective on the lies, manipulations, and abuses they commit. The scourge of Postmodern relativism as a cultural force is no accident; it’s a top-down driven campaign. Hyping soulless, unskilled art has a toxic, weakening effect on society as a whole.

Many cultural critics discuss problems, but solutions are rare. The great thing about Reomdernism, which encourages a DIY attitude, the power to make a difference goes back into the hands of people: artists and patrons alike.

The next stage of the manifesto, to be featured in an upcoming post, discusses those ideas.

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I don’t fundraise off of my blog. I don’t ask for Patreon or Paypal donations. If you’d like to support the Remodern mission, buy a book. Or a painting. 

Learn more About My Art: Visionary Experience

My wife Michele Bledsoe has written her own inspirational book, Painting, Passion and the Art of Life.

Remodernism Video: BEFORE THERE WAS FAKE NEWS, THERE WAS FAKE ART

Visit other posts for more commentary on the state of the arts.

Please send any inquiries to info@remodernamerica.com. Thank you!

DAILY ART FIX: The Philosophy Books that Inspired Francis Bacon’s Art

Art world links which caught my eye…

Francis Bacon “Study for Portrait of Lucian Freud” (1964)

Painter Francis Bacon lived in his infamously messy studio. Books of all kinds were amongst the detritus, including works that shaped (or misshaped) the intellectual life of the 20th century.

Francis Bacon read books just like he painted: deep, dark, and complex. The Irish figurative painter was said to have had an enormous library of books sprawled across his London studio, from modernist giants like T.S.Eliot, Joseph Conrad, and Marcel Proust, to Friedrich Nietzsche, Gilles Deleuze, Sigmund Freud, and Jacques Lacan reflecting the artist’s explicit interest in philosophy and psychoanalysis. In a 1966 interview with British art critic David Sylvester, he claimed to know some of these books “by heart”.

“I call it my imagination material,” he told French photographer Francis Giacobetti in 1991, during what would become his final interview before his death the following year. “I need to visualise things that lead me to other forms or subjects, details, images that influence my nervous system and transform the basic idea.” Like Bacon’s own artwork, which could be described as spectacles of horror – visceral, distorted images of crucifixions, mutilations, and monsters – his chosen literature was equally transgressive, often opposing existing philosophical and political ideas of their time…

Bacon’s artworks, while extremely personal, are also a product of their time: the shadowy aftermath of World War II and the horrors of the Holocaust. It’s a subject explored by Steiner in In Bluebeard’s Castle, which – originally published in 1971 – is one of the key cultural texts on post-World War II society, and a popular read for artists and cultural critics alike. Best described as a reflection on the death of western culture, Steiner argues that classical culture died with the Holocaust.

Read the full article here: DAZED – The Philosophy Books that Inspired Francis Bacon’s Art

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I don’t fundraise off of my blog. I don’t ask for Patreon or Paypal donations. If you’d like to support the Remodern mission, buy a book. Or a painting. 

Learn more About My Art: Visionary Experience

My wife Michele Bledsoe has written her own inspirational book, Painting, Passion and the Art of Life.

Remodernism Video: BEFORE THERE WAS FAKE NEWS, THERE WAS FAKE ART

Visit other posts for more commentary on the state of the arts.

Please send any inquiries to info@remodernamerica.com. Thank you!

DAILY ART FIX: 7 YEARS OF DAILY DRAWING TURNED INTO 2,500-PAGE BOOK

Art world links which caught my eye…

Ruben Steeman’s “2,500 Days of Rust”

One of my mottos in art and life is persistence is key. Ruben Steeman persistently drew, then persisted to collect the works into an unlikely book.

Ruben Steeman has been posting one drawing per day for seven years on his website. When he reached the unbelievable amount of 2,500 drawings he decided to put them all in a book. Despite several publishers telling it would be impossible to print and publish it he wasn’t put off but remained focused and driven. He crowd funded his project and in the course of time found a book binder and managed to pull it through.

Read the full article here: ART SHEEP – 7 YEARS OF DAILY DRAWING TURNED INTO 2,500-PAGE BOOK

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I don’t fundraise off of my blog. I don’t ask for Patreon or Paypal donations. If you’d like to support the Remodern mission, buy a book. Or a painting. 

Learn more About My Art: Visionary Experience

My wife Michele Bledsoe has written her own inspirational book, Painting, Passion and the Art of Life.

Remodernism Video: BEFORE THERE WAS FAKE NEWS, THERE WAS FAKE ART

Visit other posts for more commentary on the state of the arts.

