Oh what a day, what a GREAT day!
 

Hallelujah!
 

Yeah, it's a great day for common sense Matt. May we never hear the name Sarah Palin again! I'll sleep easier tonight ;-)
 

America certainly made a very good decision, a really great decision actually. I totally agree with you on Sarah Palin, how did she get so close to such a powerful position?? Scary.
 

I am ecstatic!
 

I'm not a very political person either, but I'm very happy that we now have a real statesman in the WhiteHouse. Someone we can feel proud to have visit other countries and to act as the face of our nation. Not some blathering, classless boob who can barely string a sentence together without notecards.
*breathes a sigh of relief*
 

If one is hopelessly liberal and hating Republicans, oen would hope Palin stays around in the political picture, she is incredibly polarizing, even within the Republican Party. But we gotta hope petty self absorbtion recedes, at least for awhile, as we deal with teh reality of now. no finger pointing, time to deal with the issues we created, from al parties and lack of individual responsibility.

But then, where we gonna get all that soft political porn from now? Arnold working Obamas skinny legs out naked, doing squats while adoring white women gasp in desire? My wife told me as shoon as she saw Palin, women gonna hate that bitch. That voice and obvious gold digging to women, was not seen as clearly by men who jumped on her, wanted to physically in many backwoods places. And she always said, working at Agape, them white women love them some Obama. She is mad at me, as she wants to be first lady, though i always wanted to be Secretary of State, she would accept that too. sorry baby.

McCains speech was great, keeping his hordes of bitter folk in check. one dried up old broad was see mouthing "Ass hole, bastard" on screen. McCain would have been teh perfect President eight years ago, but his time was over and too tied to the right wing tax cuts and policies of Bush, he didnt come back enough to the center after getting Palin to fundraise for him, and the inevitable financial meltdown and recession came at just the right time for Obama. Two months later and we would have been up shit creek.

Obama has shown great calmness and judgment in times of chaos, excellent qualities for a military man, he handled it much better than Annapolis grad Mc cain did. tiem to get to work, told my Annapolis grad son he didnt vote enough times in Texas, went McCain, but even the capital of the Confederacy went Obama, Virginia, and the entire North of the Civl War. The west went mostly Obama, the plains states McCain. Rural folks still consrvative, thats fine, if old school conservative.

They can be worked with, the religious nuts and noveau riche are the problem, Orange County the only coastal county in Cali that went Republican. Dems won by 24% here, the entire coast easily Obama.

So swirls now running the country, we got plenty of them here, a few of my own too. Hope this helps to end gangsta rap, no more justification, the black community now needs some soul searching just as much as the white. We all do, together this time.

Artistes, that includes you. No more ME, its WE. If your art is not about who we are as a people, our direction, our soul, you are useless baggage like an appendix, and gotta be removed. Tiem to search your souls, and yes, you do have them, even if not immortal. You are a part of humanity, it is NOT there to serve you. You will come and god, humanity will survive. Will you add to IT, or your own delusions of grandeur. Time to make that leap of faith, and lose yourselves iun life, and our fellow man. Art has failed misserably for decades. Read you Dialogues of Plato, your Voltaire, your Hemingway. Artistg ar the philsophers of today. actually, I think comedians took that role, but the times of the absurd must end, now, and art return.

JUST DO IT!

Volunteer your skills and gifts for others, no more marketing ones own limited visions. Join, and you will grow as human beings. THAT is what counts.

Art collegia delenda Est
 

And not sure why Brian hates Fairley so much. It obviously is NOt art, its design. And all is fair game there. If people want to buy posters go ahead. They wont last long and will get tossed soon enough, as reality sets in. The guy is naive as hell, but he jsut represents most artiste's, doesnt he? I dont realy care, its a fad, and will pass. And worked as design, did its purpose, and thats what matters. Better than Hirst and The Painter of Light.

And Hirst will fade in fifty eyars, critters dont last forever in formaldehyde. Koons shiny balloon animals looked perect at over the top decadence of versailles. But silly everywhere else. Art outlasts fads, peoples sight changes, art doesnt, as it is fundamental to our being. These toys are not. Freud, yes, but again in a minor way like a George grolsz. Good, quality, but far from great, to obseses like Bascon with disease and ones own personal well being, that aint great art. Real artists deal with death as the reality and inevitability it is, not obsessed in fear. No hope for humanity in their works, all inward looking and scared. I aint scared of death, its failing in life that should be our true fear, waht we do, not the quantity of it. We all gonna go, deal with it.

aCDE!
 

