Go Ahead You Gothic Swines...Cut The Heads Off...

Go Ahead You Gothic Swine’s… Cut the Heads Off for our amusement.
We don’t care anymore. Your black magic trick has lost it appeal. Too much exposure you stupid Neanderthals. The Big Black Poodle is coming after you… going to put you in the loony pen, where you will eaten by your own Whangdoodle




　Big Black Poodle

  
The Big Black Poodle
 
Blasphemy blasphemy lunatic prophecies

The lies and laws of savage men and theocratic thugs

pigeons, sheep and snakes

I cannot stop you but, be warned I will fight you

With my words and my tools of liberation

You are the killers of the creators of life

You will be devoured by your own whangdoodle

Stuck to the ass wall like a slimy wet noodle

In a place for the piss of the big black poodle

You hooligans know your apocalypse in now

Your women are casting their veils

With a brand new vow

Back into your belching bloody faces

Blasphemy blasphemy lunatic prophecies

The lies and laws of savage men and theocratic thugs

pigeons, sheep and the snakes

I cannot stop you but, be warned I will fight you

With my words and my tools of liberation

You are the killers of the creators of life

You will be devoured by your own whangdoodle

Stuck to the ass wall like a slimy wet noodle

In a place for the piss of the big black poodle

You are the killers of the creators of life

You will be devoured by your own whangdoodle

And stuck to the ass wall like a slimy wet noodle

In a place for the piss of the big black poodle

So go find yourselves a deep deep hole

with a concrete slab

We are all fed up and bored with your jibbery jab

You will be devoured by your own whangdoodle

And stuck to the ass wall like a slimy wet noodle

In a place for the piss of the big black poodle

And this big black poodle has great big balls

And he gonna fill up that hole to yo eye balls

And he is gonna sleep on yo concrete slab

Until he wakes with the urge to piss again

Until you are eaten by your own whangdoodle

Then the world will celebrate your demise

At the burning of your cleric’s cancerous devise

And the women of life will walk free again

And will proudly show the grace in their grin

Blasphemy blasphemy lunatic prophecies

The lies and laws of savage men and theocratic thugs

pigeons, sheep and the snakes

I cannot stop you but, be warned I will fight you

With my words and my tools of liberation

You are the killers of the creators of life

You will be devoured by your own whangdoodle

Stuck to the ass wall like a slimy wet noodle

In a place for the piss of the big black poodle

You will be devoured by your own whangdoodle

And stuck to the ass wall like a slimy wet noodle

In a place for the piss of the big black poodle

You will be devoured by your own whangdoodle

And stuck to the ass wall like a slimy wet noodle

In a place for the piss of the big black poodle

You will be devoured by your own whangdoodle

And stuck to the ass wall like a slimy wet noodle

In a place for the piss of the big black poodle

In a place for the piss of the big black poodle

In a place for the piss of the big black poodle
 XROD28042011PD
  
Ya Gotta have fun, which I lost over the years. Cartooning seems to be bringing it back. Public figures, where there is loads of hypocrisy, are great, unassailable fodder in my attempts at this new art form, which I had fundamentally rejected. Well, I had always been intrigued with the word satire… never actually understood its profound meaning until now, with Charlie Hebdo.

I apologise to all serious, talented and creative cartoonist for my crude graphic execution. Hopefully I will get better with time. There certainly is an art to this poignant but serious discipline.

I wrote the Big Black Poodle song, which I sing in a rap style with an African drum and a loop pedal as my musical instruments, which seems to enhance the primal meaning in the song. It was a joy to employ the cartoon as the visual image because, the song always gives me a great chuckle in my mental images. The cartoon is the perfect art form for me in this example.

I say “unassailable” because there are very few legal recourses against the cartoonist in Western democracies save, of course, such atrocities as were exacted upon Charlie Hebdo. There needs to be no justification for those savages to slaughter anyone, except living in the Western world and not being a Muslim. So, I will take my chances and stand up, rather than “living on my knees”. And that is not al1.

