Mark Hennessy Briefly Quits Bitching, Rolls Up Sleeves, & Gets Work Done: Brownback Solved

LJWorld Headline: Kansas Alone in Defunding Arts

First off, Brownback's historic evisceration of state arts funding is really not a problem.

Art will be made, argued over, and taught to children without funding. Art will florish in environments completely hostile to it. Poetry written in Auschwitz. Many artists create beautiful and transformative work in an absence of support even a, teacher say, might find disarming. Consider the basic undeniable alchemy of El Anatsui's Lines that Bridge Humanity. Base refuse magicked into something rare. Beautiful. Valuable.

I don’t wanna get into a fight with a wagonful of broken-record dogmatic bullies. Dear my state's politicians (I miss Ms. Sebelious so) please don’t fight terrorism for one day and use that day to take a day's ammo money and spend it on food and clothes to the homeless kids in everysinglefuckingtowninamerica. My point is I don't wanna get into a pissing contest with these guys, I wanna problem-solve. So I have. My poem.

THIS POEM IS APPROVED AND FUNDED BY SAM BROWNBACK

This poem knows it’s just a little bit better than other poems. You can tell cuz how the poem gives full expression to your humanity only in order to deepen the moral condemnation of withdrawing all compassion from you as you read.

This poem demands you ignore the impending national discussion on capping population in adamant defense of stem cells while the paper behinds it closes down your neighborhood kid’s music program and denies his mom welfare (part of the poem will still support continued funding for male sports programs).

So this poem flatly insists you have your child. Although this poem has looked at your credit statement and is admittedly unsure as to how you’re gonna pay for it. This poem asks you to remember that Jesus is the answer.

This poem is heavily invested in McClownald’s & insulin also.

This poem talks about Jesus the right way and talks about killing other people the right way.

This poem was totally kidding when it compared hunting illegal mexican immigrants to shooting diseased wild pigs with a rifle from an open helicopter. God, people. This is not a pretty liberal poem for dope-smoking intellectuals who speak French like some pussy faggot.

This poem may have a spouse, not a partner, with a psychiatry practice that specializes in fixing gays but this poem doesn’t buy into that bullshit. This poem knows what’s up. They’s doomed theyselves.

This poem is totally cool with smoking tobacco because the slave owners grandkids are not bad.

This poem as conceived will be white words on a black piece of paper because it is the words that matter not their environment.

This poem know rabbits for foodorpets, recognizes you have some difficult times ahead of you, this poem knows it's gonna get uncomfortable, so again, this poem takes this opportunity to acknowledge in advance your continued support. You may now return to something good like Left Behind. Or The Jersey Shore.

www2.ljworld.com/news/2011/mar/14/legislators-comment-illegal-immigration-criticized/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/17/gop-outraged-by-shakedown_n_615686.html

Sonia Delaunay's Work

My friend Hadley recommended this slideshow.

Karen Matheis: Figure Drawing

It is great to walk through the halls of KU's drawing and painting rooms.  Things seem pretty much the same as when I studied there.  There is one striking difference....the smell.  In an effort to keep things as green as possible, the smell of toxic fumes of turpentine have disappeared.  However, I miss the old smells. It was the  distinct Art and Design building smell.   True, the air quality now is probably better for ones health, and true, I probably have bronchitis symptoms due to years of not paying attention to these types of things.  The trade off is that in the old days, one would not have to explain where they had been because you could smell where they had been on their clothes.  These are the days when smoking was allowed in restaurants and bars, so smells were always in our clothes and hair.  A persistent hacking cough was ordinary.  It was all for the art, man. 

Here are some pics from present day figure drawing teacher Amber Hansen's night class. 

Karen Matheis: Molly Murphy's New Show

Lawrence artists Molly Murphy has a new show called "Futures of Foregone Memory: Physical Space."  The venue for the show is the Holt Russell Gallery on the Baker University Campus in Baldwin.  Here are a few pics from her opening reception today.

Karen Matheis: Dr. Sketchy presents Heidi Delight Sunday, October 2 · 6:00pm - 9:00pm The Loft 1331 Union Ave 4th Floor Kansas City, Missouri Meanwhile, here are some pics from the last Dr. Sketchy with the KC Roller Warriors.

Karen Matheis: More on de Kooning

De Kooning is often called “A painter's painter." Many of my friends love his work. Many find inspiration.  Stephen Johnson owns seven books about his work.  I own three, plus his biography.  


What exactly is de Kooning's relevance to present day painters? His best work was painted in the 1950’s.  Shouldn’t we be looking at contemporary artists? Are we drawn not only to de Kooning's work, but to the myth of the Bohemian artist who rejects popular tastes?

The east coast reviews of the new MOMA show about deKooning’s work do not bring any new insight into the artist.  In fact, many writers use the familiar quotes of de Kooning:

 "I don't paint to live, I live to paint"

"I'd like to get all the colors in the world into one painting".

"I don't paint with ideas of art in mind. I see something that excites me. It becomes my content." (1959)

"Even abstract shapes must have a likeness"

"Flesh was the reason why oil painting was invented"

To help answer my question of relevance,  I booked a flight to New York to see the de Kooning exhibit for myself, in person.   My hotel is one block away from the MOMA.  I will be there in November. 

Karen Matheis: Willem De Kooning: Retrospective

Willem de Kooning. Pink Angels. c. 1945. Oil and charcoal on canvas, 52 x 40" 

When I go the Nelson, I always say "hello" to my friend Bill, (Bill de Kooning).  I see his painting "Woman IV" that he created around 1953, and feel his presence right in front of me.

There is currently a retrospective of Bill de Kooning's work at New York's MOMA.  According to MOMA's website, "This is the first major museum exhibition devoted to the full scope of the career of Willem de Kooning, widely considered to be among the important and prolific artists of the 20th century."