DAILY ART FIX: Paper Peepshows: How People Experienced “Virtual Reality” in the 19th Century

Art world links which caught my eye…

The Art of the Tunnel Book

Before we had electronic media, people got inventive with the materials at hand. This article contains suggestions on how to create your own paper peepshows.

WHAT ARE PAPER PEEPSHOWS?

“Paper peepshows, also known as peek-a-boo books, peepshow books, and tunnel books, are a special form of immersive storytelling. They’re made up of several pages bound together by folded pieces of paper on each side. When folded out, these books are accordion-looking. Each page is carefully crafted with cutouts to reveal the page behind it, adding to the illusion of depth and perspective. The viewer looks through the small hole in the front, enveloping themselves in a tiny, three-dimensional scene that feels life-sized.”

Read the full article here: MY MODERN MET – Paper Peepshows: How People Experienced “Virtual Reality” in the 19th Century

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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!

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: 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: The Great Fictional Artists of Literature: A Reading List

Art world links which caught my eye…

I have to dispute part of this article. The unnamed author claims “Many writers I know, myself included, fantasize about being able to paint or sculpt. But none of the visual artists I know wish they were writing novels.”

Personally, I’m a visual artist, and I’ve also been trying to write a novel since I was 18 years old.

I did write a non-fiction book, but that’s not the same thing as the world building adventure a novel can be. That’s the kind of novel I’d like to write; it’s the kind of novel I like to read, as well.

Read the article for a list of 10 books which invented a notable artistic character: ELECTRIC LIT – The Great Fictional Artists of Literature: A Reading List

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RICHARD BLEDSOE is a visual story teller; a painter of fables and parables. He received his BFA in Painting from Virginia Commonwealth University. Richard has been an exhibiting artist for over 25 years, in both the United States and internationally. He lives and paints happily in Phoenix, Arizona, with his wife Michele and cat Motorhead. He is the author of Remodern America: How the Renewal of the Arts Will Change the Course of Western Civilization:

“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.

“Remodernism is the return of art as a revelation.”

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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!

INTERVIEW: Chris Muir’s Shadowbanned Webcomic “Day By Day” Illustrates Free Speech

DAY BY DAY Brings the Pain to Elitist Culture

Winston Churchill’s masterful summary of the totalitarian blockade around captive cultures as an Iron Curtain has received a Twenty-first century revision.

Thanks to Big Tech, the repressive dynamic being enforced now is a Silicon Curtain. It’s no longer limited to Eastern Europe. We have a worldwide will to power attempting to throttle the greatest source of information and communication in history: the internet. Early innovators grew into citadels of monopoly. Being smart with computers gave these would-be overlords conceits of their own omnipotence. Look at that nasty Bill Gates, eager to inject the world’s population with his own special blend of God knows what, in a response to a manufactured Scamdemic he sure seemed to be planning for. With a creepy scheme like that, Gates is one volcano headquarters away from being a James Bond villain-and who knows? He may have one already.

Big Tech has partnered with authoritarian regimes to beta test techniques of tyranny they have every intent of inflicting upon us all. Have no trust in these trusts, which are sorely in need of busting.

But in the meantime, freedom still manages to break through the controls. Officially condemned Wrongthink can still be found online, if you know where to look. That’s why I was so glad to rediscover Day by Day, a daily political webcomic by Chris Muir.

I used to follow Day by Day in my early days of internet political obsessing in the early 2000s. It was the glory days of the Blogosphere, before so much of online engagement was squashed into filtered social media silos. The strip was featured on various sites I compulsively visited. DBD’s combination of sharp, insightful commentary and expressive drawing was very compelling.

Day by Day in 2008

Through the years, as my browsing habits changed, I lost touch with comic. But when I recently rediscovered it, I observed it had undergone an upgrade. The Alinsky-style weapons of satire and sarcasm directed at leftist tropes was as powerful as ever, but the art was richer, more elaborate.

