Festival Pavilion - Fort Mason Center, San Francisco, California.
I will be speaking at the upcoming “Categorically Not” event on Sunday May 19, 2013 at the Santa Monica Art Studios about my painting process and “what lies beneath” the layers of paint and the layers of ideas that go into each of my works.
Tonight, a stunning cover of David Bowie's Haunting song Space Oddity was released from space by Commander Chris Hadfield on board the International Space Station. The imagery is stunning, reminiscent of the film Moon directed by David Bowie's son Duncan Jones. Sometimes life really does imitate art, even while orbiting earth in a tin capsule in space.
"I, Sovereign, am the First Emperor; my descendants will call themselves the Second Generation, the Third Generation, and will go on forever after."
- The First Emperor, Qin Shihuang (259-210 BCE)
quoted by the historian Sima Qian (145-90 BCE)
China's Terracotta Warriors: The First Emperor's Legacy currently on view at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco until May 27, 2013 provides tantalizing glimpses of an ancient culture and its rulers' attempts to influence cultural and political memory. Over two thousand years ago, Qin Shihuang - the first emperor of China, began constructing a massive mausoleum to ensure, what Li He, the Asian Museum's associate curator of Chinese art, describes as the personal and political "continuation of the family's ruling position and the long-lasting reign of the dynasty" as well as individual hopes for an afterlife.
The First Emperor began to plan his eternal place of rest from the moment he ascended the throne. The mausoleum took almost 38 years of hard labor and exquisite craftsmanship to construct. Ongoing archaeological excavations continue to reveal new secrets and hidden cultural treasures created to ensure Qin Shihuang's memory and lineage. Eight human-sized terracotta warriors made the journey to San Francisco. Each figure seems imbued with the ability to speak. Buried in a vast tomb with more than 7,000 comrades, some with horses and chariots, surrounded perhaps by flowing liquid mercury rivers graced by bronze waterbirds and bells, these sculpted warriors were meant to ensure Qin Shihuang's trip through the cosmos and eventual crossing to another realm. According tohistorian Sima Qian (145-90 BCE) the emperor feared that the creators "might disclose all the treasure that was in the tomb...(that) after the burial and sealing up of the treasures, the middle gate was shut and the outer gate closed to imprison all the artisans and laborers, so that no one came out." The mausoleum was forgotten over the centuries. The tomb was not revealed until the 20th century, when Chinese farmers found fragments of terracotta sculptures as they attempted to assuage the effects of a drought with a new well.
Armored General
221-206 BCE China
Terracotta
Qin Shihuang Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum, Shaanxi, China
Installation at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco
photo by Gregg Chadwick
Rulers and politicians of all stripes are often in the business of memory-making. The recent unveiling of the George W. Bush Presidential Library comes to mind. Since President Calvin Coolidge, all American presidents have a stand-alone presidential library that holds their papers and memorabilia. But the G.W. Bush library is unique in that it is a museum that Rachel Maddow convincingly describes as a ridiculous attempt to make the Bush administration's invasion of Iraq seem like a good idea. Watch the Rachel Maddow video linked here and see if you agree that, as she puts it,"The case to invade Iraq was cooked up, a hoax put upon the nation." With this ridiculous attempt at memory-making by the Bush team in mind, I looked at Qin Shihuang's memory-mausoleum differently than I might have otherwise. What message was the First Emperor attempting to send on to future generations with his vast buried army of exquisitely crafted clay warriors?
Emperor Qin Shihuang used force to break up and subsume noble lands as well as compelling the noble families themselves to move to, his new capital, Xianyang. The emperor freed peasants from their feudal bonds, but then forced them into servitude for the state. Arthur Cotterell in his informative work, The Imperial Capitals of China, describes that the emperor's extensive construction and engineering program imposed a tremendous burden and that "this continued use of conscript labor strained the allegiance of the peasantry, especially when it was maintained by the naked force of cruel punishments." Due to this shift in labor allocations, agriculture suffered and famine ensued. Subsequently in 209 (BCE), starving, impoverished peasants staged the first large-scale rebellion in Chinese history.
