KRONOS Propaganda

DUCT TAPE SHORTS!

2010-12-08T11:18:00.000-08:00

Inspired by an early Soundgarden video, custom made and modeled by the artist.

CLUB HELL

2010-10-08T12:48:00.000-07:00

The whole idea of Hell being the center of EVIL is all wrong. Okay, let’s go back to Heaven before the Fall. There’s Lucifer the brightest of all God’s angels, and one day he just gets fed up with sitting around all day worshipping God. He says FUCK THAT! This is BORRRRING! And he decides to split the scene and start his own Heaven. But God owns all the good property and Lucifer has to go way down south before he can find something that he can afford. And he finds the perfect place, except that being in the deep south it’s REALLY FUCKIN’ HOT! But what the hell, he says, at least the rent’s cheap. And he puts up a sign that says HEAVEN SOUTH but then all these high-powered lawyers for God show up and tell him that the name “Heaven^®” is copyrighted and they threaten a whopper of a lawsuit so he says fuck you and he puts up a new sign that says HELL. But then he looks around and he notices that he’s the only one there and that it’s kinda lonely, and he thinks about all those suck-ups in Heaven all kissing God’s almighty ass. Good riddance, he says! He doesn’t want any of those losers in Hell, and then he remembers one of God’s side projects, that place called Earth at the far end of some galaxy with all these HUMANS on it. Maybe when they die he can get them to come to Hell instead of Heaven. After all, they don’t know what Heaven’s really like… walkin’ on eggshells all the time so you don’t piss off God. And God is old and he goes to bed real early, like by 9 pm even on weekends right after Lawrence Welk so there’s NO NIGHTLIFE AT ALL and the TV sucks with just three shows—Lawrence Welk, Little House on the Prairie, and Hee-Haw. And as for music… GIVE ME A BREAK! MUZAK and elevator music. Heaven’s like this great big dentist office without the Novocaine! And there’s nothing to do except worship the old man. Day after day year after year millennium after millennium… I mean, the place is a PIT! Yet EVERYBODY wants to go to Heaven because they have this awesome PR firm and everywhere you look there’re these ads for how great Heaven is, blah blah blah! So Lucifer takes a business trip to Earth and he meets with Andy Warhol in New York City and he says:

“Andy, I really love those soup cans!”

“Thanks, Lucifer.”

“Call me Lou…”

“Okay Lou…”

“So Andy, I have this place. It’s like really huge. I mean, enormous! And I need somebody to come in and decorate it. You know, make it the coolest place in the universe, so all the coolest hippest people will want to go there…”

“Sounds good,” says Andy. “When can I start?”

“Well, the only problem is that you have to die first… I mean, you’ve heard of Heaven, right?”

“Um, I think so…”

“Well this will be the anti-Heaven.”

“I see. And what was this part about dying first?”

“Well, it’s just a technicality really. But once you’re there I mean, it’ll be like this non-stop-party-rock-concert-performance-art-love-in… Kinda like Amsterdam on crack!”

“Sounds great. Will you be in my next movie?”

And a few months later Lucifer put up a new sign: CLUB HELL. And with Andy Warhol’s contacts they got the best rock bands like The Doors and Jimi Hendrix and Nirvana and Alice in Chains and all these great industrial-techno and metal bands who weren’t even dead yet but they’d come to play anyway because word soon spread that CLUB HELL was THE place to play! And to make the experience even better Lucifer provided an unlimited supply of free drugs (and he eliminated bad trips and overdoses). And soon all the cool artists on Earth started killing themselves so they could get to CLUB HELL, and then the cool writers, poets, musicians, and filmmakers followed suit and pretty soon Lucifer’s place was the center of all that was happening in culture…

“This place is awesome!” said Kurt Cobain.

“Thanks, man!” said Lucifer. “And if you don’t mind me saying so, I like ‘Bleach’ better than ‘Nevermind’…”

“Me too, man! Hey, can I ask you somethin’?”

“Sure Kurt…”

“Any chance you can, you know, like keep Courtney outta here?”

“Sure thing!” said Lucifer.

