Tag Archives for politics

Back from Vacation, Back in the Studio

I’m back. I was on vacation in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. My first real vacation in five years. I traveled with my wife Kelli, my stepdaughter Grace, and her friend Bella. We stayed in Hull, a peaceful, friendly small town on the coast. It was much needed. We had a very nice time.

Back home in Chattanooga now, and back in the studio with Remy, my puppy. I’m picking up where I left off on some new paintings while catching up on the January 6th hearings.

I sure hope these hearings have an impact. Beyond preaching to the choir. So far. I’ve been impressed with the linear presentation. I have numerous thoughts about multiple subjects pertaining to the attempted coup of 1/6/2021. At the moment, I don’t want to write those thoughts. Right now, I want to listen and be further enlightened and get back to creative work.

LIES Street Art Highlights (#3)

I was quite pleased with this one. The location was perfect. High visibility, high impact. Right where the Beltline crosses Wylie St. Unfortunately, it didn’t last. Greg Mike covered it up with some of his same old shit. Guess, he liked the location too. I might post about it later when I present some of my thoughts on the Atlanta street art culture.

Here are some pictures of the installation. Pasted up during daylight, for a change.

Idiots Rule

In a softball interview with Laura Ingraham, Trump claimed people came out of the dark shadows (racist trope) to Washington to disrupt his convention last Friday. He said people wearing black came on planes to Washington (more bigotry). Dark forces were at play.

Trump made the decision to move his speech to the White House a few weeks ago. Even though this is the same day many thousands of people were arriving for the 57th ANNUAL March on Washington.

Unless you’re a racist idiot like the president, you’ve already put two and two together. Their plans were on the calendar long before his.

Do you think he was told this might be a problem and ignored the advice? I’m wondering if anyone bothers to tell him things like this anymore. Then again, I also wonder if the dumbest of dumb shit happens because the most idiotic of loyalists are the only ones remaining in his inner circle.

No matter how you slice it, idiots rule.

Observations, Predictions & Questions

I have a few observations and predictions for the upcoming months.

Like many, I’d rather have Bernie Sanders over Joe Biden. However, I’d rather have Elizabeth Warren over everyone else. Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen. A Bernie Sanders nomination isn’t likely to happen now either. I’m still voting for Warren in the Georgia primary (unless she exits this week as well). That said, I’ll be voting for whomever gets the nomination and I hope everyone else does too.

I don’t need to remind you that the current “occupant” of the Oval Office is an imbecile. He reminds us of this himself, every single day. Every voter needs to wake up and realize that the issues of our time they so deeply care about may become non-issues, forever, if Trump wins re-election.

Observations:

  • Joe Biden did so well on Super Tuesday because Buttigieg and Klobuchar dropped out of the race. Almost all of their votes went to him. Sorry conspiracy theorists, this is not like 2016 when the DNC tipped the scales in Hillary’s favor. Make no mistake, in this election cycle Bernie Sanders has had a far greater political machine than Joe Biden. Biden was out of money. He won in states in which he didn’t even have a campaign office. He won in states he had not even visited. Biden won without receiving an endorsement from Obama (it’s on the way now I’m sure). This is not the establishment forcing its will. This is a case of the establishment sitting back watching the scenario they hoped for fall into place. I’m not exactly pleased about it but I’m not placing blame. No one cleared the way for Biden. This is not a coronation, like in 2016 when the DNC would’ve been perfectly happy to let Hillary win the nomination unopposed.
  • Joe Biden did so well BECAUSE people want to defeat Trump. More of the actual voters think he has a better opportunity to beat Trump than Sanders does. I don’t disagree. I’m on board with most of the Democratic Socialist programs that he proposes but many more are not.
  • Mike Bloomberg entered the race for two reasons: to expose Donald Trump as a fraud (in a way no one else can) and to derail the progressive campaigns of Warren and Sanders. Even though they’re still in the race and he is not, Bloomberg has not failed at his mission.

Predictions:

  • One prediction already came true. That Mike Bloomberg would drop out of the race after Super Tuesday. Alas, he beat me to the punch.
  • Even though he’s no longer in the race, Bloomberg will continue to pummel Trump with his unlimited resources. Let the oligarch help us remove the malignant tumor of a president we have now.
  • Joe Biden wins the nomination and selects Stacey Abrams as his running mate.
  • Donald Trump replaces Mike Pence with Nikki Haley (probably in July). Trump will cite his disappointment  in Pence’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak as his reason for making the change.

Questions:

  • Do the Democratic oligarchs want more of Trump over Sanders? Unfortunately the answer is yes. Which is why many are happy about Resurrection Joe.
  • Will the left put on its big boy pants and vote for whomever is the nominee? Heaven help us if the answer to that question is not also yes.

