Writing About Art

Lately I've been writing mostly about the Gulf Oil Spill and/or my upset with foolish Americans who want the “NO” Republican Party shenanigans “Drill Baby Drill” and the Tea Party more than they want to maintain and develop a truly free democracy in America. Yes, America - if we get rid of Democratic Senators and Congresspersons we will indeed have crazed Tea Party folk and “Just say NO” Republicans in office who want to get rid of social security, healthcare, and government in general. AND YES, THERE ARE THOSE WHO ARE PREJUDICED AGAINST PEOPLE OF COLOR IN THE TEA PARTY.

PROOF! Just look at and read the signs they carry at rallies.

See how easy it is for me to go off on a rant.

I illustrate the journal with my own artwork, but I am straying from the original intent of my journal, which is ART in general, my art, philosophy about art, and LGBT Art. What to do? Here's the program.

1. Open a new journal that is specifically about my political / religious / philosophical view of the world.
2. Limit this journal to ART.
3. I can post a series of photographs, drawings, and/or paintings on a particular subject that goes beyond art, though they might also be expounded upon in the “Political/ Religious” journal. However, there should be little or no political / religious comment about them in this journal.

At the same time, writing two journals necessitates fewer entries in the separate journals in order to not take time away from actual visual art production.

“Sounds like a catch 22, but let's try it, John.” So says the alter ego.

History of Gay Art Exhibition in Miami

*

Wish I was in South Florida to see 'Gay Art: From Ancient to Modern' which opened June 23 at World Erotic Art Museum in South Beach. * The exhibit runs through the 27th of July, and includes a Wilhelm Von Gloeden history as well as works by Robert Mapplethorpe, Keith Haring and others. I've included Bon Gloeden's Caino (1902) here though I don't know whither that image is in the exhibit.Naomi Wilzig (collector) has put the exhibit together from her own collection (http://jbkart.blogspot.com/2008/05/baron-wilhelm-von-gloeden-part-iii.html). "The Art of John Bittinger Klomp" includes past entries about most of the artists in the Miami exhibition. Check Steve Rothaus blog entry about the exhibit.

Notes

* “Von Gloeden, Wilhelm, “Caino,” 1902, Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gloeden,_Wilhem_von_(1856-1931)_-_1902_ca._-_Caino.jpg. Viewed 9:25 A.M. EDT, Wednesday, July 21, 2010. This image (or other media file) is in the public domain because its copyright has expired.
This applies to the United States, Australia, the European Union and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 70 years.

*2 Rothaus, Steve, in the Miami Herold Blog, http://miamiherald.typepad.com/gaysouthflorida/2008/06/gay-art-from-an.html. Viewed 10:33 A.M. EDT, Tuesday, July 20, 2010.

How to Downplay the 2010 Gulf Oil Spill Disaster.

New First Grade Reader For America

Okay addicts!

Drill, drill, drill!

Drill Baby Drill!

Baby, baby, baby,

Kill the Planet!

Kill, kill, kill

Kill baby kill!

"So Angry," says the alter ego.

I am ANGRY! Even though I know that oil is absolutely essential at this point in time. We just can't stop our addiction to oil without totally destroying the economy, and the economy is in enough trouble. Never the less, the writing has been on the wall since the early 1970's, and we have chosen to ignore our addiction. I refuse to enable those who would continue that addiction! It is also absolutely imperative that those of the conservative political persuasion look at the alternatives to their "Drill Baby Drill" ideology.

"Here's something that might help, John," says my alter ego.



I can't help but think that Anton Dvorak would have to be pleased if he heard this version. Now I'm ready to take responsibility for my own part. And, I might even be able to hear some pro oil folk if they were also able to be reasonable, listen, and promise to work toward a cleaner, and healthier planet. Besides, I am as addicted to oil as the next fellow. So, I have done a few things to begin to ameliorate my own participation, and will continue to add to the list in the future. So far, I have accomplished the following.

1. Substitute florescent and LED lights throughout the house.
2. I turn all lights off when I leave a room.
3. I do not leave the refrigerator door open, ever, for any reason other than to remove and/or put things in and out.
4. The doors to the house are never left open for any reason other than to exit or enter.
5. I keep the thermostat set as low as I can stand in the winter in Delaware, and as high as possible in the summer.
6. I use cloth bags instead of plastic.
7. I use cloth towels in the kitchen instead of paper.
8. I use paper plates instead of plastic for picnics.
9. I do not buy water in plastic bottles.

In the future I will do the following.

1. Buy a new car that does at least 20% better with miles/gallon than the current car. (I've been saving for 3 years.)
2. Ride my bicycle when I need to do small grocery orders instead of taking the car.
3. Start saving money to convert the house to a combination of solar and wind (estimated 10 years).
4. Invest in alternative energy companies, and close all investments in oil related industry.
5. Save money toward purchase of a 50 mile per gallon or better car for local travel (estimated four years).
6. I am canceling travel plans because they will prevent saving toward energy conservation.

I could use some help here. What other ideas do people have? Pie in the sky is good. What can each of us do individually/ What can we do as a subgroup within the larger culture? How do we persuade conservative folk to change their energy orientation? Please write comments about this.

The Damned Well From Hell is Capped!

Above is my latest photo from the series, a paean to a clean planet, air, land, water including beaches and marshes.

At 84 days and counting, the destroyed Deep Water Horizon well has a new cap. Hopefully the 80,000 barrels of oil per day has been cut to zero during the currently running 6 to 48 hour test.

What then? The closed down well demonstrates that it is leaking into the bedrock below the Gulf of Mexico or that it is in tact. The well is opened to release pressure and most of the escaping oil and gas is siphoned off, and placed in tankers on the Gulf’s surface. The cap doesn't work and has to be scrapped.  Those are the foreseeable possibilities.

Why isn’t this a wake up call?  And, why aren't the rabid “Drill Baby Drill” folk able to realize that the amount of oil already released into the ecology of the Gulf of Mexico is quite lethal? I hope that science will be allowed to tell the truth about this disaster. And, I hope that we will have enough sense to curb our appetite for oil. Finally, I hope that we will be sensible and turn the world’s most powerful economy toward clean energy instead of dirty energy.

“Drill Baby Drill”

See no Evil, Hear no Evil

Click on the title to link back to the original entry in this photographic series about a healthy & clean Gulf of Mexico, ocean and world.

I’m seeing and hearing less and less about the Gulf Oil Spill. Instead I’m seeing and hearing more about Afghanistan, Russian spies, World Cup and east coast heat wave. All of these are important, but…

I refuse to take my eyes and artistic intent off of the Gulf, and this is the latest in my photographs of ocean, waves and water. They symbolize progression, progress, growth, a healthy earth, and the hope that man will learn from his mistakes and serve as steward to God’s rich and beautiful earth, rather than its destroyer. Think clean energy, wind and solar. Pray for it. Insist on it!

I’m making a pledge to personally do all I can to shepherd change from dirty to clean energy sources. In a future entry I will describe the many ways I can do that.

Fourth of July 2010