Muir has great skill at figurative work, especially when depicting lovely ladies. As Muir’s dialogues are often set in intimate domestic situations, he frequently draws his characters nude. Any criticism directed at him for celebrating the female form, coming from cultural thought leaders who promote Cardi B, is rank hypocrisy. To me, Muir’s frank depictions prove his commitment to honestly sharing his free expressions. The salty politics are leavened with some sweet beauty.

Day by Day Bares Arms and More 

Chris Muir is participating in Remodernism, the spirit of liberty which is persisting around the globe, despite the Postmodern establishment’s best efforts to smother it.  As I state in my 2018 book, Remodern America: How the Renewal of the Arts Will Change the Course of Western Civilization:

“Remodernism acknowledges artists as individuals responsible for their own actions. Artists have the duty to honestly express the spirit of the age filtered through their unique perspective and skills. Remodern artists use their art to show the enduring triumph of the human spirit over any negative circumstances.

“We must overcome the Postmodern efforts to censor and subvert the culture by suppressing free expression. We don’t need anyone’s approval or permission to create.”

I recently conducted an email interview with Chris Muir, discussing the past, present and future of his creative endeavors.

Question: How did you begin Day by Day? How is it going currently?

Chris Muir: In 1996, I became frustrated at the bias I saw in media-all media. I always had a thing for American history, and to see how warped the presentation of it was in ‘News’ and comics-like Doonesbury and many other syndicated toons-I thought ‘I can do better than this’, and set out to do so. I did practice toons from 1996 to 2002 (unreleased) to see if I could do this as a night job (my day job for 30 years was as an Industrial Design consultant). I also did a single panel/day non-political strip for FL Today called ‘Altered States’ as additional practice to ensure I could meet a daily deadline.

Q: Your draftsmanship is part of what keeps Day by Day so interesting. What’s your artistic background?

CM: I’m self taught, much practice at Photoshop and Illustrator inasmuch as I did renderings of designs for various clients over the years-boats, electronic products, etc. This set me up well for the inevitable time when comics would be all digital.

I was one of the first to do an all digital comic strip, and being versed in Production techniques, I was able to do it all with one person-me! Today there are hundreds of cartoonists and artists who are all digital (Like Deviant Art), though I chose this method primarily because my day job took 80% of my time, and I had to be fast and accurate, as daily strips must be daily without fail. One has to get on readers’ short list of daily reads, especially now (unlike back in 2002 when I launched) because of thousands of content choices. One must become a habit for that reader(s) for they are your income(and shared values).

Q: Were there any notable influences on your art or content?

CM: Richard Corben, Vargas, Milton Caniff, Dean Yeagle, Wallace Wood, Gil Evgren, Bruce Timm.

Q; What’s been your most controversial strip?

CM: I had Hillary in blackface, pandering to the black vote, back in 2003? That was notable back then, but in today’s political climate, Americans don’t debate much with the Left as they have truly gone off the reservation.

Q: When did the censorship begin? Were you surprised, or did you see it coming? How have you been censored?

CM: First Facebook, then Google, around…10 years ago, I think. I was not surprised, saw that coming from the start, having gone through the Cold War with the Left’s Idol, the USSR. I would guess I have been shadow banned to some extent, but inasmuch as I have always decided to be direct to readers, it doesn’t affect me that much. I was lucky to have been a slightly large frog in the Blogosphere Pond when it bloomed, and that set the readership pretty much from there.

Q: What’s your new project?

CM: A SciFi project based on today’s Red vs Blue conflict but set on a different world. www.HolyTera.com should be up November-December this year.

Q: What appeals to you about the science fiction genre?

CM: I suppose the invention of Worlds, what might be, and especially Men and Women-not Xis or Zirs- in such settings.

Q: What do you want your fans to take away from your comics?

CM: A desire to fund me! Well, mostly I aim to be a 15 second read on the day’s political/cultural/MenWomen news in comic format. In today’s attention span deficit era-and I include myself on this-it is a powerful way to entertain and inform in a multiverse of endless online content. So, readers get a summary, in a fun form, of what’s going on.