I do not know if my cartooning career will go anywhere. Sticking with one art form normally looses its magic spell on me after a bit. I get bored easily…ADD??? Chronically world events seems a contradiction to my true passion for art, although I keep abreast of what is reported in the media, even though I know there is so much deception embedded in every word.

If you listen/read all, there is a thread of truth that seeps through the cracks in the lies and hyperboles. I find it very difficult to grasp that thread in the fast paced, contradictory, over-volumed, paparazzi media bits and bites. No mystery why ’apathy’ is polling at such high levels these days. It works for the vested interest of the knuckle pounding, hand wrenching, power broker designers of social , with laws and mandates to smother the masses of somnambulant humanity shuffling along on the streets of the nations.

Keeping one’s humour in these diametrically opposed apocalyptic scenarios floating around media circles these days is not easy. So, for personal relief, I started this new cartoon career…. Gives me a chuckle and there is lots of material out there to work with, Politicians, Corporate Czars, Autocrats, Popes, Despots and other misguided self-made plutocrats and oligarchs lined up for their chance at power’s helm….

and all pointing missiles at each other at the expense of the toiler and the "chattel", born of the mud and the blood.

The Un-Islamic State is simply the alter-ego of the un-secular cell in the human DNA and those in power have no interest in killing it. It’s their Hollywood movie night… their vicarious ego experience in front of the TV with a bottle beer and a bag of popcorn, watching head getting loped off…. for a game of football.


Selamat tinggal                         Rod                  rod_malay@hotmail.com
   

Fukcing Muhammad

It’s a “MAD, MAD” world. Since Wednesday I have been thinking about how to respond to this Charlie Hebdo violence in Paris, while imagining a cartoon which I would call: Fukcing Muhammad, where Muhammad is fastened, head and hands, into one of those public pillory stocks and then fucked by the Imams, clerics, the hooded Jihadists, etc, lined up waiting for their turn... “Next!”. Because that is really what is happening. Muhammad is getting such a bad rap by those cowardly murdering, greedy, power seeking, women raping, savage barbarians, using the name of Islam to disguise their bloody actions, as if those atrocities would go unnoticed.

I understood that Muhammad was not that brutal, did not teach such in the Koran but... is it there? Those Jihadist, terrorists I believe are convinced that the infidels, the unbelievers and blasphemers must die by the sword. The Islamists around the world must fundamentally think, be convinced, even in their peaceful declarations, that it is there in the Koran, least why is the ISIS, Boko Haram, Taliban, al-Qaeda, etc., etc... and their soldiers metastasizing around the world?

Is Charlie Hebdo‘s antidote effective in killing that cancer? I am on their side but have decided Fukcing Muhammad would be counter productive, at least to my own mission, where I am looking at cause and effect in the human theatre. What are the forces that maintain this inverted/backward action for this bloody phenomena when humanity is supposedly advancing toward civilization.?

“Je suis Charlie” is an inspiring collective action but, is it missing a sword? Is the pen “mightier than the sword? The pen/pencil certainly can inflame raging, passions in the hearts and minds of the believers. The ideal of democracy must prevail but, it relies on that foggy ideology called, “civility“. Maybe that illusion is still before it’s time. Maybe more blood has yet to be spilled, more pain, more suffering, more heads loped, more bullets fired.

The pendulum swings.

The wheel turns...

In it’s yoke

“Around and around we go

In the not so merry go round”

Is Fukcing Muhammad not simply a metaphor for the hypocrisy of all the world nations

Who deserves to die... ?

Who deserves to pull the trigger… ?

Are Charlie Hebdo cartoon’s offensive jokes, inflammatory reactions, hate speech, gratuitous violence?

No! The cartoons are satirical social commentary… not gratuitous blasphemy nor mindless illustrations and as such are valid weapon perhaps on many levels in this modern theatre of war.

A quote by Stephane Charbonnier, editor/founder of Charlie Hebdo, "I'd rather die standing than live on my knees," is hitting the digital air waves and is likely to be a world rallying call for freedom of speech. One of Stephane’s hero was Voltaire.