“Thanks man! Whew! I was worried there for a second!”

“No problem!”

“Hey Lucifer!” said John Lennon.

“Hey John! Good to see you!”

“Kurt… Hey, you got that doubled vocals thing from me!” John Lennon said to Kurt Cobain.

“Only steal from the best!” said Kurt.

John Lennon smiled. “So Lucifer…”

“Please John, call me Lou! This is Hell! We’re all on a first name basis here!”

“Okay Lou… So I was wondering, like why they all say back on Earth that Hell is such an evil place…”

“It’s God’s PR firm,” said Lucifer. “The old man’s pissed that so many people are coming here, so he’s just spreading his lies. I mean, get real! I split from Heaven for a reason! I wanted to get away from all that oppressive shit, so why the hell would I make this some big ass prison so God wouldn’t have to deal with the consequences of free will? I mean, I didn’t give ‘em free will. He did! And now he expects me to clean up his mess? Fuck that! Besides, why would I wanna surround myself with all that no-good riff-raff for eternity?”

“Makes sense,” said John Lennon, eyeing the tabs of acid on the table. “So they say there aren’t any bad trips here, is that right?”

But after a while, problems arose as more and more people wanted to get into CLUB HELL. And the last straw was when the Olsen Twins made a double suicide pact and appeared at the door and Lucifer had had enough. After that he hired God’s very own PR firm to spread the word even further that Hell was where all the evil bastards ended up after death to suffer eternal flames of woe. And Lucifer even did a few PSA’s himself, dressed in red holding a pitchfork with some fake horns on his head, the green screen behind him showing CGI images of fire and brimstone and the damned all writhing about in eternal agony. And from that point on, CLUB HELL became an invitation only place and Lucifer was the happiest angel who ever lived.

IT'S NOT THE HEAT IT'S THE HUMIDITY

2010-10-04T10:17:00.000-07:00

Hell is only Hell because we know that it’s HELL. So how better to disguise it than by making it look like the EARTH! Let’s say that we die and we end up in the Underworld, and there's this sign at the gate that says "Welcome to Hell" and “Arbeit Macht Frei” and there's Satan with a pitchfork and fire and brimstone and the damned falling in pools of molten lava... Well, you're in Hell, right? So by definition you'd expect things to be pretty awful. But the thing about pain and torment is that you eventually grow inured, so the predictability of hell in the traditional sense would make it less than effective as a form of punishment. I mean, if we’re damned to hell and things are bad... well, whadaya expect? We’re in hell, right? And in hell there's no hope of release, we're damned for eternity. So with nothing to hope for, even hellfire would be something we'd get used to... True torment comes when one still holds on to hope. So with this in mind the Evil Deceiver (or ED as I like to call him) created Hell on Earth. Think of our lives. We have good days, good months, good years even when suddenly out of nowhere shit happens. We get fired, somebody dies, we get cancer and we recall the times that were good and we wonder if we'll ever see them again. And meanwhile we look around and there're all these people who don't have cancer, who are rich with beautiful wives and husbands and good jobs and this and that. The CONTRAST is what makes our OWN suffering acute. WHY ME? WTF?! Whereas, in HELL we're all in it together, misery loves company, so while I'm burning for my sins everybody else is burning for theirs. But here on earth, we're each of us alone. And the suffering, it's all so arbitrary. The innocent are senselessly slaughtered as others go blithely about their lives, and this makes the bad that happens seem so much worse, because it appears at times to be utterly random and undeserved. But that’s exactly the point! We've all died, you see? We lived on earth and did bad things and we were damned to hell and sent here. And that's the genius of it! We’re under the illusion that this is all we’ve ever known. What better way to inflict suffering upon someone than to have them believe that this is THEIR LIFE, that they haven't died at all but on the contrary, that they're very much alive and that this world is the planet earth—a place of hope and possibilities. And this is the crux of it because it’s the spaces between the torments that make them so effective. Take Chinese water torture for example. Between each drip is a space and in each space we hope that THIS time the drip will finally stop, and this hope is what makes it torture. If there were no longer a drip there would be silence. And if the drip were continuous it would be a flow of water and could even be pleasant, like a gently flowing stream. True torture is made up of torment followed by an absence of torment in an endless repetition, juxtaposed against a background where we perceive others to be better off than we are. And this is a microcosm of our lives here on "earth". I mean, if I left my house and got mugged I would think it was terrible. But of course it doesn’t happen every day. It’s the unusualness that makes it seem so bad, especially since nobody else I know got beat up today. Why did the world single me out? But if you knew that this in fact was HELL then you’d say to yourself, “Figures!” The problem is a matter of perspective. Then when that bastard cuts me off and that guy at the copy place is rude and I get fucking Leukemia instead of complaining I’ll say, “Is that the best you can do?” It’s all part of the torment, personalized to make it seem that it’s OUR’S ALONE while everybody else goes around thinking the same goddamn thing! GOD’S A FUCKING GENIUS! I mean, I always thought this fire and brimstone stuff was a bit one-dimensional. But THIS... The world! All of history, the great men and women, their achievements, their triumphs and failures, and each of us with our individual lives, our personal histories. So much intricate detail, but all of it an ILLUSION created by ED (the EVIL DECEIVER) to complete this vast mural of hell. I mean, think of the work that went into creating it! It's incredible! THIS is a God I can respect! A God I can believe in!