Q: In this technologically advanced but fragmented age, what future do you see for comics?

CM: A good one, actually-there’s never been a better time for any content provider or artist, as the ‘net delivers for free to unlimited readers-no gateway, editor, middleman, or social justice idiots to drag one back down into the crab bucket. But I would suggest whatever you do, make it constant, for once you lose a reader, you are lost to them in the noise of Many Choices!

Q: How can people find your works?

www.daybydaycartoon.com , www.holytera.com  – or just Google my name! I still seem to be on the first page of results.

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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. 

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 

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

Update: Welcome Instapundit readers! Please visit other articles for more commentary on the state of the arts.

The Postmodern War on America

Is It Really Better to Rule in Hell? 

Richard Bledsoe “Tank” oil on wood panel 30″ x 36″ 

When I was a teen I read some of Ian Fleming’s James Bond books. The last book of the series Fleming created, not really completed at the time of his death in 1964, was The Man with the Golden Gun. Considered a weak finale for the legendary spy, the plot had Agent 007 travelling to Jamaica to disrupt an attempted alliance between the Mafia and the expansionist forces of international Communism.

Bond missed the real target here. He should have gone to Chicago.

The crime syndicate dominated Windy City was fertile ground for the plot of world conquest. The Mob was already in the business of brutality, deception, and despotism, the same means Leftists use to achieve their goals. It was a natural partnership. Through the bait and switch tactics of “community organizing,” Frankfurt School corruption of education, and the nurturing of toxic radicals like Saul Alinsky, Bill Ayers, and Barack Obama, the Illinois spawned alliance of Marxist Crime has now long marched its way into being the political system of Globalism.

It’s not called what it is, of course. Leftists lie and distort; it’s necessary to hide their evil intentions. We’ve come to call this mass cultural subversion Postmodernism. And what we’ve been going through in 2020 is the push to bring Postmodernism to its final solution: the destruction of Western Civilization. Postmodern partisans seek to switch off the Enlightenment, in order to rule over a new Dark Age.

When I started writing this piece just a few short weeks ago, I had plenty to say about how the wacky woo hoo virus hysteria exposed massive corruption and Chinese influence in our traitorous elitists. Arbitrary and needless shutdowns devoured American prosperity, coincidentally right when a new trade agreement undercut Chinese market manipulations, and a tectonic scale spy scandal started emerging regarding the Obama administration and all their cronies.

China’s rigid totalitarian system is the desired outcome of the majority of the world’s administrative classes. They won’t admit this, but look at their actions, instead of listening to their empty words.

Events overtook the essay I was preparing. So now we have divisive race riots being inflamed, on top of the Overblown Outbreak. This is just a continuation of the same war, a new battlefield of the thoroughly planned and prepared Postmodern assault on the United States. It’s being facilitated across our culture by a massive betrayal by the New Aristocracy of the Well Connected, our own countrymen. As they’ve demanded society mask up to pretend to prevent disease, and to facilitate looting, our betters have been unmasked as the deeply embedded enemies within.

This is Postmodern War for the 21st century. It’s not fought openly with bombs and soldiers. It’s combat waged by other means, with biological agents, economics, propaganda, data manipulation, sabotage. President John F. Kennedy warned what was coming in a 1961 speech:

“For we are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies primarily on covert means for expanding its sphere of influence — on infiltration instead of invasion — on subversion instead of elections — on intimidation instead of free choice — on guerrillas by night instead of armies by day.

“It is a system which has conscripted vast human and material resources into the building of a tightly-knit, highly efficient machine that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific and political operations. Its preparations are concealed not published. Its mistakes are buried, not headlined. Its dissenters are silenced, not praised. No expenditure is questioned, no rumor is printed, no secret is revealed”.

Speaking out on these schemes is probably what got JFK killed. The plans continued to advance in all the decades since. We are living through the harvest of the wind which was sown.