So I did a little research and discovered this man’s provocative creative lifestyle back in the 1700’s and the many times he was arrested and exiled for his blasphemous writings, poetry, theatrical plays against church/state laws and dogmatic ideologies.

Fascinating! How many times has the circle looped and the pendulum swung in the last 300 years to spawns Charlie after Charlie and the like. .. Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Noam Chomsky, Rosa Luxemburg, Aung San Suu Kyi, Ayaan Hirsi Ali and many more intelligent brave soldier philosophers who have chosen the mantra, “… rather die standing…” and have done or do while facing the barrel of the gun.

I am searching for a proactive position on this issue, which is basically the bully in the school yard but, this bully has guns and is killing people. I do not want to sit back simply and passively intellectualizing and milling about in the safe street of “those crazy artists!”

Je suis Rod!

I read an article* today that reinforced the public opinion that Islam is fundamentally fundamental… warfare is it’s history and is documented in the Koran (Quran) but, declared by the clerics and followers as a “religion of peace”, which I do not believe. I now believe that “peace” is simply a smokescreen.

It was a joy though and an enlightenment to read the story of Voltaire and the time in which he lived where there was so much censorship and wars and civil wars and state religions. The world survived it then. And, as I understand it, Voltaire proposed the idea of separating state and religion in France (and idea probably picked up from John Locke, who philosophised masterly on the concept). And so we now have achieved that ideal. Yet Islam wants to go back to Theocracies and that is plain stupidity. Things might get a bit rough for a while. And it is unfortunate that at this same time, there are so many political dictatorial despots, with their own different selfish agendas, fighting both the Islamists and the democratics (forces of freedom) and the Islamists fighting the materialism of democracy … so, the unholy trinity!  Voltaire said he actually “distrusted democracy…as propagating the idiocy of the masses” There is still some truth in that, even as we have made many technological and intellectual advances over the past 300 years or so.

The media can trigger instant, mass protest with a word or phrase where the process of intellectual meditation is simply by-passed with idiotic, mindless reactionary passions and we follow like lemmings over the precipice. And, the media is an instrument, as we know, of the forces invested in digressive social constructs…governments, state and church dogma, corporations and corrupted DNA, which offer little hope for the survival of humanity.

Islam is a corrupted religious institution but, not unlike the hypocrisy of others, which I have addressed in previous blogs though, in their case, the sword is the instrument of change and dominance. And the centuries of that divisive, oppressive teaching is deeply embedded into the psyche of their submissive followers, which renders them helpless, perhaps, through the possibility of real DNA corruption.

I know this personally from my struggle over the last five or six decades to exorcise oppressive church and social indoctrination which was down deep in my genetic library.

I am convinced there are thousands and thousands of very decent, compassionate, embraceable and non-violent Muslims under the umbrella of Islam but, they are bare handed and helpless against the fanatical, godless threat of the hypocritical Jihadist’s sword.

　
This illustration I open to any who care to use it, publish it... my contribution to freedom of speech.
 *Is holy war against Christians and Jews—“infidels”—a perversion of Islam? Here’s the evidence, from Islamic texts and history. by Mark Hartwig, Ph.D.
You can Google this paper… it is convincing.


Selamat Tinggal                                Rod                           rod_malay@hotmail.com

　

　

More Civilized

　

　

　

Xrod

I was in the middle of putting a blog together on A SAD Man and replied to your email there in that “context”. I titled it: A SAD MAN has arrived. Thanks for your great questions... I do expect you to be in my Toronto Audience when I get to Toronto. I will need you to inspire people to ask questions. Plus, I will have a lovely surprise for you!!!

　


MacD

　

Well that was fascinating! (I just read your latest blog)

I LOVE ANA!!! and I could spend a good deal of time chatting with Dawson about his perceptions. His Jungian references intrigue. I'm taken with her sheer size and strength (steel), fluid lines, firmly planted, and her abundantly reproductive womb-belly, spilling forth the building blocks of society by generation. I love her

　

Jesus is not a fantasy. His actual existence is proven, much in the way we know Julius Caesar existed. Jews accept that Jesus did exist, but they do not believe him to be the Messiah promised by God.