Was this sculpted army intended as a symbol to the living as well as the dead? With the rebellions that signaled the coming end of Qin Shihuang's short lived dynasty, it is unlikely that the emperor's memory-making had an initial effect on the Chinese populace. Gish Jen in her marvelous new book, Tiger Writing, quotes Chinese author Lin Yutang from his 1935 work My Country and My People, "that the Chinese are given to a farcical view of life, and that 'Chinese humor... consist[s] in compliance with outward form ... and the total disregard of the substance in actuality.'"
On Site View of Unrestored Warriors at the Qin Shihuang Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum, Shaanxi, China Courtesy: Qin Shihuang Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum, Shaanxi, China
Peter Clothier Leads A One Hour/One Painting Session With Gregg Chadwick's "A Balance of Shadows"photo by Joanne Warfield
Peter Clothier's important new book Slow Looking: The Art of Looking at Art guides the reader seamlessly through the history, process, and ideas behind his One Hour/One Painting sessions. Clothier's development of One Hour/One Painting began with the realization that along with most museum or gallery visitors, he increasingly spent more time looking at the information label on the wall than at the artwork itself. To combat this habit, Peter began to spend an hour silently and inquisitively gazing at one work of art. Much influenced in recent years by Buddhist thought and practice, Clothier combined elements of meditation and contemplation in these sessions and found more profound and rewarding experiences.
In aOne Hour/One Painting session, Peter Clothier invites small groups of participants to sit in front of a single artwork for a full hour in a gallery, museum, or studio environment.
Clothier recently hosted One Hour/ One Painting sessions during the Diebenkorn: The Ocean Park Series exhibit at the Orange County Museum of Art and at the LA Louver Gallery.Peter, also, held a session (see video below) in my Santa Monica Airport studio. Clothier began as he usually does with a brief introduction describing the hour to take place and then gently guided the participants by explaining the principles of closed-eye breath meditation, how to relax and refresh the eyes, and provided encouragement to rid the mind of expectations and pre-judgments. For me and most of the participants that evening, the hour moved quickly as Peter led us throughalternate closed and open-eyed moments. As Clothier explained, "this was individual work without initial discussion or interaction and allowed each participant to experience the artwork as fully as possible, without interruption." At the end of the hour, however, Peter invited responses and a rich discussion of the experience followed.
Peter Clothier's Slow Looking: The Art of Looking at Art is written in clear, supportive language that illuminates art and meditation. Clothier seeks to achieve a harmony of mind, heart, and body in his life and writing and Slow Looking provides rich examples for us to learn from and follow. In the book, we are encouraged to seek a pure visual experience with art through a beneficial process of contemplation, stillness, and serenity. Slow Looking also provides access to an audio and a video demonstration of a One Hour/One Painting session that invites readers to try it out for themselves. Highly recommended!
Video Demonstration
Made along with participants at Gregg Chadwick's studio in Santa Monica, this video was filmed live by David Lowther. It provides a full length example of Peter Clothier's One Hour/One Painting sessions and demonstrates the techniques involved in this guided meditation and contemplation.
Past venues & subjects for Peter Clothier's One Hour/One Painting events :
1. Pasadena Museum of California Art—“The Matterhorn from Zermatt,” Edgar Payne
2. LA Louver—“ Echo Home,” Joe Goode
3. Laguna Art Museum—“Spring Day,” Clarence Hinkle
4. Lora Schlesinger Gallery—“I’ve Been Dating Recently,” Michael Beck
5. William Turner Gallery—“Sun Biscuit,” Ned Evans
6. Gregg Chadwick Studio—“ A Balance of Shadows,” Gregg Chadwick
7. LACMA—“Montauk Highway,” by DeKooning
8. MOCA—“Untitled,” Mark Rothko
9. The Getty—“Christ Entering Brussels,” James Ensor
10. OCMA—“Untitled Works,” Richard Diebenkorn
11. Hammer Museum—“Dr. Pozzi at Home,” John Singer Sargent; “Trees in the Garden,” Van Gogh
About Peter Clothier:
Peter Clothier has a long and distinguished career as an an internationally-known art writer, novelist and poet and describes himself as "an aspiring Buddhist who looks at art, books, and the vicissitudes of life."Clothier enjoys a world-wide following for his blog, The Buddha Diariesand is a contributing blogger inThe Huffington Post. He lives and works in Southern California. His work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Artscene, ARTNewsand other publications. He also hosts a monthly podcast entitled "The Art of Outrage,"onArtScene Visual Radio.