OK, I thought I was the only one that was scared of Sarah Palin
 

well I have already been doing the giving and volunteering with my art for a long time Donald, and so have many others. It is nice though to see a president elect who encourages community empowerment/volunteerism and the we attitude.
 

You know I'll never agree with you on the Freud thing Donald. He's the Rembrandt of our time and will grow in stature rather than fade.

Just my opinion of course ;-)

Damien Hirst might last as the example of excess, marketing wizardry, and the soulessness of our time, but not for his art.

Also, art's value is in being decorative as much as it is in showing us who we are as people. If we're really shown who we are as people we wouldnt like it. Hirst and Koons are already showing us who we are as people but you dont like them.

It's why I think contemporary art is still doing its job pretty well.. it's showing us who we are. We can't blame the artists if what we see isnt pretty or void of soul. It's like getting angry at the mirror for showing you the pimple on your nose..lol.

And yeah, I havent got anything against McCain or republicans (other than the fact that theyre politicians, which means theyre full of it), it's just that Sarah Palin is frightening.

I told friends I was going to buy a Hummer if Palin wins, so I guess I'll have to stay with the ol Mazda3 now.

I do agree that giving is good too.. as long as it doesnt benefit any cult or self interest group that pushes their own lies and half truths. Become a rogue tree planter. Trees dont spread lies or try to profit from us ;-)
 

Hirst and Koons show the rich as they want to be, or their mental illnesses and excesses. Not of the nation or planet as a whole, jsut a sub group of sub humans. Decoration can be fine, which is why Koons ballon animals worked so well at Versailles, reflecting all that goregous excess. Which was just the Sun Kings vanity. More craftsmanship than art. beautifully designed and done. But full of pomp and pomposity, flashy self enhancemnt, probably making up for a lack of equiptment in other ars, you know, the old Napoleon complex.

Everything ahs its place, and wil survive as in the Musee de Gare they have the academic paintings of the eighteentch century, great ones by David and Delacroix and Ingres, as well as crap. Its as much history museum as art. And is good in showing the divverence betwee the glorification of the rich and real creative art by the few good realists, Barbaizon school, and impressionists as well as Cezanne.

We are in that later stage of crap, of historical footnote worth, but a waste of art museum space. Though we have far too many museums now, with too little art to hang in it.

ACDE
 

Hmm I think I am a polical creature everything has politics involved in it somewhere.

Definitely a relief to have Obama rather than Bush.. if only Bush had some annual leave saved up he could go early instead of January.
 

Youre right Helly. And Im probably more political than I like to admit.

There's still time to start another war between now and january too, so maybe we havent seen the last of mr Bush yet :-O
 

Let's hope not. :(

Obama seems a much better prospect on international policy.
 

I intend to support President elect Obama. He's going to need all the prayers he can get going into the next four years.

As for Palin, none of us even knew her before a month ago. Yet, to read the comments here, one would think her approval rating in Alaska wasn't remarkably high.

The truth is that, between Nov. 3 and inauguration day Palin could probably become just as ready as Obama for the presidency. And she would still have had even more time to get ready after Jan 20 - assuming McCain was healthy.

Of all people, artists should never be tempted to fall into the Orwellian hype generated by empty celebrity driven propaganda. I suspect the divide between the two poles is only going to get much, much wider in this country.

As for the direction the country has been going in for decades, I'm excited about it as an artist. Suffering makes for great art if one chooses to be a dissident voice. Loyalists who choose to support the "Glorious Revolution" always do well painting colorful murals and building sized portraits of the regime. Either way, it's a win win proposition for artists. Most of us are used to collectivist living anyway.
 

There's a selection of Obama spoof posters here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/gallery/2008/nov/10/art-uselections2008?picture=339463611
 

ha ha ha! i love this title!! that's exactly it, they were counting on people being stupid, and that was it.
 

Your sense of humour and style of writing are just too good, dear....

Regards,
Hemant Sonawane
(fine artist, sculptor
Mumbai, INDIA)