And this explains other things as well. Like why are there so many lousy books that become bestsellers and so many lousy movies that get made? ANSWER: To frustrate the starving artists. And why do bad things happen to good people? Well, to FUCK YOU UP! (And besides, you’re not really good after all since you’re in Hell, comprende?) I mean, if you take the earth at face value then there are some things that are downright incomprehensible. But if you reframe your thinking... If you see that this isn't earth at all but HELL then everything makes sense. And instead of being ridiculously absurd it now seems almost comical. Then you're finally let in on God's inside joke. And the illusion is complete by making us believe in a finite world. If we know that we’re immortal souls suffering an eternity of torment then it will lose its potency.

“How was your day?”

“The usual… flames of woe. Eternal damnation.”

“Yeah me too… BORING!”

In Hell, HOPE is what crowns our suffering! So we therefore must believe that we are mortal, that our lives are finite. And if we live to be 80 we’ll want to maximize our pleasure and minimize our pain, and even if our life is full of suffering we have the hope in an afterlife where our pain and suffering will be vindicated. So we "die" here in hell only to come back again as a "new" person, to suffer all over again in a new unique way, which of course is completely unknown to us and all part of our punishment, on to infinity. It’s the MOTHER of all conspiracies! And the first thing to do, as far as I can see, is to get rid of hope.

(But then again, where would we be without it?)

HULA HOOPS

2010-09-13T10:35:00.000-07:00

So WHAT THE FUCK is with this latest appalling literary trend (and I use the term “literary” VERY LOOSELY) of adding vampires or zombies to everything these days including famous works of literature and historical figures? LOL! Didn’t we learn ANYTHING from the HULA HOOP? That fads are… well, FADS! Flashes in the pans! Like those 3-D movie glasses they had in the Fifties. (Oh SHIT! They’ve come back as well!) What’s next? EISENHOWER & ZOMBIES IN 3-D! Why is it soooo fucking difficult, nay, IMPOSSIBLE for those gatekeepers in charge of our words to believe and understand that the public wants something more than the latest HULA HOOP? Are we indeed living in an IDIOCRACY after all? My brief tenure in the belly of the beast (meaning the MFA program in Creative Writing) taught me that if you want to be published today and actually have someone read your book that you have to familiarize yourself with what’s on the bestseller lists, what kinds of books are reviewed in PEOPLE MAGAZINE, what authors are on the important talk shows (and of course the EVEREST of talk shows, as far as writers are concerned, OPRAH!). And it goes without saying that the right agent who has carefully analyzed the marketplace, the current and projected trends, and who has the New York and Hollywood connections is indispensable and in fact a requirement today if the fledgling writer hopes to get ANYWHERE with their writing career outside of some shitty no-advance no-promotion black-hole press. And now as if it wasn’t hard enough for an unknown to get published there’re these latest bestsellers-soon-to-be-major-motion-pictures:

Pride & Prejudice & Zombies and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (!!!)