Early this morning David Bowie celebrated his 66th Birthday with the release of his first single in a decade. This single Where Are We Now?, taken from Bowie's forthcoming album The Next Day, is accompanied by an artful video directed by the contemporary artist Tony Oursler. Set in a black and white Berlin of memory and dream, Oursler's video combines with Bowie's voice and lyrics to question the themes of human bondage, release, freedom, doubt, ageing, and death.
The video opens with a shot of a crystal skull on a table. Reminiscent of Gerhard Richter's evocative paintings of human skulls, this visual entrance to Bowie's musical memento mori, reminds us that in Berlin we wrestle with the dead as we walk through a haunted and enchanted city. After the fall of the wall, Berlin has come to embody the future while at the same time carrying the scars of the past.
Bowie sings:
Had to get the train From Potsdamer Platz You never knew That I could do that Just walking the dead
Where Are We Now? is as much a painting in soft greys as it is a song.A quiet rhythm of drums and synth warp and weft with minor key
piano chords and Bowie's plaintive, elegiac voice.
Bowie lived in West Berlin between 1976 and 1979 in the Schöneberg district in a house with Iggy Pop while Brian Eno and Tony Visconti were helping record Bowie's Berlin trilogy of albums Low, Heroes, and Lodgerin the now legendary Hansa Studios.
In an interview on a French radio program, Bowie said, “Berlin has the strange ability to make you write only the important things. Anything else you don’t mention.”
In Where Are We Now?, Bowie guides us through his former haunts:
Sitting in the Dschungel
On Nürnberger Straße
A man lost in time
Near KaDeWe
Just walking the dead
The Dschungel was a Schöneberg club frequented by Bowie, Iggy Pop, Frank Zappa, and Nina Hagen. KaDaWe is a historical Berlin department store that originally opened in 1907. In a divided city, from its reopening in 1950 until 1989, KaDaWe was a beacon for the East and drew massive crowds after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
In an informative piece on the creation of the cover for the upcoming album The Next Day, designer Johnathan Barnbrook writes that "the song Where Are We Now?is a comparison between Berlin when the wall fell and Berlin today. Most people know of Bowie’s heritage in Berlin and we want people to think about the time when the original album was produced and now."
Twenty thousand people Cross Bösebrücke Fingers are crossed Just in case Walking the dead
The Bösebrücke was the bridge on which the first border crossing was opened to Eastern Berliners in November 1989 as the Berlin Wall began to fall. In Berlin, David Bowie challenged societal bondages in his art and his life. Later, the city itself broke free from the bondage of the wall. Now, years later, Bowie looks back and wonders if all the chains have been broken.
Gregg Chadwick Berlin Noir 30"x22" monotype on paper 2011
There are hints of personal loss in Where Are We Now?as well. Does the mysterious woman who appears with David throughout the video refer to Bowie's incredibly brave and influential first wife Angela? Or is she a reference to the classical muses? Or perhaps an angel briefly freed from the the towering Siegessäule which flickers in the video behind Bowie and his partner.The political and the personal merge in Where Are We Now?. We are left with existential questions and are reminded that bodies age, marriages end, friendships dissolve and memories fade. But Bowie's quietly defiant voice does not give in to any dying of the light:
As long as there’s sun As long as there’s sun As long as there’s rain As long as there’s rain As long as there’s fire As long as there’s fire As long as there’s me As long as there’s you
Where Are We Now?
by David Bowie
produced by Tony Visconti
Had to get the train From Potsdamer Platz You never knew That I could do that Just walking the dead
Sitting in the Dschungel
On Nürnberger Straße
A man lost in time
Near KaDeWe
Just walking the dead
Where are we now?
Where are we now?