How to describe the present moment? Some say it’s a civil war. This time instead of being divided along roughly geographic lines, we are in opposed camps of status: The rich and gentry class have been co-opted into being the enemies of liberty and order. They are all-too-willing accomplices for authoritarianism, as they have been indoctrinated into the Postmodern philosophy for generations now.  Conformity is mandatory for advancement in society; elitists don’t mind though, because in the looming tyranny, they assume they will get to be the tyrants.

We can plainly see the strategy of the Postmodern establishment. In areas under blue dominion, the governing class has ruthlessly oppressed normality, while at the same time stepping back from their duty to prevent chaos and crime, actively encouraging destruction. The goal of these domestic enemy combatants seems to be to collapse stability in the areas they control, and drag the entire country down with them.

Others talk about China’s Cultural Revolution. The dynamics are sure the same, with vicious mobs of no-nothings incited into targeting opponents of the Cause. The moral panics being whipped up let the current stealthy controllers remain discretely in control.

We have something though that the poor oppressed Chinese populace did not have: a choice. We have a clear alternative to the Leftist monolith which has been so carefully constructed for a century or more. An enduring American Nationalism exists, despite all the media, government, academic, and corporate efforts to deny or suppress it.

A new energy has been rising around the world, and the United States is a natural environment for it’s expression. Remodernism is taking the place of failing Postmodernism. Because Postmodernists are losing. They never intended to have to come out into the open like this, and make a stand for their lack of any principles apart from their own lust for power. It’s ugly right now, because they are like wounded beasts, dragged from their safe spaces, the plan for gradual covert conquest thwarted. Exposed, they know they can be smashed.

I knew there would be troubles ahead when I wrote my 2018 book, Remodern America: How the Renewal of the Arts Will Change the Course of Western Civilization. Little did I know though what forms the transition would take. I wrote:

Instead of the Postmodern takeover of the institutions leading to the conversion of the population, we’ve wound up with an establishment fundamentally at odds with the greater populace.  In America the citizens are the real leaders. We are not willing to surrender our birthright of freedom. The current crop of elitist manager-types need to be reminded of this.

Us against them was not the traditional way in the USA. However, recognizing we are now at war with an infection that will kill the host if not extinguished, it’s going to have to be that way for a while.

It will not be easy. Our country’s domestic enemies implemented their schemes virtually unopposed. Now, after decades of absorbing slow but steady sabotage, the sleeping giant America is stirring.

Remodernism is the wake-up call.

Some call what we are experiencing a Cold Civil War. Let us pray it remains cool. Parasitic Postmodernism will be destroyed, but it will not go quietly. I look to President Abraham Lincoln as an example for the Remodern Reconstruction to come.

Our first Civil War took place in the 1860s, when Democrats resorted to rebellion and violence in an attempt to maintain their political power. It’s estimated over 600,000 died to resolve that conflict.

Once the Union was victorious, Lincoln planned to bring former adversaries back together into a unified national identity. Sadly, he was murdered before he could implement his vision, and the defeated Democrats kept their radical racial injustice in place for another 100 years. They are still playing that race card; it’s an easy tool to use to divide and conquer.

America does not need to waste another century like this. We must heed the better angels of our nature.

The course of a civilization follows where its art leads it. Before the Marxists started working their sorcery on society as a whole, they corrupted the arts first. The coming Remodern renewal first started in the arts as well, in England in 1999.

It may seem art is minor compared to the turmoil of current events. That is only because the true power of art has been stolen from our culture. Art is a mighty weapon that the Leftists made sure they took over before they launched their war. We can take it back, and we have already begun.

Renew the arts, and renew the civilization.

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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. 

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

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

 

Update: Welcome Instapundit readers! Please visit other articles for more commentary on the state of the arts. 

 

This Plague Psychodrama is Peak Postmodernism. Its Retreat Will Lead to Remodern Renewal.