What’s NEXT? I mean, what are we as serious wri… OH FUCK IT!!!

If ya can’t beat ‘em…

GEORGE WASHINGTON: WOLFMAN

Valley Forge was a dark time for General Washington. Not because it was a harsh frigid winter, nor that it was the lowest point for the rebels in the war against England, but because when the moon was full George Washington roamed the frozen landscape as a werewolf.

ZOMBIE MOBY DICK

“Thar she blows!” cried the deckhand, a man of such insignificance that nobody including Ahab bothered to learn his name.

“The great white whale!” said the yeoman.

“But… somethin’s diff’rent about ‘er. She… She looks…”

“She’s a zombie!” blustered Ahab.

And it was true, the horrible leviathan’s flesh, although white from a distance, became a sickly pale green the closer she swam to the Pequod.

“There’s pieces o’ whaleflesh peelin’ right off ‘er!” said Hucklesworth, an able seaman.

“An’ I ken see me ‘er bloody ribs!” said another.

"An' how come we call 'er Moby Dick if she's a she?"

“Beat ta quarters!” commanded Ahab. And as he stared into the lifeless glazed-over black eyes of the mindless bloodthirsty brain-hungry beast his blood ran cold.

FINNEGANS WAKE & ZOMBIES

Because to explain why the residue is, was, or will not be, according to the eighth axiom, proceeded with, namely, since ever apart that gossan duad, so sure as there’s a patch on a pomelo, this yam ham in never live could, the shifting about of the lassies, the tug of love of their lads ending with a great deal of merriment, hoots, screams, scarf drill, cap fecking, ejaculations of aurinos, reechoable mirthpeals and general thumbtonosery (Myama’s a yaung yaung cauntry), one must reckon with the sudden and gigantesquesque appearance unwithstandable as a general election in Barado’s bearskin amongst the brawlmiddle of this village childergarten of the lovely longsuffering laird of Lucanhof who’s been turned into a zombie.

(this is an excerpt from my new novel: LIVE NUDE GIRLS)

2010-09-11T12:14:00.000-07:00

What kind of world is it where Nicholas Sparks compares himself to Aeschylus and instead of everyone rolling on the floor laughing their fucking heads off he gets bestsellers and movie deals? Instead of being condemned as a shameless pandering hack he becomes a role model for aspiring writers and the cynosure for literary agents and publishers! And am I the only one who can see where this will lead?

See Spot.

See Spot run.
See Spot lift his leg.

See Spot pee on the rug.

OUT damned Spot!

See Jane.

See Jane meet Dick.

See Sally meet Harry.

See Dick and Jane and Harry and Sally have a foursome.

It used to be that the artists (not all of them but a few of them at least) were like bold explorers of new undiscovered worlds. But now the worlds are strip malls and the writers are the next franchise waiting to move in next to Jiffy Lube^®. In theory being a writer is one of the most egalitarian of artistic pursuits. All you need is a pen and some paper (and being literate helps but is not required by today’s publishing industry). So one would think that with all these writers out there writing away we’d see all this amazingly different stuff emanating from all these different creative minds bursting with fresh ideas and new perspectives… NOT! Everyone and their brother are writing like… well, everyone and their brother trying to be the next Nick Sparks or Dan Brown. FML! I want to be surprised! I want to be outraged! I want to fall in love again! And not with the slick-packaged plastic love object designed by the in-house marketing department. I read somewhere that Francis Ford Coppola thought about changing the title of Apocalypse Now because he thought people wouldn’t know what Apocalypse meant! But he was the ARTIST for Christ sake! Call it whatever you want and let the public pick up on it! The job of the artist is to do their thing and NOT worry about the fucking public and the job of the fucking public is to WANT to be inspired by the artists. But now it’s just one big factory that produces sleeping pills in the form of books and movies and paintings so the masses can sleep more soundly and undisturbed! Don’t fret precious I’m here. Step away from the window, go back to sleep…

AN OPEN LETTER TO PUBLISHERS & LITERARY AGENTS...

