During the last few months in New York City, someone has taken to destroying the illicit stencil graffiti art and wheat-pasted posters of that city by splashing them with brightly colored daubs of paint. Nicknamed “the Splasher” by the media, the perpetrator has for the most part ignored the majority of street art, preferring instead to purposefully target and deface…
I recently came across an illustration of Elon Musk published on a popular news and commentary website. The credit for the likeness read “Image generated by ChatGPT.” A living artist was not employed to create the art. Instead, OpenAI’s generative artificial intelligence chatbot was the creator, and it’s not necessary to pay a machine to work. Today all publications, left,…
Imagine my shock and disappointment at not being placed on the list of artists to receive the National Medal of Arts from President Bush. I was also excluded from the list of those to receive the National Humanities Medal. I open my heart to the readership of this web log and confess that I’m crushed. Please believe me when I…
Some years ago I took this photograph at a place of honor and history, Copp’s Hill Burying Ground in North Boston, Massachusetts… established in 1659. To the kids, moms, and dads of Melrose, Massachusetts, where Halloween has been canceled in public schools in order to promote “inclusivity.” Do not be afraid of those goblins and ghosts, just look ‘em in…
During the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, the Pentagon released to American troops a wanted list of Iraqi leaders that came in the form of a deck of cards. The playing cards featured photos and information about various government henchmen, and were designed to help U.S. troops identify and capture members of Saddam Hussein’s regime. Now, four years after the…
A major exhibition of socially engaged artworks is presently on display at Jack Rutberg Fine Arts in Los Angeles. Art of Engagement presents works that address major world conflicts and conflagrations, from the Spanish Civil War, the Holocaust and Hiroshima, to the Vietnam war and the present debacle in Iraq. Some of the artists included in this amazing show include…