The 'fantasy' is the story men have given to his existence.

　


MacD

oops. Was I sounding authoritative again?


　

Xrod

Yes but, no problem... did not intimidate. I am growing stronger.

There is probably a difference in the “facts “ of Jesus and those of Caesar. As I understand it... the “facts” around Jesus are verbal and those around Caesar are recorded ledgers. Can you point out to me where there are “facts” regarding the existence of Jesus. I would like to read them.


MacD
I am trying to figure out why my writing reads as authoritative….I presume that it does, and it suddenly occurred to me.

For many years I wrote marketing and business plans for a living. One of my early lessons was to remove passive verbs and use action verbs instead. Other lessons were: remove 'I think it is' or 'I believe it is' with simply 'it is'. In later years I would edit the marketing plans of others. At one point Vickers & Benson would send me the draft marketing plans of most of their senior client directors (what???) to be edited. I worked from home here in Niagara doing that for quite a while. It is useful in business to present with confidence, strength and action, as opposed to softness and passivity.

It has remained with me, and now instead of editing out the passive words, I edit them in.

A final thought: can you think of a more useless business than advertising? I am saddened that is where I spent so much time.

　


Xrod
　

Like assumptions... “authoritative” is a dangerous road to travel.

On advertising.. it got Jesus to where he is today. Ya gotta agree... it has been perhaps the most successful advertising (propaganda) campaign in Western history.

I try not to regret where I have been. There is always something positive in it.

　


MacD

Just quickly googled 'evidence that Jesus existed' and was offered a number of sources to explore. It would seem the non-Christian historians of the time recorded a lot of information about him, his following, and his execution. Easy to get to if you are interested.


Xrod
　

Thanks... I know. I do that but, I was more interested in where you got the “Facts” that have so convicted you to believe. With what I have found, I do not believe there are “Facts”.

　

　


MacD

　

I recall a conversation about God and Jesus I had many years ago in a bar. I was disputing various 'facts' offered by this person, and at last, the person asked me when and if I had ever read the Bible.

Good question. I had never really read it. Only knew the stories from Sunday School and church. So I spent a year in the early 70s reading it, and many books for and against Christianity. It was an eye opener.

　


Xrod

Aha...

　


MacD

You are asking me for a specific source? I will offer you several, but I ask you what is the difference between non-Christian historian documentation, and a ledger kept by Romans?

　

PS I am unable to attach files using my new email address, and I'm waiting for the guy to try to fix that. I will write out the web addresses and type them out in an email.

　

　


MacD

google 'Flavius Josephus", a Jewish/Roman historian of the 1st century. I could spend a lot of time doing this my friend!

　


Xrod

My dear friend, please do not let me torture you for my benefit. Cease and desist now. I believe as I believe as I have done some lengthy research on this subject when I was more innocent and stupid and perhaps not always correctly interpreting the words I read, from the lost and found “Gnostic Gospels” and to the many YouTube debates I watched between Anti theists and Christians over the last year and so. “Jesus” may have been picked out of a crowd of wandering medicine men of the day. But all information I came across is so contradictory that it is fallible... highly interpretative and cannot be proven as “fact”. And upon that is based the fable of the Christ Jesus.

　


MacD

In my readings long ago, and other readings since, I am content that modern scholars have generally accepted Jesus as an historical figure who existed. The real argument is not if he existed, but if he is the religious figure claimed by Christians and then the church. As soon as the church enters the picture, I bow out. I am sure one could argue and debate ad nauseum.

In my personal and private thoughts, I believe he did exist. I also believe Buddha and Krishna and others existed. They were no different than you or me. I believe in individual and collective consciousness. It may have been that these historical figures were highly 'conscious' people, more aware of other dimensions of life. I don't know. But I believe strongly that there is more, I know there is more, but for this there is no proof. And I will never push my belief on anyone.