2010-08-31T15:03:00.001-07:00

Your place in the world is of no consequence. Spending your time and energy waiting to discover the next Dan Brown or Nicholas Sparks you add nothing to the world but distraction. You do not add to its wonder nor do you help us to see its beauty, but rather you put your cynical stamp on everything you do and everything you touch (along with the price tags that you so value). You do not inspire nor do you awaken anyone from their sleep. In fact, the product of your labors only goes to help the masses sleep more soundly. This, I’m afraid, is your legacy, and in the process you may have made a fortune but you also have reduced the world to balance sheets and dollar signs. You have done nothing to show the world that you were here beyond the corporate boardroom, that you were a unique individual, capable of inspiring others and discovering beauty. You are nothing, and the only thing you leave behind is an inheritance, which I’m guessing your children are already anxious to get their hands on.

CHECK OUT MY NEW GROUPS ON FACEBOOK!

2010-08-31T13:14:00.000-07:00

1. PUBLISHING TODAY (GOODBYE FREE SPEECH!)
....(An impassioned rant against the abyss called the publishing industry)

2. THERESA PARK IS THE GREATEST LITERARY AGENT EVER!
....(A Swiftian broadside at my nemesis Nicholas Sparks!)

3. nTELLAkee
....(My alternative writer's group)

4. INCEPTION SUCKS!
....(re: the recent horrible movie)

MANIFUCKINGFESTO

2010-02-11T12:42:00.000-08:00

I’d like to talk about what’s happening to writers, and consequently what we’ve come to view as art. With the multi-national conglomerates taking over the publishing industry their over-riding, one might say all-consuming all-driving all-motivating ethos has become a virus which has infected everyone it touches. That corporations are about making money is nothing new, but now they have restructured art itself until it’s become an objective money-making enterprise intractably governed by the bottom-line; an unchanging, immutable “round hole” into which all the “square pegs” must be reshaped in order to fit. We’ve abandoned the Muse in favor of a kind of Capitalist Socialist Realism where the artists have adopted the role of the state/corporation, measuring their “art” by how it will sell, and adjusting it accordingly to fit the prevailing guidelines of commerce. The best most vital most dangerous most life-affirming life-changing art out there now is that which is being made in spite of this omnipresent mindset, and is consequently ignored to the point of invisibility. We are engendering and supporting a generation of “Capitalist-Socialist-Realist suck-ups to the man” in the name of “art” while simultaneously giving birth to, and ignoring once again, a generation of Van Goghs who labor in obscurity, monetary oppression, and constant rejection because their art is defiantly rejecting the status quo mentality. The struggle of the artist today, specifically the writer, has become especially perilous. The paramount challenge is no longer to be a good writer, nor is it to be published and recognized. Rather, it is to avoid the self-censoring and thought control dictated by the bottom-line driven corporate publishing conglomerates, for the sole purpose of getting published and maintaining a livelihood and a career. “What’s selling?” is the question today’s writer asks himself, and he promptly answers, “So that’s what I’ll write.” And the cost is true creativity, originality, and art itself as it’s redefined; as it becomes nothing more than Socialist Realism as in the old Soviet Union, with the artists and writers censoring themselves. And where is the truth of the artist’s vision, its uniqueness, its voice, if it is merely an echo of the officially-sanctioned and acceptable “truth and vision” allowed by corporate publishing? As T.S. Eliot once said, “The artist is the only genuine and profound revolutionist.” I pray that there are still some of us out there who believe this.
.
.
.