 

 

New Exhibition Opens 10/12!

Just a reminder, I have an exhibition of new paintings opening on October 12. The exhibition is titled Mastering The Art Of Contradiction and will feature a brand new series of paintings. The reception is from 5:00 – 7:00 but I plan on being there til close at 9:30 – 10:00. I will be more specific once I know more information. Hope to see you there!

Besharat Contemporary
163 Peters St. SW,
Atlanta, GA 30313
http://www.besharatcontemporary.com

The exhibition runs from October 12 – November 16. Please see gallery website for weekly hours. Here’s a picture of one of the new paintings. This one is called Sources And Methods.

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Photos of works in progress. I’ve still got a lot to complete.

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Steve Schmidt

“When Trump was elected, there were three parties in Washington: the Trump party, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. The Republican Party had every chance to put a check on his vile personal conduct, his administration’s outlandish corruption, his fetishizing and affinity for autocrats around the world and his undermining of the western alliance.”

Live And Let Kneel

“We use that flag to sell mattresses and beer. We wear it as a swimsuit. We wrap our bald head in a bandana and stick it in our pants because we disrespect that flag everyday.”

These words from Dale Hansen (sportscaster and Vietnam veteran) echo the thought I’ve had for years on the subject of the American flag. The flag is not meant to be a product or a prop. That’s why I don’t wear anything meant to appropriate the American flag (that’s also why I don’t wear anything that appropriates military camouflage).

All this noise about kneeling or standing in the NFL is just the by product of another prop for a product. The teams were in the locker rooms during the anthem until eight years ago. In 2009, the NFL brought the players out for the anthem basically to be a prop for their product. It was a marketing strategy made in order to make the players (and the league) look more patriotic. The Department of Defense and the National Guard also payed the NFL for permission to stage on-field patriotic ceremonies to increase military recruitment.

Don’t be played by the sideshow. The first amendment IS first for a reason. Live and let kneel.

Loyalty Lies In Atlanta

Back home in Atlanta, I decided to take on the notorious metal wall again. The one along the Beltline on Wylie Street. This is the wall I used last summer for three large scale works. This time, the ridges of the wall were not an issue because I was working much smaller than before.

So here are images of the first 25 posters I pasted up in Atlanta. I have more, there will be more coming up in the very near future. Maybe even tonight.

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LIES: Loyalty Above All Else

Loyalty above all else will result in lies of one kind or another.

My latest body of work is a series of posters promoting a brand called Lies. The slogan for the Lies brand is Loyalty Above All Else. This is an idea that was conceived and specifically made for the streets. This series is intentionally more straightforward than the non-sequitur based imagery I typically create.

These posters are intended to be a sign of the times. Direct statements about the culture we inhabit in 2017. They are statements that critique our political culture and consumer culture. This statement belongs on the street, not in a gallery.

In our political culture, facts are more often being manipulated beyond recognition. Beyond that we have a leader that doesn’t know how to lead. A man that values loyalty over honesty and integrity. In our consumer culture, manipulated facts are accepted and commonplace. Brand loyalty is what matters most.

At this point, the Loyalty Lies series includes 8 different posters that serve as advertisements promoting the Lies brand. The Lies brand logo comes in two versions (as seen in the first photograph). Background photos are my own (taken straight from my Instagram page). The future is wide open in regard to where this concept goes next.

Lies: Loyalty Above All Else.

 

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This Young Woman Has A Lot To Learn

Tomi Lahren is a big deal these days. Propped up by her good looks, she’s become a popular voice for the alt-right people and young conservative millennial. I think this young woman (and I feel old for even typing those words) has a lot to learn. A lot to learn about history. A lot to learn about human nature. A lot to learn about life. A lot to learn about so many topics. It’s a shame, she’s bright but not smart enough to know what she doesn’t comprehend.

Find out for yourself. Watch this interview with Trevor Noah (of the Daily Show) in its entirety.

http://www.cc.com/video-clips/m9ds7s/the-daily-show-with-trevor-noah-exclusive—tomi-lahren-extended-interview?xrs=synd_FBPAGE_20161201_692299924_The+Daily+Show_Video+with+Link&linkId=31796489

Save The Party From The Party

“Big-business donors who traditionally have funded the Republican Party believe they need to make that kind of monster investment (fifty million dollars) just to keep “fools” from getting on the ballot of a party they basically control.” – Matt Taibbi

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/on-christmas-republicans-quietly-declare-war-on-themselves-20131230#ixzz2pM2g1nIv