by David A. Powell for The Saker Blog Part 2 of 2 parts The case of Malevich – regardless of how it appears in most official narratives of the present (but especially those found in the Web) – is unique in the entire history of art. For the first time in history, one encounters – as Jean-Claude Marcadé has pointed out – not merely an artist writing about art among
by David A. Powell for The Saker Blog Part 1 of 2 parts This essay attempts to outline why Adolf Hitler remained unsuccessful in his efforts as an old-fashioned (“old-world”) dictator to achieve total control over art. My thesis is that while the Free World had already begun to accomplish the total control of art Hitler sought to achieve, Hitler’s failure lay in not grasping the means employed by the
Freedom and Other Illusions Revisited (or, when Life imitates / copies Art – the “total art work”) With a Postscript: Meditations on Representationalism by David A. Powell for The Saker Blog “In disciplinary and industrial society, system-preserving power was repressive. Factory workers were brutally exploited by factory owners. Such violent exploitation of others’ labor entailed acts of protest and resistance. There, it was possible for a revolution to topple the
Freedom and Other Illusions – Further excursions into what used to be called “high versus low culture” (or, further illusions concerning American art & the Medium / et cetera) With a concluding Postscript by David A. Powell for The Saker Blog Part 3 of 3 parts ” ‘Genius is only seen in those who are successful…’ an anonymous author announced in the [American art publication] Art Amateur (1896). This criterion
Freedom and Other Illusions – Excursions into what used to be called “high versus low culture” (or, illusions concerning American art) With a view of art as revolt / counter-revolt / et cetera by David A. Powell for The Saker Blog Part 2 of 3 parts “The counter concept to popular culture is art. Today artistic products are losing the character of spontaneity more and more and are being replaced
by David A. Powell for The Saker Blog Part 1 of 3 parts As I began writing this essay, my first thoughts went something like this: I could attempt to write something on the illusion of freedom; on the reasons that this illusion is far worse than an actual absence of freedom. But who would understand me? Who knows today the state which is furthest away from an absence of