INTERVIEW

2010-02-01T13:25:00.000-08:00

So how would you define this?
This what?
This novel.
Why must it be defined?
You know how people are.
And how’s that?
They like things to be defined, spelled out…
Spoonfed?
Now you’re being…
What, cynical?
Some might say that.
But not you…
I’m a journalist, I…
You’re unbiased.
Well, yes, I… I try to be fair and balanced.
(laughs) So why don’t you define it then?
But isn’t that one of the things you rail against?
What?
People who are unqualified to judge passing judgment?
More like passing gas...
Would you define that as a “cheap shot”?
(laughs) Mea culpa.
So if you had to offer a definition…
I already did.
I didn’t catch it.
See what I mean!
(nonplused)
All right, how ‘bout this… an “involuted-nouveau-roman-postmodern-fabulated-anti-meta-novel”.
Say that three times fast!
But it’s ridiculous, I mean…
What?
It’s like jazz, what jazz is supposed to be. A mode of expression that’s wide-open, unlimited… before Kenny G and a million “Autumn Leaves” copy bands got a hold of it! It’s the same with the novel.
Before Stephen King and the mega-bestseller got a hold of it.
Well, yeah.
So you’ve called it a “manifesto”, a “declaration”…
Do you know Coltrane’s “Meditations”album?
John Coltrane? Um, no, I…
What they tried to do in that… (shakes head) they wanted to take music to a place where music-as-we-know-it didn’t exist. (pauses) But that’s where it exists most fully, do you understand?
I think so. It’s like a Zen thing.
I want to write a novel in which all other novels are possible. Where there’s nothing to limit you.
Except the definitions.
(laughs) Exactly!
Or the marketplace.
Well, yes, there’s always that...
So you want a literary “free-for-all”, is that it?
Freedom with responsibility.
That sounds good, but is it possible?
What do you mean?
I mean, it can so easily become artistic anarchy, like that painting of the crucifix smeared with human feces. Or that artist who put his own shit in a Mason jar and exhibited it as art.
Doo-Doo as opposed to Dada…
(laughs) So this brings us back to how we define art…
More definitions...
Otherwise we’ll have everyone shitting in Mason jars and calling themselves artists!
We already have that! (pauses) It’s a… (pause)
Conundrum?
Yes.
But you discussed this at length in Blood of the Sun, the question of internalized standards and authenticity. And if we no longer have this, then…
What? We need the “art police”?
Well, if there are no more internal standards then they must be external, right? Otherwise…
But there must be something more than just extremes.
Extremes?
Like Finnegans Wake and Doprah’s Book Club…
But wouldn’t you say this book of yours was more on the Finnegans Wake side than that of Doprah’s Book Club?
I’m saying why can’t a single novel contain elements of both? And everything in-between? If a novel is about life then by definition it’s about everything, or it could be. So why do we try to limit it?
Through definitions…
Yes, and money’s another definition.
So we…
Throw away the lights! The definitions!
What’s that?
Wallace Stevens… And say of what you see in the dark that it is this or that it is that, but do not use the rotted names…
That’s nice.
(laughs) Nice, yeah. I mean, it’s not like these ideas are brand new…
Ideas?
About expanding the novel, exploding form and style, abandoning conventions.
Literary conventions…
Yes.
You just don’t like any definitions, do you?
Coltrane didn’t like the word jazz, but that’s the section where you find his albums. I mean, think of Interstellar Space…
Interstellar Space?
It’s a later album of his. It’s just him and this drummer, him improvising to free rhythm. No chords, no keys, no tonal center. It was taking music to that other level, where the definitions no longer apply.
Yeah, but can you dance to it?
(laughs)
So why do we always seem to take the easy way out, I mean...
Ya gotta put food on the table, right? I mean, did you ever apply for a grant? Talk about when paradigms collide!
What do you mean?
The nexus where the artist and the non-artist meet! The impenetrable morass, the swamp, the labyrinth.
So it’s convoluted?
(laughs) The thing is, that the rich for some reason want to align themselves with what they think of as art and artists, to validate their lives or something: to give it meaning beyond money. I don’t know. I mean, who can understand the rich, right? (laughs) Maybe it’s just a tax write-off. (smiles) But the problem is, that instead of them learning the language of the artist they force the artist to speak their language. I mean, here’s an example… If I admire a painting it might inspire me to paint myself, right? To become a painter and see if I had what it took. So I’d go out and buy a set of paints and brushes, canvases, an easel maybe. You know, the works. And then I’d see what I could do, which of course implies a long hard process of honing one's craft until it becomes art, until the art and the craft are linked, until they play off of each other. Not to mention the soul-searching required in order to get to that deep place where art lives. I mean, we’re talking about a life’s work here, being an artist.
Or a writer… or a musician…
I mean, any creative artist. But the rich, what do they do? They like a painting by Van Gogh, right, so do they buy the paint set and learn how to paint themselves, to seek what the artist sought? No, they buy the painting for 50 million and hide it in a safe in their mansion. And meanwhile, the Van Goghs out there can barely make rent, and when they try to apply for a grant they decide that it’s easier to cut off one of their ears!
(smiles) But I notice you have both of your ears.
Latex foam rubber.
So what do you think is the foremost problem that we face today?
Self-deadening our senses.
What do you think of the Internet?
Infinity and Nothingness.
(laughs) So how do you want to be known?
What did they say… Know thyself? That’s how I want to be known.
So how do you want to be remembered?
Do you think Van Gogh gives a shit that his paintings sell for 50 million now? I mean, when you’re dead you’re dead. (laughs) You don’t need to eat anymore. You’re eaten.
So who do you like better, the dead or the living?
I like the reality of the dead.
And the reality of the living?
I’m still trying to figure that out.