The moment you know
You know you know
Twenty thousand people
Cross Bösebrücke
Fingers are crossed
Just in case
Walking the dead
Where are we now?
Where are we now?
The moment you know
You know you know
As long as there’s sun As long as there’s sun As long as there’s rain As long as there’s rain As long as there’s fire As long as there’s fire As long as there’s me As long as there’s you
In March, David Bowie will release The Next Day, an album of his first new music in a decade and a reunion with longtime producer Tony Visconti. Where Are We Now? was released today on Bowie's 66th birthday. A note from his label Columbia explained this was "a timely moment for such a treasure to appear as if out of nowhere."
If this was the way the world ended on 12 21 12, those of us gathered at UCLA's Royce Hall for the second night of Rufus and Martha Wainwright's Christmas 101were being ushered into eternity with heavenly voices.
Rufus and Martha Wainwright, the son and daughter of Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle - who passed away in 2010 from a rare sarcoma cancer, both possess extraordinary voices and mesmerizing stage presence. Their combined talents bolstered by musical kin and comrades, including Emmylou Harris, folk singer Maria Muldaur's daughter Jenni Muldaur, the legendary Van Dyke Parks, former Eels drummer Butch Norton, Sloan Wainwright, Lucy Wainwright Roche, Carrie Fisher, Rufus' husband Jorn Weisbrodt, and more, brought holiday cheer and at times poignant retrospection into last night's concert.
Christmas 101 continuesa concert tradition begun in 2005 by Kate McGarrigle and her sister Anna. As well as being musical events, the shows are star splashed fundraisers for the Kate McGarrigle Fund which supports cancer care and research at the McGill University Cancer Centre and the renowned teaching hospitals of McGill University in Montreal, including the McGill University Health Centre and the Jewish General Hospital.
The evening opened with the traditional Christmas carol God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, asvocalists and musicians stretched across the stage beneath a bright blue scrim dusted with images of snowflakes. The hall overflowed with family history as if we had stepped into a McGarrigle/Wainwright Christmas reunion.
Moving from tradition to contemporaneity, Rufus next crooned his searing ode to unconditional love - Spotlight on Christmas. Rufus' richly crafted lyrics use the Christmas story as a vehicle to examine inequality and consumerism:
People love the working man
Who does the best that he can
But don't forget all the horses and toys
Never could fix the poor little rich boys
People say they love the maid
Who sweats and toils just like a slave
But don't forget all the diamonds and pearls
Never could fix the poor little rich girls
You can measure it in blood
You can measure it in mud
Let us say for these twelve days
Put the measuring away
Cause it's Christmas
And the spotlight's shining on Christmas
And the spotlight's shining on us
People love and people hate
People go and people wait
But, don't forget Jesus, Mary, and Joseph
Once were a family poor but rich in hope, yeah
Don't forget Jesus, Mary, and Joseph
Running from the law, King Herod had imposeth
And they were each one quite odd
And mensch, a virgin, and a God
But don't forget that what kept them aflow
Floating through the desert doesnt take a boat no
Don't forget that what kept them above
Is unconditional love
And, you can measure it in blood
You can measure it in mud
Let us say for these twelve days
Put the measuring away
Cause it's Christmas
And the spotlight's shining on Christmas
And the spotlight's shining on us
And the spotlight's shining on Christmas
And the spotlight's shining on
People love the working man
Who does the best that he can
But, don't forget all the horses and toys
Never could fix the poor little rich boys
The mood shifted, as it would all night in what seemed a conscious reflection of holiday tensions amidst a world soaked in violence and injustice, as Rufus and Jenni Muldaur played wolf and mouse in Frank Loesser's seductive standard Baby, It's Cold Outside.
Van Dyke Parks appeared almost as a white haired saint throughout the evening. His passion and musicianship lifted the music and took it into another realm, particularly when he strolled into the audience to play Royce Hall's thundering organ.