I will admit that I am somewhat offended when people state the unknown as fact (as in fantasy Jesus) because what do any of us really k-n-o-w? I try not to be judgemental of religious, church going individuals, or outright atheists. To each his own, and I can only follow my own head and heart.

To be honest, your 'voice' is very authoritative and damning when you get onto religion. But mine is as well when I get going on my thoughts about the Catholic church, what I was raised with.

　


Xrod

GREAT!!! Thanks... I will try to not stand on a podium. I do try to speak from my conviction and not authority. I try not to lay my beliefs unto other people but, do not hesitate to say what I feel. I also grew up in the “Christian” church and have been fighting that indoctrination in my psyche for more than fifty years and doing so passionately through my art. I attack myself through aggressive analysis and I put it out on my blog for anyone who chooses to see or follow... about 16,000 to date. I take my cues from modern evidence in human behaviour and transfer it to the past... greed, wars, cheating, fabrications, killing, poverty, hunger... love, generosity, compassion, hope, benevolence, humanitarianism ... it is all there, as it seems has always been... the pattern in a constant circle of repetition. If I lie today, I lied yesterday. What is that expression... “If one does the same thing over and over and expects different results then that is a sign of insanity”.

So, with that premise we are a MAD, MAD world. The evidence is clear. And I am pissed off at it because, I see no way out of this mess, except to walk away from it and return to the forest. But, I cannot leave the mess, so I am damned to be a contrarian... right or wrong... to intellectually fumble my way along with the hope that I will at least become a little wise and leave some progressive fragments in the genetic bank of humanity.

　

　

The conversation between Xrod and MacD has ended.

Along the road somewhere a time ago I sketched some little scenes with oil sticks. It seems appropriate at this juncture to send some along to you, with a few relevant insightful quotes from a Canadian journalist on a prominent celebrity, accused of sexual abuse and the inspiration for A SAD MAN sculpture.

 

　

I had a bit of an identity crises throughout the night following my email debates with MacD.

What is it that I am troubled with and “damning” of now that I have my new found conviction on the evolution of life and social structures. I have come a long way. Now that I ‘know’, I cannot keep whining about these things. And beside, I am running out of original images … ha! More precisely, they are all my past images… before I was ‘enlightened‘. A paradigm shift is now necessary. A SAD MAN, coincidently might be the dividing line. But, some old fears hang around. I fear showing him, afraid of social condemnation. And I believe galleries will not want to show it. Whatever, I will pursue it and will at least present him here in my blog, where I can hide away, so to speak. But, always open to invitations.

The first quote, which I have repeated before, from Thomas Jefferson to John Adams: “We ought not die before we have explained ourselves to everyone”

The second quote is from Rick Salutin…in Toronto, is a Canadian novelist, playwright, journalist, and critic


“It’s a question of how much of the mix is unsavoury and how unsavoury it is. It can help to acknowledge the rancid parts, to “own” them, as shrinks say, so you can see they’re a part of you, but not all — there’s admirable stuff too: conscience, empathy, etc. But if those ugly elements stay hidden, sometimes even to yourself, they may grow in the dark like mushrooms. Then if they gradually emerge into the light, it can devastate everyone.

It helps if you have friends to reveal yourself to… And the more you conceal, the less you trust anyone professing friendship because they bought into your imposture. Once the hidden comes to light, everything that came before can get reconfigured”.
I love that simple, universal truth, which humanity has a difficult time accepting. But, there are big big deceptions in the world of politics and their incumbent social structures, which are not so simple or painless to unravel or confess . For me however, it had been a simple confession with little risk, so far.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Selamat tinggal                              Rod                      rod_malay@hotmail.com

A SAD MAN has arrived

Xrod
Well, A SAD MAN is complete and it is frightening... graphically speaking... was not trying for shock value but, that may be there (will have to wait on this aspect when it gets to the street of the world). I tried to stick closely to that original first impression that emerged in my mind. Shock value was not a conscious intention. What is surprising to me is that there are elements I was not expecting that carry the nuances on many levels. It is more than a man being castrated. Transexualism, FGC and I feel more subtle nuances are waiting to be discovered. The technique of applying Plaster of Paris soaked burlap on in a fashion of a medical cast but, with a rough unfinished surface, seemly suggesting other forces at play... the “unfinished” man, perhaps or who cares about this “predator” bastard. I really do not go into such analysis normally... these things are just popping into my head. In any case, A SAD MAN is not a Michael Angelo's “DAVID”.