Surviving Beyond Our Time Inside the Beast

“In the Belly” Richard Bledsoe acrylic on canvas 30″ x 40″

art

A virus is ravaging the world. I don’t mean the one hyped in every headline, referred to by whichever accountability-dodging misnomer  we’re supposed to call it this week. That affliction is the ultimate in Chinese take out-as in take out global stability and prosperity.

This other virus is one that sickens the soul. It’s been a raging pandemic for at least 50 years. The institutions we once relied on for societal preservation and advancement were converted into hosts for this ailment long ago, and spread its maladies amongst us all. It also was created by Communists. The disease is Postmodernism, and the current assaults on civilization being done in the name of safety has exposed the festering disorder that is the Postmodern ethos.

A core Postmodern idea is that language shapes reality, and by controlling language the ruling establishment can reshape the universe. This hubris has brought us all to catastrophe.

Postmodernism is the operational system of global elitists. Following the precepts of Postmodernism acts as a surrogate for competence and accomplishment for the New Aristocracy of the Well Connected.  It’s a structure designed not for efficiency, but to filter out any threats to the entitlements of the current governing class.

The establishment status quo had been under assault like never before. I will even go so far to say they were losing. Populist uprisings around the world were gaining traction. We were questioning why such incompetent, selfish hypocrites were in charge, demanding respect they never earned, producing terrible results over and over again.

The Postmodern elites had no valid answer. It was all starting to slip away from them. So they went kamikaze. They determined it was better for them to crash civilization rather than lose the power and prestige they’d seized in the corrupt Postmodern hierarchy. They took advantage of a virus which was potentially a little more dangerous than the usual flu (unleashed on purpose or on accident, who can say?), and created the mother of all false flag operations, the Woo Hoo Floo Hysteria.

In my 2018 book, Remodern America: How the Renewal of the Arts Will Change the Course of Western Civilization, I identified 5 factors of how Postmodernism enslaves humans, in their physical, intellectual, emotional, spiritual, and essential capacities. The list I have there is easily adopted to the PSYOP we are living through.

Understanding the Corona Virus Response Through the 5 Factors of Postmodernism 

1. The Physical: The Embezzled Object

Postmodernism doesn’t create, it steals. It doesn’t encourage growth, it stifles and limits. The Hysteria stole the idea of quarantine (physically isolating the sick) and perverted it to mean locking up everyone. We are all expected to cower in our safe spaces, and let the world rot.

2. The Intellectual: Revolting Relativism

Postmodernists understand objective standards are an obstacle to their desire for unaccountable power. They believe there is no such thing as truth, just whatever it takes at that moment to get their way. So through the Hysteria we’ve been constantly lied to, by the government, the media, academia. A disease that is only a real threat to the elderly or already ill has been recast as an extinction level event.

We are supposed to overlook that the casualty numbers are being inflated by those who may have the virus, but died from other grave preexisting conditions. We are not supposed to understand the sadly high death counts were boosted by Democrat governors ordering sick people into the vulnerable populations of nursing homes, and banning potentially helpful drugs. Still, as facts disprove the wild claims, the Postmodern managerial class just change the subject and move the goalposts, never acknowledging how incredibly wrong they’ve been every step of the way.

3. The Emotional: Unscrupulous Affectation

We are all supposed to act like we are living through a combination of The Stand and the zombie apocalypse. And yet, even though your local businesses are shut down, churches are shuttered in violation of our constitutional rights, and restaurant closures are wrecking the food supply chains, it’s just dandy to go to Walmart and Home Depot. The cognitive dissonance, it burns.

4. The Spiritual: Craven Conformity

It’s become easy to see who’s eager to signal their virtue of following the destructive, fraudulent Postmodern World Order; it’s those useless face masks. There’s some extra cringe on both ends of the spectrum: those who wear them, but crumpled up under their noses or chins, or the dumb asses I see driving by, alone in their cars, face masks in place. The face mask is the 2020 version of the pussy hat, and makes just about as much sense.