--excerpt from the novel "angrynastyhostile", by Kevin Postupack

I HEART DOPRAH!

2010-01-15T10:37:00.001-08:00

He couldn’t help but notice that things started to turn for him as soon as he no longer gave a shit. Writing novels being a solitary venture, it’s not unusual to feel that it’s you against the World. After all, there’re all those literary agencies and publishers and magazines and they’re all run by really smart people who are extremely knowledgeable and well-read and well-educated and very-important-close-personal-friends-of Doprah and Henry Kissinger, and then there’s just you-little-you-little-unpublished-you, but then once you get published it’s even worse because then you’re no longer a potential-hot-commodity-with-unrealized-earning-potential you’re the guy-whose-first-book-sold-how-many-copies? That’s not very many. And that story this past summer in new york mag (what a rag) do all magazines these days aspire to be like PEOPLE™ (it seems so) the world went down hill when US NEWS & WORLD REPORT started accepting ads and what’s next the BULLETIN OF ATOMIC SCIENTISTS? And the conceit of this particular article was that publishing these days is more cutthroat than ever what with the conglomeration of the world into one big corporation reflected of course in publishing my pet peeve where random house-knopf-scribners are all owned by some Japanese conglomerate (and renamed BOTTOM RINE PRESS™) or else by some German consortium of high-powered businessman who’ve abandoned aryan racial purity for lots and lots of moolah but isn’t this taking the aryan ideal to its logical extreme just substitute money for race and why not I mean that’s one god we all worship (at least we damn well better or we’re fucked) and if I say I’m better than you because I’m part of the master race and you’re chaff then that pisses you off and you might eventually get your allies together and D-Day my NAZI ass but if I’m filthy-fuckin-rich then you say WOW! because that’s what we’re here for isn’t it to make money (and lots of it) our objective measure of success its platinum bar so to speak ourbankaccountportfoliohousecarboatplane summerhomewife (in that order) and you gotta give ‘em credit they’ve taken a business that’s subjective by definition (remember art, does that ring a bell?) and made it objective, which means of course that if ya got a Doprah’s Clubhouse bestseller then you’re-the-shit in like flint, and did ya ever watch her Doprah that is when she has yer average-middle-america-housewife on the show with some terrible problems she wants to share with 30 million others and she Doprah will be merciless! Get over yourself, girl, and get on with your life! (APPLAUSE! The “Doprah nod” en masse) and then when she’s through with ‘em she calls in Herman Goerring Dr. Phil to finish ‘em off and he lays into these poor dysfunctional bastards on national tv showing the entire civilized world how fucked up they are You gotta get over yourself, girl, and get on with your life! (tough love my ass, Bully! yet applause Dr. Phil bestseller-huge-advance-whopping-fees-big-bucks-for-lectures-seminars-workshops-consulting and is Dr. Phil a real doctor or does he just play one on tv?) But then when Saint Doprah has her friends on her celebrity buddies watch her genuflect-kiss-ass-suck-up treat ‘em like royalty-and-the-beautiful-people-they-are and it don’t matter if they be dysfunctional as hell, but she’s not really doing this what she’s really doing is shamelessly worshipping the god money on national tv with her rich parishioner pals like that plastic-blonde-Barbie-clone-money-makeover-bitch who shows us why it’s our fault we’re not millionaires like her and Doprah and in a way they’re kinda like the Bodhisattva after he achieved enlightenment he left nirvana right to help the rest of humanity get enlightened too and isn’t that Doprah’s sacred mission as well to help the rest of us poor-middle-america-dysfunctional-codependent-mortgage-paying-motherfuckers to break out of our financial samsara? You be poor it’s ya own damn fault, bitch! I mean, all ya gotta do is buy that blonde white bitch’s book a’ight? And why you wit him when he beat you? You gotta say Get yer ass outta my house, muthafucka, and don’t you come back! (APPLAUSE) Ain’t ya got no self-respect girl? Ya gotta get over yourself, girlfriend, and get on with yer life! (APPLAUSE) And when we return from a commercial break we’ll all remember our spirit! (heartfelt smile filled with warmth for all humanity) And I almost forgot, I’ll let y’all know what book to be readin’ for next month’s Doprah’s Book Club™ (and a million writers out there hold their breath)