MacD
In my mind, I see the Sad Man, but what is the context? I'd need to see a woman, facing away perhaps at a distance, so I could understand his castration. Otherwise I'm not sure I would get it, if I do get it at all.


Xrod
He is the commentator, the messenger.


　

Xrod
Does that make any sense to you? The old question...” what is art”? A picture on a wall that photographic-like imitates nature or people or animals is not art to me although, it might be fine craftsmanship. But, it is nothing except wall decoration, which the viewer apathetically notices in passing, from the corner of the eye. Art should say nothing about the skill or creativity of the maker, who needs not necessarily be a craftsman.

 A SAD MAN should be commentary and arrived at from, out of the social forces around it. That justifies it’s existence and that is it’s context. And as the social forces around it are ambiguous and complex it by nature reflects that on certain levels but focuses the viewer on the social issues of humanity. Art is about the human journey, lest it be simply rhetorical, mundane narcissistic carnal gratification.

For me, if it can be called “art”, it is constructed from mysterious forces within my mind, yet mindless, not arrived at by intellectual manipulation, which leads to propaganda (most likely). Those “mysterious forces” may not be linked to that genetic library of the human journey, which, as you know, I believe answers a vast number of questions about traditional and modern social constructs.

So the artist, ideally, is simply an anonymous conduit.


MacD
Yes, it does make sense to me as you have explained it. And your process of having a flash of the finished image/thought, and your attempt to keep that vision pure is quite beautiful in itself. Where I have difficulty is in understanding how the viewer can enter into that process. You had a 'flash' which was the result of following a series of conflicting information/thoughts on a subject to a conclusion. A very interesting conclusion I think. But I'm not sure the viewer can go on any journey without context. And what if the general public's feelings about The Sad Man are way off base? Does The Sad Man still have validity as your pure statement? Yes it does, but to you. I know that art evokes a personal interpretation…I get that, and everyone will view it differently. But a degree of visual context is necessary. Obscuring clarity is not the point, I'm sure.


XroD

The physical art is the visual and it is placed in the public setting, to be seen, touched, assessed. That is it physical context. From there it becomes and intellectual context with the sculpture/commentator, speaking to the observer. And there are visual clues, even in the SAD MAN’S ambiguity. It is somewhat like a puzzle with many pieces… that connect. Except in this case, when all the pieces are layout out, the finished picture may be filled with many messages and that is okay because, that is what society is about. It is like my art school lesson of taking a quick look at the subject then looking away and drawing what you remember. Each student comes up with a different image. But, the subject is only one.

It is my wish that people will come away with a different conclusion after seeing … A SAD MAN.

You are very brave to make commentary from only my verbal description, while in development. I appreciate that. I am now looking for a venue to present A SAD MAN in the Miami Design District and will send you photos. In the meantime, let me show you ANA, a life-size metal sculpture I made waking from a dream-like state. I started working on her immediately upon standing up out of bed with construction materials at hand… rebar wire and re-enforcing steel rods.

ANA (pronounced: AH NA) was constructed in the midst of my art show in Halifax in September 2012.

　

 


　

Photos

　

　

There were some interesting comments from the viewing public. The following was made by Dawson Wambolt (MA, Psychology)

　


Rod,

After I saw your sculpture 'ANA' last night it had been burning in my mind. I was talking to you still trying to unpack the thoughts and feelings that your piece elicited, and they were related to concepts such as 'femininity' and 'primal'. You had mentioned also during the course of our conversation about determinism and that ANA came from memory, but you were uncertain to what exactly the memory was related to. As I left your studio space with a pamphlet in hand about ANA, something began to dawn on me, and I thought to share it with you in this email.