Rufus and Martha Wainwright Perform at Christmas 101 Royce Hall, UCLA December 21, 2012 photo courtesy @christmas_101
Lucy Wainwright Roche brought the house to tears with her poignant version of Joni Mitchell's River. Many of us remarked at intermission that Lucy's singing brought the haunting lyrics to the forefront:
It's coming on Christmas
They're cutting down trees
They're putting up reindeer
And singing songs of joy and peace
Oh I wish I had a river
I could skate away on
But it don't snow here
It stays pretty green
I'm going to make a lot of money
Then I'm going to quit this crazy scene
I wish I had a river
I could skate away on
I wish I had a river so long
I would teach my feet to fly
Oh I wish I had a river
I could skate away on
I made my baby cry
He tried hard to help me
You know, he put me at ease
And he loved me so naughty
Made me weak in the knees
Oh I wish I had a river
I could skate away on
I'm so hard to handle
I'm selfish and I'm sad
Now I've gone and lost the best baby
That I ever had
Oh I wish I had a river
I could skate away on
I wish I had a river so long
I would teach my feet to fly
Oh I wish I had a river
I made my baby say goodbye
It's coming on Christmas
They're cutting down trees
They're putting up reindeer
And singing songs of joy and peace
I wish I had a river
I could skate away on
Van Dyke Parks and @WainBright killing it: Trois Anges photo courtesy @christmas_101
Near the close of the first half of the night, Carrie Fisher delivered a hilariously ribald spoken word routine that LA Underground thought could have been titled “A Very Fisher Christmas.” Suffice to say, it included a riff on self pleasuring Christmas gifts for Grandma and daughter as well as memories of Fisher's childhood yule-tide holidays in Vegas.
Soon after, Rufus and Martha's aunt Sloan Wainwright shook Royce Hall with her gospel fueled Thank God It's Christmas, revving the evening into a communal celebration of birth, life, death and everything in between.
Before the break, Rufus, Martha, family and friends gathered for a lovely rendition of White Christmas, which smartly added a nod to the absence of African-Americans in the song's lyrics and the culture itself that many of the holiday tunes rose from.
Gigi warming up Royce Hall photo courtesy @christmas_101
After intermission, three songs in particular commanded rapt attention. Emmylou Harris dedicated her rendition of O Little Town of Bethlehem to the children and the teachers gunned down in Newtown, Connecticut one week before. Harris' voice quietly conveyed the fragility inherit in all our lives. She screamed "Enough!" in a whisper.
Later, Rufus asked for the mics and monitors to be turned off before he wafted into an a cappella rendition of the lovely Cantique de Noël - the original French version of O Holy Night. Wainwright's voice carried and echoed around Royce Hall, reminding me of the countless students, educators, politicians, and performers whose voices had also echoed in this room.
Echoes of Royce Hall - 2008 photo by Gregg Chadwick
Martha Wainwright, brought the entire night home with her haunting singing of her mother's song Proserpina. This musical retelling of the Roman goddess Proserpina's tale was the last song Kate McGarrigle wrote.
The myth recounts the abduction of the goddess Proserpina (or Persephone in Greek) by Pluto, the master of the underworld. Proserpina's mother Ceres, the goddess or mother of the earth, searched in vain for her daughter. Ceres lamented her vanished girl. Where had she gone? In time Ceres found a clue - a small belt dropped by her daughter in the abduction, but the fate of her daughter remained unknown. In anger, Ceres halted nature's growth. Plants withered and the world touched by her footprints turned to desert. Finally, to end Ceres wrath, Pluto who had hidden Proserpina in his underworld was forced by the other gods to set his abducted bride free. But a price was set. Proserpina could return for six months each year to her mother - Spring and Summer. But each year when the seasons change to Fall and Winter, Proserpina must return underground.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Proserpina
Before Martha sang Proserpina she remarked that she once thought that her mother, Kate, had written the song about her. That she was the lost daughter. But instead, Martha said that she has come to realize that the song was written by her mother about herself as she prepared to return to meet her own mother - Martha's Grandma.
Martha carried the song last night in a rich plaintive voice. We were honored to hear her sing and be in the presence of such a remarkable musical family.
The entire ensemble joined in on John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Happy Xmas (War Is Over) to provide a fitting ending to an inspirational evening.
Christmas 101concludes with a final performance at Royce Hall tonight. I urge you to drop everything and attend. For me, this concert series perfectly embodies what the holidays should be all about.
