Working men’s clubs and pubs
An unusual spot of influence to the visual imagery depicted in the contemporary paintings has come from the post’s eponymous title.
The recent exhibition visit to the UKs capital hubbub for culture and arts has invigorated the desire to paint with purpose and for pleasure. The main seismic force behind this revelation has been to continue the much-loved practice of painting, whilst continuing to search for the answers to questions relating to the medium such as “what is its place in the future?”, “how is it different today from the last decade?” and more. These queries are not necessarily the result of searching for further tutelage in the form of an extensive painting course or Masters further education, but predominantly from the mindset of choosing ones bed and laying in it.
In the eponymous posts venues there can be found multitudes of alcoholic beverage glasses, gambling machines, dart boards and much more down-to-earth working class icons that symbolise nostalgia and reality. In these locations the last remnants of the dinosaurs that once ruled the earth exist as mobile exhibits in museums that testify to their ancestors.
In this respect the paintings’ consistent theme of nationalism is always present and much like society today that has graduated from the Y2K scare, everything is constantly changing, and adapting. One day; and most of us hope it will not come; the dictionary will only be available electronically and several editions of paper publications will become the fabled tablets that have been introduced and slowly imposed upon this hemisphere.
Despite giving a mixed review of last year’s first film in a new teenie franchise THE HUNGER GAMES, directed and co-adapted by Gary Ross (SEABISCUIT, 2003 and PLEASANTVILLE, 1998 fame), the film was perhaps the most realistic portrayal of life in the future-to-be where technology culture and liberal fashions have become standard against morally upright behaviour. Unfortunately the film still missed key moments to contribute provoking thought to social climates and poltical engagements. However this is not a review blog or entry, and the films relation to this conversation’s topic is to present an example of the troubles that should be exhaled from our lungs, replaced by breathable culture and philosophic discussion.
It seems nostalgia is still the petrol which fuels this blogs alienation to the greater society we are living in today, and whether it deserves to be deemed a world fit to raise your children or start a family.
Luckily there are some aspects to culture and the arts that make the world not ending in 2012 sweet and charming such as the long-standing paintings of Old Masters like Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669), Fransisco Goya (1796-1828) and Modern Masters such as Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) and Philip Guston (1913-1980).
Just being surrounded by like-minded people in a friendly yet challenging environment with minimal violence but maximum competance like a pub allows one to appreciate their home-grown roots and current national identity.
These situations seem to produce revolutionary images of objects utilised to everyday means and becoming synonymous with status such as smoking pipes, moustaches, dart boards and more. With the passage of time, some of these idiosyncratic objects have entered the canvases of some of the best contemporary painters working today that serve as influence such as Ryan Mosley (b. 1980).
When it appears as though there are few reasons worth living in a time period where a nine year-old girl gives birth to a child whose father is seventeen years old, contemporary painting revitalises that feeling of imagination and a creative impulse that has beautifully crossed-over from previous centuries to the present day.
Let the arts no longer be liberal but belong to the left or the right, because you do not paint with your torso but your hand.