I believe I had encountered an experience last night of what Jung would term as synchronicity. As I was leaving I began to think about the name you had given ANA, and my thoughts wandered to a former instructor of mine, Dr. Ana Mozol, who is a Jungian analyst. Her work focused on womens' depth psychology, particularly the concept of the demonic lover and the archetype of womanhood, which is a concept that has been lost and eroded away by culture. This archetype is something that is primal and unrecognizable, let alone comparable to any point of reference available today about femininity. I feel as though your work ANA embodies much of this hazy archetype, typified by an unmistakeable female form that is decidedly fertile and birthing, yet is lacking in facial features. or even a head for that matter. The lines that hold the form where a head may be seem to simultaneously convey a loss of identity, and that ANA embodies the everywoman.

In my less finished thoughts about your piece I also get the sense that ANA personifies the Shadow as well as ego, based on both her colouration and materials used to construct her that is juxtaposed with her clearly displayed femininity. The concept of the Shadow represents an opposite of the ego image, which typically contains qualities that the ego does not identify with, yet still possesses. I feel as though the woman you were talking to before me who found ANA to be

cold, and something she could not resonate with, was reacting to this representation of Shadow. Separate all you may, the Shadow is still a part of self, whether it makes a person uncomfortable or not (as you may figure, the Shadow is typically something that makes those who refuse to embrace it extremely uneasy).

Had you not named this piece ANA, I would have never probably drawn the connection to all of these concepts introduced to me by Dr. Ana Mozol. It would seem the memory that you drew ANA from was perhaps something more collectively unconscious than previously thought. None the less, this is what was brought up for me when I was viewing the piece.

I can't wait for Thursday's event at noon. I think it will be quite the time. (Dawson Wambolt, MA in Psychology)
I will send Dawson a picture of A SAD MAN… “coming soon to a venue near you”

　

    Salamat tinggal                     Rod                              rod_malay@hotmail.com

U.S. Intelligence... shortly before 9/11

U.S. Intelligence... shortly before 9/11

It is 2000... “National Intelligence Council predicted 2015.…a world in which power is diffusing and decaying—

“There's financial volatility; anonymous cyberattacks; widening economic divisions; an increasingly assertive China; a WMD (weapons of mass destruction); growing illegal migration; a mercurial, authoritarian Russia; social unrest, religious and ideological extremism, and terrorism, and shaped by the destabilizing impact of new technology and the allure of political Islam; Iraq acquiring nuclear weapons; Japan losing its position as the world's third-largest economy; the emergence of an "international terrorist coalition with diverse anti-Western objectives and access to WMD; globalization, and attendant technological advances, would also shatter the very nature of power. The world is on the brink of a new era that may resemble the script of a James Bond film, in which international affairs are increasingly determined by large and powerful organisations rather than governments.

" The Cold War, artificially, managed to organize almost every regional conflict in the world into a global system of conflict, which was managed at the top by two states that had an overarching interest in avoiding instability that could drag them into a very dangerous confrontation. After it ended, many of the states of the old Soviet empire began to collapse, accelerating crime, lawlessness, tribal violence and terrorism.

“Moisés Naím wrote in The Atlantic this summer, {disguising soldiers as civilians and recruiting civilian insurgents are old practices. But in the twenty-first century, they've acquired unprecedented potential as tools of war}. Back in 2000, U.S. intelligence officials glimpsed this phenomenon. Heading into 2015, it's right before our eyes….”



I created a painting on this theme. But that was in 1984 and I was feeling the pressures of this future global reality. I called it “STREETS”, as that would be where the war would happen. Yet, while we tramp into time, our ignorance and apathy continues, as depicted in the scenarios within the painting.

The painting was what I might call my Guernica, using a few Picasso graphic techniques, as I searched for my own brand as an artist.

                                          
                                         Streets



             Selamat Tinggal                           Rod                             rod_malay@hotmail.com