Martha Wainwright and Van Dyke Parks at Royce Hall
My condolences and thoughts to jazz player Jimmy Greene and his wife Nelba as they bear the senseless loss of their beautiful little girl Ana Grace who was a victim of the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting in Connecticut.
Jimmy Greene, the American saxophonist who recently taught at the University of Manitoba, has written a brief message following the death of his daughter. Greene wrote:
"Thank you for all of your prayers and kind words of support. As we work through this nightmare, we’re reminded how much we’re loved and supported on this earth and by our Father in heaven. As much as she’s needed here and missed by her mother, brother and me, Ana beat us all to paradise. I love you sweetie girl. "
As I write this, an impromptu vigil is forming in front of the White House in Washington DC to mourn the victims of another senseless mass shooting and to call for much needed gun regulation. Today, a quiet school in Newtown, Connecticut was violated by a gun wielding murderer packing semi-automatic weapons with a back up assault rifle in his car.
The shooting was horrific and preventable. This is a national tragedy that needs a national response. Our glorification of weapons and our embrace of the use of violent force to resolve conflicts has led us to a crisis point. Do we continue to let our children be slaughtered in schools and theaters? Will we continue to allow almost unfettered access to military grade high powered weapons? Will we continue to cut funding for preventive mental health care?
Today, we make a decision as a nation. Twenty children and six adults were killed today at a Newtown, Connecticut school. I refuse to allow their memories to be forgotten and will not let this horror continue unabated across the nation.
Because of their strict regulation of firearms, last year in Japan there were only 8 murders committed with guns in a country of 120 million. The year before there were 6 and during the previous year 11. Today, during one horrific attack in one school, one American gunned down more fellow citizens than the last 3 years of gun deaths in Japan combined. Over 100 rounds of ammo were fired into children today. According to the FBI, we average 20 similar mass shootings in the US each year. Don't let the NRA fool you the Second Amendment is not unlimited. As recently as the 2008 Heller decision, the US Supreme Court has held that:
Like most rights, the Second Amendment right is not unlimited. It is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose: For example, concealed weapons prohibitions have been upheld under the Amendment or state analogues. The Court’s opinion should not be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms. Miller’s holding that the sorts of weapons protected are those “in common use at the time” finds support in the historical tradition of prohibiting the carrying of dangerous and unusual weapons.
Today is the day to begin the long delayed discussion of gun control and lay the foundation for the implementation of sensible gun regulations across the United States.
President Obama Wipes Away A Tear During His Address to the Nation Concerning Today's Shooting in Newtown
Will be exhibited at the Sandra Lee Gallery in San Francisco, California during the upcoming Holiday Group Show which runs from December 4th through the 29th.
The British sculptor Anish Kapoor and a group of his human rights oriented friends have released a new video in partnership with Amnesty International and PEN International to bring attention to the ongoing persecution of artists and writers across the globe from China to Russia who have been harassed and imprisoned because of their work. Taking up where Ai Wei Wei's recent Gangnam Style video left off, Kapoor's own Gangnam Style romp combines symbols of imprisonment and torture with the names of many who have been persecuted in their artistic strivings for freedom. Please watch, visit the links, and find out what you can do to help shed light on this growing problem of censorship and oppression.
As an emigré from India to the United Kingdom, Anish Kapoor has often been concerned with the ideas of freedom and dislocation in his artwork. I have posted a few examples below that provide a brief glimpse into his artistic practice. For me, Anish Kapoor is one of the most important and visionary artists working today.
Incredible time lapse video made by Richard Shepherd from stills grabbed from the New York Times webcam during Hurricane Sandy. I had the New York Times webcam on all day yesterday as well. My thoughts go out to the brave responders and all those dealing with this frightening, unprecedented storm. Climate change is real my friends.
Props to President Obama, FEMA, the Coast Guard, the National Guard, and all the courageous nurses, firefighters, police officers, EMT's and union workers of all stripes who kept so many safe.