5. The Essence: Power

This is what it’s all about, in the end. The power of the establishment to be arbitrary. Vindictive. Asinine. They will force you to submit, and they will punish you for daring to live your life apart from their micromanaging dominance.

ART

Ironically, the Postmodern shutdown could to lead to a great reopening-a new way of life freed from the clutches of the controlling technocrats who’ve ruled us. It’s been my prediction for a long time, although I never would have guessed it would have taken this form.

I’m just a guy who likes to make art. I wanted to share my ideas about art and and how it relates to life, so I started a blog, and wrote a book. The vital human experience of art is beyond anything as tainted as politics. But because of the Postmodern corruption that holds sway over us all, I must communicate on that ideological level, as a citizen. These days, my art could be considered political by not being political.

But art showed me what was coming. It’s like Andrew Breitbart said: “”Politics is downstream from culture.” He was reiterating the wisdom of the 18th century visionary artist William Blake: “Empire follows art, and not vice versa…”

Remodernism is a governing philosophy rising to take the place of the dying dinosaur Postmodernism. These vicious death throes of Postmodernism happening now are only delaying its inevitable collapse.

Remodernism was first codified in 2000 by two English artists, Billy Childish and Charles Thomson. Even though it addresses art, it applies to the cultural zeitgeist as a whole, worldwide. Its time has come. As I state in my book, Remodern America:

 

Billy Childish and Charles Thomson called Remodernism a mandate for a spiritual renaissance in the arts. The manifestation of this renewal is connectivity: using art as a means of connecting with ourselves, each other, and the divine, in a meaningful way. Far from the fragmentation of the Modernists, and the divisiveness of the Postmodernists, Remodernism is the pursuit of unity.

Kinship usually means family connections. Remodernism knows what real religions know: all people are family, and every individual is equally worthy of caring and respect. Like a family, we each have our own interests and talents. Remodernist artists see creative expression as their way to know themselves, to bond with others, and to learn more about life…

The spirit of kinship inspires concern for the well-being of others. Being drawn outside the limitations of our own self-interest allows us to operate in the most effective state anyone can achieve: love…

It’s a mistake to think of love as an emotion. Even though it stirs our deepest feelings, love is more than those feelings. Love is the principle that guides existence. It’s behaving with wisdom. Love instructs that life is a gift and we are all one, so we need to act accordingly.

Modernists were so fixated on what was changing they forgot about what endures. The Postmodernists were too selfish to respond to the promptings of love. This willful lack of love undermined Western civilization, but the lack of love is also what doomed those efforts to redefine humanity. Without the foundation of love, all other factors collapse.

Remodernism invests love back into the culture. Not the phony leftist hippie sloganeering about love that the Baby Boom generation indulged in, but the genuine article. Remodernism sees art as a conduit for shareable moments of beauty, enjoyment, comprehension, and truth. Assembling these elements together approaches a state of grace, which is the ultimate expression of the love bestowed on us by our Creator. We are called to follow His example.

The grace of love is that timeless, indescribable element found in all great artworks, from across all times and all cultures. That element still is accessible today, despite the failure of the establishment art world to provide it.

Graceful love, so long neglected by our arts institutions, is what gives Remodern art the power to bring everyone together. The engagement, curiosity, enthusiasm and kinship Remodernism delivers all originate in love. With this love, Remodernism makes art into an integrated, holistic experience again.

Remodernism is accessible to anyone who aspires to use art to inspire. It even extends to the deluded Postmodernist fools who sought to control us. They need to rejoin with humanity, and to learn their rightful place: standing along with the rest of us, side by side. Love is forgiving.

Remodernism resolves the confusions and heals the breaches imposed on society during Modernism and Postmodernism. It is the triumphant renewal of Western values. After years of destruction, the reconstruction will take extensive efforts, but it will be spectacular.

 

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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. 

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

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

UPDATE:  Welcome Instapundit readers! Please visit other articles for more commentary on the state of the arts.