Tag Archives: Dwight MacDonald

hannah and her surplus enjoyment

Posted on December 8, 2012 by Dave

It was always playing around the fringes of the “dark times.” Like carrying matches in a coal mine waiting for the canary to sing. Arendt walked into a Jerusalem courtroom disappointed that the mental case in the glass box was … Continue reading →

Posted in Feature Article, Ideas/Opinion | Tagged Adolph Eichmann, Dwight MacDonald, Gershom Scholem, Hannah Arendt, Heinrich Blucher, Louis Proyect, Madame Pickwick, madame pickwick art blog, Margarethe von Trotta, Martin Heidegger, Martin Wiebel, Mary McCarthy, Michael Hoover, Slavoj Zizek, Varian Fry Emergency Rescue Committee | Leave a comment

kitsch of genius: the old campaigners

Posted on December 15, 2011 by Dave

Hard to believe people are willing to invest so deeply in art that is almost bereft of any importance. Strictly a commodity with exchange value? Perhaps. Clement Greenberg was likely too harsh on Repin, although he was correct in questioning … Continue reading →

Posted in Feature Article, Ideas/Opinion, Modern Arts/Craft | Tagged Clement Greenberg, Dwight MacDonald, george hicks, hermann broch, Ilya Repin, kurt london, Norman Rockwell, Pablo Picasso, Simon Schama, William Powell Frith | Leave a comment

two faced value

Posted on December 15, 2011 by Dave

Threatening complacency and self-satisfaction. Wallowing in the glory of inertia. Taking a pass on disturbing entrenched assumptions. By extension, not resisting to conformity means a negation of what is regarded as the uncannily human, meaning one ventures onto the slippery … Continue reading →

Posted in Feature Article, Ideas/Opinion, Modern Arts/Craft | Tagged Baruch Spinoza, Camille Pissarro, Charles Baudelaire, Clement Greenberg, Dwight MacDonald, Eduard Hanslick, Gustave Courbet, hanslick, henri Bergson, Ilya Repin, Pablo Picasso, Roland Barthes, Umberto Eco, Walter Benjamin | Leave a comment

debunking the image

Posted on December 12, 2011 by Dave

But Greenberg, in 1939, could not have foreseen was that the so-called avant-garde would adot the characteristics of the kitsch art he perceived as being endemically mutable to the forces of totalitariansim. Later, he arrived at a slightly different conclusion, … Continue reading →

Posted in Feature Article, Ideas/Opinion, Modern Arts/Craft | Tagged Clement Greenberg, Denis Dutton, Dwight MacDonald, Gottfried-Benn, Howard Jacobson, Ilya Repin, Norman Rockwell, Pablo Picasso, Roy Lichtenstein, sigmar polke, Theodor Adorno, toma kulka, William Etty | Leave a comment

LENNON: SLUMBERING THROUGH DOUBLE and MULTIPLE FANTASIES

Posted on December 20, 2010 by Dave

The light came through the window, Straight from the sun above, And so inside my little room There plunged the rays of Love. In streams of light I clearly saw The dust you seldom see, Out of which the Nameless … Continue reading →

Posted in Feature Article, Ideas/Opinion, Miscellaneous, Modern Arts/Craft, Music/Composition/Performance | Tagged Brian Epstein, Dan Graham, David Buxton, Dwight MacDonald, Dwight McDonald, George Melly, Glenn Gass, Herbert J. Gans, Hunter Davis, Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers, John Lennon, Leo Ruth, Nigel Farndale, Philip Norman, Ray Coleman, Scott Thill, Sean O'Hagen Guardian, Todd Gitlin | Leave a comment

SHARE THE LOUD HAILER: If It Doesn’t Spread Its Dead.

Posted on December 11, 2010 by Dave

Or, similarly, “It don’t mean a thing, if it ain’t got that swing.” Fans reject the idea of a definitive version produced, authorized, and regulated by some media conglomerate. Instead, fans envision a world where all of us can participate … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinema/Visual/Audio, Feature Article, Ideas/Opinion, Literature/poetry/spoken word, Marketing/Advertising/Media, Miscellaneous, Modern Arts/Craft | Tagged Alex Leavitt, Amber Case, Ann Frank, art chantry, Chris Rojek, Donald Rushkoff, Douglas Rushkoff, Dwight MacDonald, Dwight McDonald, F.R. Leavis, Henry Jenkins, Jaclyn Nardone, Jamie Wilkinson Know Your Meme, Jean Baudrillard, Joshua Green, Julian Assange, Kayne West, Kenya Hara, Kevin Slavin, Know Your meme, Leo Burnett, Marshall McCluhan, Memes, Patrick Mignon, Rhizone, Robert Goldman, Roland Barthes, Russell Smith, Stuart Hall, Theodor Adorno, Thomas Frank, Walter Benjamin, WikiLeaks | Leave a comment

THE CELEBRITY OF COMMODITY: Instant Karma of Possession

Posted on December 10, 2010 by Dave

” Similarly, when Nike introduced a new shoe line “Air Huarache” and wanted to distinguish its sign from those of other shoe lines, Nike adopted John Lennon’s song “Instant Karma” as a starting point for the shoe’s sign value. Nike … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinema/Visual/Audio, Feature Article, Ideas/Opinion, Literature/poetry/spoken word, Marketing/Advertising/Media, Miscellaneous, Music/Composition/Performance | Tagged Annie Leib, Craig McClean, David Reisman, Dwight MacDonald, F.R. Leavis, George Konig, Ian Bogost, John Lennon, John Osborne, John Stratton, Jon Stratton, Karl Marx, Keith Waterhouse, Luc Sante, Mark J. Nelson, Patrick Mignon, Philip Norman, Pierre Bordieu, Robert Goldman, Robert Hilburn, Sean Lennon, Sean O'Hagen Guardian, Stephen Papson, Stuart Hall, Sue Summers, Theodor Adorno, Thomas Frank, Thorstein Veblen, Yoko Ono | Leave a comment

CONTEXTUAL MIND GAMES: “FREE LOVE” or REAL LOVE?

Posted on December 9, 2010 by Dave

It seems as if John Lennon has been mainly remembered in ways that endorsed his desire and passion for political activism. However, popular culture proves that this was not always the case, since by definition “popular” is a metaphor for the product … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinema/Visual/Audio, Feature Article, Ideas/Opinion, Marketing/Advertising/Media, Miscellaneous, Modern Arts/Craft, Music/Composition/Performance | Tagged Bob Westall, Brian Epstein, David Kiefaber, Dwight MacDonald, Dwight McDonald, Dwite McDonald, Jaclyn Nardone, John Lennon, Keven Contreras, Sean Lennon, Sean O'Hagen Guardian, Stuart Hall, Thomas Frank, Vicki McClure Davidson, Yoko Ono | Leave a comment

ANARCHIST PAVING COMPANY

Posted on July 1, 2010 by Dave

When I die let the black rag fly raven falling from the sky. Let the black flag lie on bones and skin that long last night as I enter in. For out of black soul’s night have stirred dawn’s cold … Continue reading →