I am pleased to invite you to the 8th Anniversary Celebration of the Santa Monica Art Studios at the Santa Monica Airport. Come by this weekend - Saturday, October 13th from 6-9PM and Sunday, October 14th from 1-5 PM for a sneak peek at my new work in Studio #15 and the other amazing artists in our 22,000 square foot art laboratory.
Last night's Presidential Debate revealed a new Romney style to the public: a smirking, manipulative and untruthful Mitt whose only strategy seemed to be lying baldfacedly about his policy ideas. Already, Romney has had to admit that he pushed misinformation in the debate to Mike Grunwald, the author of the brilliant new book - The New New Deal.
I agree with Paul Krugman and Tyler Green: Most of the commentary about last night's debate seems to be "theater criticism." MSNBC even pulled James Lipton on-screen, host of Inside The Actors Studio, to critique the debate as if it were simply a theatrical romp. Romney, admittedly. delivered his lines forcefully and often condescendingly, but his words were full of evasion, hesitation, mis-truth, and outright lies. Romney came across as an infomercial huckster.
In contrast President Obama was calm, empathetic, often bemused, professorial, a bit wonky at times, and presidential.
The take away from the debate seems to be Romney's snide threat to defund PBS, eliminate Big Bird, and fire Jim Lehrer. Responding to Mitt's comments and public shock at the casual way Romney proposed to off a beloved children's icon, PBS released a statement this morning. (Full Text Below)
Romney's comment is so revealing because it is one of the few times that Mitt has actually presented a target of his proposed budget cuts. Romney is extremely vague on policy details and usually fails to describe clearly the vast and unpopular cuts that his style of governing would necessitate. The PBS statement released today reveals that "The federal investment in public broadcasting equals about one one-hundredth of one percent of the federal budget. Elimination of funding would have virtually no impact on the nation’s debt. Yet the loss to the American public would be devastating."
There is no real fiscal argument to make for the elimination of PBS from the federal budget. Instead, it is the first volley in a proposed culture war that Romney's moneyed and bigoted right-wing backers want to wage against our increasingly open-minded and inclusive society. Most reactionary movements begin with huge doses of anti-intellectualism and a purge of educators, authors and artists. By threatening to kill off Big Bird, Romney unwittingly drew a line in the sand that he deftly attempted to sidestep during last night's debate. Romney and his anti 47% cronies are coming after all of us and they want to start with our children.
I'll let Samuel L. Jackson have the last word today:
PBS Statement Regarding October 3 Presidential Debate
ARLINGTON, VA – October 4, 2012 – We are very disappointed that PBS became a political target in the Presidential debate last night. Governor Romney does not understand the value the American people place on public broadcasting and the outstanding return on investment the system delivers to our nation. We think it is important to set the record straight and let the facts speak for themselves.
The federal investment in public broadcasting equals about one one-hundredth of one percent of the federal budget. Elimination of funding would have virtually no impact on the nation’s debt. Yet the loss to the American public would be devastating.
A national survey by the bipartisan research firms of Hart Research and American Viewpoint in 2011 found that over two-thirds of American voters (69%) oppose proposals to eliminate government funding of public broadcasting, with Americans across the political spectrum against such a cut.
As a stated supporter of education, Governor Romney should be a champion of public broadcasting, yet he is willing to wipe out services that reach the vast majority of Americans, including underserved audiences, such as children who cannot attend preschool and citizens living in rural areas.
For more than 40 years, Big Bird has embodied the public broadcasting mission – harnessing the power of media for the good of every citizen, regardless of where they live or their ability to pay. Our system serves as a universally accessible resource for education, history, science, arts and civil discourse.
Over the course of a year, 91% of all U.S. television households tune in to their local PBS station. In fact, our service is watched by 81% of all children between the ages of 2-8.
Each day, the American public receives an enduring and daily return on investment that is heard, seen, read and experienced in public media broadcasts, apps, podcasts and online – all for the cost of about $1.35 per person per year.
Earlier in 2012, a Harris Interactive poll confirmed that Americans consider PBS the most trusted public institution and the second most valuable use of public funds, behind only national defense, for the 9th consecutive year.
