Posted on 12/26/2017 8:53:32 AM PST by UMCRevMom@aol.com
When I decided to paint this picture, I wondered if this was taking it too far. But, sometimes you have to speak forcefully, like the brushstrokes of my painting. Many Americans have felt forgotten by the establishment in Washington.
I'm talking about the people who are more interested in themselves, and their political careers. How many veterans have been neglected? How many of our police officers have been marginalized? How many families are suffering because of poor healthcare, limited opportunities, and government intrusion?
Last year we elected President Trump. He expressed by his words and demeanor what Americans wanted - a man who was not going to bow down to Washington or other countries. A man that would not forget the "forgotten men and women" of this country who elected him. I want a president that will crush the enemies of liberty, justice, and American prosperity. They may have the power to bruise his heel, but he will have the power to crush their head!
*** If you are wondering about the meaning behind Trump stepping on the snake - for me it represents that he will crush the enemies of liberty, justice, and American prosperity. It is an allusion to Genesis 3:15, where in my opinion, God tells Adam that him and his posterity will suffer under Satan, but have the ability to triumph through Christ.
From August.
I think it was posted on FR back then.
6 months old.
Mr. McNaughton’s ambitions are greater than his abilities. He needs to spend time on scale, proportion, perspective and the human figure. His palette is muddled, too, so color theory is in order.
I f'ing HATE a muddled palette!
Somebody do something.
If you like murky, muddy dark green and dark brown, have at it but most find it unappealing, even those who have no idea why they dislike it. Every field of endeavor requires skill on some level, painting a picture is not all subjective. If you “like” the subject matter, that’s fine. You might even consider it “art” and that distinction is yours to make. But, Mr. McNaughton is not very good at execution and that’s really inexcusable because technical proficiency is learned, not innate. I’d say he’s lazy.
Okay, to be serious for a moment.
I'd say that less technical learning is necessary the more innate ability an artist has.
Said another way, I believe artists are born, not made. Tons of people do "art" only because they want to be artists. Only those born with true artistic ability can be true artists. I've seen enough crap art to realize this fact.
There are very few Michelangelo's but many Andy Warhols.
Editor's note: Of course even Michelangelo had to learn to use his tools.
For contrast, the work below has a bright palette and I especially appreciate the allegory about President Trump throwing the jackboot of oppression and tyranny off the throat of mankind. The artist has a strong command of scale and proportion and the human figure is exquisitely executed.
Unpolished raw talent rarely succeeds on it’s own, it requires effort and development, and I see very little indication of that here.
Warhol was a massive LARP that took on a life of it’s own. He did have a certain vision and skill. His knowledge of and use of color was startling for the time but on solid ground. He defined an era with his imagery, plastic and throwaway though it may well have been, or was intended to be at the time.
He was an artist and what he produced was art, despite the fact that it was all artifice. It was street theatre.
Mr. McNaughton exhibits no such ability, his work is murky, his efforts with the human figure are juvenile, his understanding of perspective is one step above Egyptian.
Many here respond to the political message contained in his efforts, I do understand that. And, it’s a good message. Pity it’s overshadowed by crap execution, though. He can do better than this.
Maybe Mr. McNaughton would like to try his hand at Trump crossing the Delaware, I’m sure that would be a winner no matter how poorly he executed it. The left does trash art so we can, too. It’s art because we like what it says, not because it’s otherwise appealing in any way. Right?
No. "Defining an era" does not make one an artist. If someone can produce something that anybody, with effort, can produce. then that is not art.
A true artist produces something that is rare and not commonly arrived at.
You or I could do what Warhol did, if we cared to put in the effort and got enough people to call it art. We could not do what Monet did, or to overuse an example, Michelangelo.
That is my definition of art.
Fantastic example!
The small yellow square at lower right really ties it all together.
This picture dramatically portrays the triumph of Berean truth over the deconstructive ennui of postmodernist anomie.
Plus, the white rectangles, taken together, are a clever depiction of Pres. Trump’s hair.
Now, where did I put my drink?
Warhol remains controversial but there are far more who disagree than agree with you, as far as whether his efforts constitute art or not.
Monet was derided in his time for rejecting the old masters, Impressionism was once controversial.
Mr. McNaughton belongs in the company of neither of these two and certainly not Michaelangelo.
If he wants to support our President and the movement that propelled him to office he needs to understand that the quality of his work is important as far as persuasion. As it stands, strip away the message that has so many FReepers enthralled and what do you have? A murky, muddy painting with bad proportion and comical perspective of rather childishly rendered human figures. It wouldn’t place at a county fair competition among junior high art students.
I did This Mondrian in needlepoint———40 years ago.
.
Hey, it worked for The Partridge Family.
My beef is with art in general and what constitutes it.
To me, art is something that not everybody can do. Anybody can do what Warhol, or any of these so called "modern artists can do."
And art isn't defined by how many people agree to call it art. Art is it's own truth and not subject to opinion polls.
There are many people who sing, but they are not do not sing well. Yet many people will buy their records and call them artists. Rappers come to mind. Movies, same.
Many people choose to write yet show no special skill, yet are called writers and artists. Poetry, same.
Art appreciation according to Bagster.
Then, there is the matter of technical proficiency. The craftsmanship, is it compelling? Is there beauty in the execution, regardless of subject matter? Even with an idiot savant such as Jackson Pollock I'd have to agree, there's another one who may have thought he was pulling one over on the bourgeoisie but actually did have talent despite himself. Those paint splatters display some very sophisticated compositional elements, fractals, even abstract visual representations of Fibonacci numbers.
I don't believe anyone could say that about the painting in question, not now and not in the future.
Show us an example of your work that incorporates your observations.
Ever been to artrenewal.org?
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