Tag Archives: Marquis de Sade

while my sword gently weeps

A shattering of certainty that had been shaky, even crumbling at best. The illusion beased on liberal enlightenment principles that peace was just at hand, and that reason and logic would bring out men’s better nature shaping a happy-ever-after ending … Continue reading

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enlightenment by design: build a better world?

The Enlightenment. This is our tradition. Our world view. The liberal, rational, humanitarian way of thought that have persisted since Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, the French Revolution and had earlier seeds in the likes of Spinoza, among others. It … Continue reading

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full circle

Sometimes things become intertwined in a full circle that initially escapes us since the assumed understanding is based on enlightenment principles guided by the linear progression of science and technology where evolution is rational and explainable. In Donald Kuspit’s The … Continue reading

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evil genius as madly creative

Is creativity always beneficial? Does it always lead to good outcomes? The study was called the dark side of creativity: original thinkers can be more dishonest. No, it was not written by Edgar Allan Poe, but it would make a … Continue reading

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a little face to face

Is it possible to be so politically correct that we end up chewing our own tail. Is there a realm within the politically correct that is not politically correct? Its been said that as long as there exists the dynamic … Continue reading

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mad men

There was really no resemblance to social man. Artistically, a soul at war with the body in such visceral representations had heretofore gone unrepresented. The depiction of unreason in all its unfathomable, compelling, yet repulsive splendor. It was the beginning … Continue reading

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flush hard: we’ve come a long way?

The cliche that newness has become. Its hard to argue with Donald Kuspit’s assertions on modern art, beginning with Marcel Duchamp’s Ready Mades as a confidence game, with the ready made being a surrogate for the female body. His bases … Continue reading

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coke: the it and id of it all

Pure nothingness.The embracing of empty contradictions. The fraternization of impossibilities.  The essence of nothingness.Kitsch. It comes from a German word, or even perhaps Yiddish, to denote bad taste. In inexhaustible supply of cheap images to pacify the longings of the … Continue reading

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client and customer: freebies on the family

Olympia is one of the most famous paintings, one that could say marked the iconic launch of the modern era in art. The background to the work may be seen in Charles Baudelaire’s the Flowers of Evil, a very pessimistic … Continue reading

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force feeding a permeable society

The artist’s treatment of the individual does in many respects, though not definitively, reflect a culture’s attitude towards itself. There is a grey zone between kitsch and perversity, as if they gravitate to one another creating a rather violent aesthetic. … Continue reading

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