A key thing to remember is that public television and radio stations are locally owned and community focused and they are experts in working efficiently to make limited resources produce results. In fact, for every $1.00 of federal funding invested, they raise an additional $6.00 on their own – a highly effective public-private partnership.
Numerous studies -- including one requested by Congress earlier this year -- have stated categorically that while the federal investment in public broadcasting is relatively modest, the absence of this critical seed money would cripple the system and bring its services to an end.
PBS, with its nearly 360 member stations, offers all Americans the opportunity to explore new ideas and new worlds through television and online content. Each month, PBS reaches nearly 123 million people through television and more than 21 million people online, inviting them to experience the worlds of science, history, nature and public affairs; to hear diverse viewpoints; and to take front row seats to world-class drama and performances. PBS’ broad array of programs has been consistently honored by the industry’s most coveted award competitions. Teachers of children from pre-K through 12th grade turn to PBS for digital content and services that help bring classroom lessons to life. PBS’ premier children’s TV programming and its website,pbskids.org, are parents’ and teachers’ most trusted partners in inspiring and nurturing curiosity and love of learning in children. More information about PBS is available atwww.pbs.org, one of the leading dot-org websites on the Internet, or by following PBS on Twitter, Facebook or through our apps for mobile devices. Specific program information and updates for press are available at pbs.org/pressroom or by following PBS Pressroom on Twitter.
NEW BOOK: The Painted Word By Phil Cousineau and Gregg Chadwick
"When Phil Cousineau and Gregg Chadwick join creative forces it is an important event. This historic collaboration shines with fresh insights into both language and art." — Alexander Eliot, author of 300 Years of American Painting and The Global Myths
Notes on the Artwork In The Painted Word When I was young, the form of words—the way they looked— intrigued me and I often wondered what it would be like to look at a word and not be able to read or understand it. In essence, I wondered about the indecipherable mystery behind the word. The artworks I have created for The Painted Word take that sense of mystery into the world of paint and image.
Each creation began with that wonderful, slippery stuff that never wants to be tamed or pinned down: paint. Specifically, I use oil paint for its historical resonance and also because of its liquid origins in the oil pressed from flax. From this plant comes both linseed oil, which is mixed with dry powdered pigments to create oil paint, and linen, which traditionally has been used as the surface that oils are painted upon. Whenever I unroll a new bolt of linen in my studio a rich fragrance reminis- cent of a newly cut field fills the room.
I find that freshly stretched paintings waiting for their first touch of color invite the mystery of life and creation. The word stories written by Phil Cousineau opened up a similar sense of wonder. Like the words, each tube of paint also brought its history into the room. Color names are words steeped in myth and meaning. Lapis Lazuli evokes dangerous treks along the Silk Road into Afghanistan that brought this exquisite blue stone into the workshops of Renaissance artists. The pigment was so expensive and so important it was often reserved for coloring the heavens and Mary’s garments. A separate clause in the artist’s contract would dictate how much the client would pay for the Lapis Lazuli in addition to the amount paid for the artist’s services. Other colors weren’t so dear but were still rich in lore. Burnt Sienna is a warm brown earth pigment that was dug up in the fields surrounding Siena, Italy. Cinnabar, a brilliant red originally found in minerals veined with mercury, also made its way along the Silk Road from its source in China. I used all three of these colors in many of the paintings in The Painted Word.
Gregg Chadwick
(From The Painted Word, available in September 2012.
Published in the United States by Viva Editions, an imprint of Cleis Press, Inc., 2246 Sixth Street, Berkeley, California 94710.)
"If The Painted Word were a club act, I'd sit there drinking in Cousineau's revelations, tales and mythologies until they kicked me out of the joint. Reading this brew of etymology, history, lore, and pop connections, with lambent illustrations by Gregg Chadwick, is just as intoxicating. A Cousineau riff on a (passionately selected) word is like Mark Twain meets Coleridge meets Casey Stengel meets---well, everyone who's fun and informative, whether the riff is on autologophagist (someone who eats his/her words) or jack, which, believe me, the world-traveled Cousineau knows when it comes to language. "
—Arthur Plotnik, author of The Elements of Expression: Putting Thoughts Into Words
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Gregg Chadwick
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