My oil painting, Man on Fire, is both a metaphor for our times and an artwork based upon real world events. The blazing man could be said to represent suffering humanity engulfed by war and conflict—alluding to the current catastrophes in the Middle East and beyond.
Today’s chaos in France evokes vivid memories of President Charles de Gaulle repressing the student and worker rebellion of Paris, May 1968. As you may or may not know, French President Emmanuel Macron used Article 49.3 of the French Constitution to ram a bill through the National Assembly without giving the Parliament the right to vote on it. That bill…
China’s most famous portrait of Chairman Mao Zedong is to be auctioned off by the country’s state-controlled auction house in Beijing. Commissioned in 1950 to celebrate the first anniversary of the People’s Republic of China, Zhang Zhenshi’s oil painting of Mao became a world famous image. The portrait of the communist leader was published in poster form, with untold millions…
O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum, How faithfully you blossom! Through summer’s heat and winter’s chill Your leaves are green and blooming still. O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum, How faithfully you blossom! The above lyrics are from an 1824 song written by German composer Ernst Anschütz. Over the years his composition O Tannenbaum (in German ‘Tannenbaum’ means fir tree), became closely associated with…
This blog is dedicated to my views on art and culture, but on this rare occasion I must include the culinary arts. On her June 6, 2021 night flight to Guatemala on Air Force Two, Vice President Kamala Harris wanted to give a sweet treat to members of the truehearted media onboard, you know, for their loyal service to “the…
On November 24, 2008, artist Frank Cieciorka (che-CHOR-ka) died from emphysema at the age of 69. Starting in the 1980s he began to be recognized for his watercolor paintings of northern California landscapes, but it would be one of his early graphic art designs that assured him a place in history. The iconic clenched fist has long been a symbol…