Please send any inquiries to info@remodernamerica.com. Thank you!

DAILY ART FIX: The Hidden Life of Beatrix Potter

Art world links which caught my eye…

Beatrix Potter “Studies of Bees and Other Insects” watercolor over pencil

Beatrix Potter’s gently strange stories and her illustrations of primly dressed animals have delighted generations. She developed her artistic skills during childhood isolation; her creative work earned her freedom in her maturity.

The experiences she made as a child in many ways inform the plot of her stories. These may appear juvenile at a first glance, as stories of anthropomorphic animals invariably seem unless they are called Animal Farm, yet the subject matter is deeply serious. All the children in her tales have absent parents and deal with life-threatening situations, restriction of one kind or another being the common theme. Constricting clothing, garden walls, tree trunks, barnyard equipment and humans serve as foils to individual freedom in many cases. Although there is no proof for Potter having suffered from depression, it does not seem too far a leap to assume that she channelled her loneliness into writing, producing a creative outlet of sorts to void her negative feelings.

Read the full article here: MEDIUM – The Hidden Life of Beatrix Potter

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I don’t fundraise off of my blog. I don’t ask for Patreon or Paypal donations. If you’d like to support the Remodern mission, buy a book. Or a painting. 

Learn more About My Art: Visionary Experience

My wife Michele Bledsoe has written her own inspirational book, Painting, Passion and the Art of Life.

Remodernism Video: BEFORE THERE WAS FAKE NEWS, THERE WAS FAKE ART

Visit other posts for more commentary on the state of the arts.

Please send any inquiries to info@remodernamerica.com. Thank you!

DAILY ART FIX: An Unexpected Artistic Birthday Surprise

A true story.

My birthday was September 28. To celebrate, my wife Michele Bledsoe and I both took the day off of work. One of her presents to me was a trip to Bookman’s, a wonderful used bookstore.

I love books. I’ve heard that’s a typical Libra trait. Because we already have waaaay too many books (bibliophiles understand what I mean, it’s a compulsion) we limit our visits to Bookman’s to very special occasions.

We were shocked by what we ended up finding there.

I had found 3 books and we went to check out at the register. As the clerk was processing our transaction, I started examining the display of refrigerator magnets next to the register. I quickly realized they were made by Gary Bowers, a local artist and poet we’ve known for years. The magnets were portraits of other poets done in his signature acrostic style, where he uses the letters of their names to create his own poems on their personalities.

Michele and I started calling out the names of the familiar faces as we identified them. “There’s Manny!” “And Jack Evans!” “Bill  Campana!’

And then I said, “There’s us!”

That’s right. Many years ago, Gary had gifted us one of his portraits, blown up to poster sized. We still have it as a memento of our beloved Deus Ex Machina Gallery, which we helped run from 2007-2012. Gary had used that image for one of his magnets.

Of course we had to buy it. “That’s us!” we proudly exclaimed as we handed it to the cashier. She looked at the magnet, then back to our faces, and said, “It certainly is!”

Thanks to Gary Bowers for an unexpected and memorable birthday treat! The magnet has taken up a place of honor, on our refrigerator.

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I don’t fundraise off of my blog. I don’t ask for Patreon or Paypal donations. If you’d like to support the Remodern mission, buy a book. Or a painting. 

Learn more About My Art: Visionary Experience

My wife Michele Bledsoe has written her own inspirational book, Painting, Passion and the Art of Life.

Remodernism Video: BEFORE THERE WAS FAKE NEWS, THERE WAS FAKE ART

Visit other posts for more commentary on the state of the arts.

Please send any inquiries to info@remodernamerica.com. Thank you!

DAILY ART FIX: Rare and Wonderful 1950s Space Art

Art world links which caught my eye…

The future of the past.

In the early decades of the twentieth century, pulp magazines speculated on what space exploration might look like. While the illustrations didn’t end up being too accurate, they had a lot of style.

Read the full article here: DARK ROASTED BLEND –  Rare and Wonderful 1950s Space Art

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I don’t fundraise off of my blog. I don’t ask for Patreon or Paypal donations. If you’d like to support the Remodern mission, buy a book. Or a painting. 

Learn more About My Art: Visionary Experience

My wife Michele Bledsoe has written her own inspirational book, Painting, Passion and the Art of Life.

Remodernism Video: BEFORE THERE WAS FAKE NEWS, THERE WAS FAKE ART

Visit other posts for more commentary on the state of the arts.

Please send any inquiries to info@remodernamerica.com. Thank you!