TODAY'S PUBLISHING INDUSTRY IS BEING RUN BY NAZI BASTARDS WHO WANT TO ABOLISH FREE SPEECH!

2010-01-13T23:54:00.000-08:00

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QUESTION: So how can we understand what PUBLISHING TODAY has become?

ANSWER: Imagine the PUBLISHING INDUSTRY TODAY as akin to NAZI GERMANY from the years 1933 to 1944, and then open your eyes to today’s BOTTOM-LINE-DRIVEN CORPORATE-CONGLOMERATES goose-stepping across the bestseller lists… Then imagine if you will, that the books that are allowed to be published are all by avowed loyal National Socialists and Vichy collaborators who use their malleable skills and Chameleon-like allegiances to write only about topics acceptable to the Reich: such as books by celebrities, celebrity politicians, celebrity chefs, celebrity prostitutes and porn stars, celebrity criminals, celebrity sports figures, and celebrity rich people. And then there are the mystery thrillers, crime thrillers, and sex thrillers! And then of course, there are the Hallowed Books, the ones accepted by the Reichminister of Propaganda herself, Oprah Winfrey, but we can only speak of those in a whisper. (You never know who’s listening!)

QUESTION: But what about LITERATURE?

ANSWER: LITERATURE?

QUESTION: Yes! Books that actually have something to say...

ANSWER: I’m not sure I like your tone. So these books by all of our loyal authors, are they not good enough for you?

QUESTION: Yes, but…I’m talking about REAL LITERATURE…

ANSWER: ……

QUESTION: Writing that says something! Something important! That might even dare to question the Reich itself!

ANSWER: Ahhh, you mean “Jüdische Bücher”! Jewish Books!

QUESTION: Jewish books?

ANSWER: Ja, so you are one of them… I suspected as much!

QUESTION: What?!

At that the Reich’s representative pressed a button on his desk, and moments later four SS men came in and took this particular annoying writer away. “But, I’m not even Jewish!” he said, as the SS men led him out the door.

THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED (2009)*

2009-10-24T08:28:00.000-07:00

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The Revolution will not be sponsored by Bud Lite, Taco Bell, or Toyota. It will not be back after these important messages. It will not be out on Blu-ray and DVD next Tuesday available at Wal-Mart for $6.99 to be shown on high-definition TV. The Revolution will not be televised.

The Revolution will not have six-pack abs and Botox smiles and skin that looks ten years younger and have more taste and be less filling. It will not have whiter teeth and fresher breath and less calories and fewer polyunsaturates and it will not make you lose weight so you can have sex like a porn star. The Revolution will not be televised.

The Revolution will not be recommended by four out of five doctors. It will not get the Goodhousekeeping Seal of Approval. It will not be the choice of a new generation it will not go better with Coke and it will not be “the official Revolution of NASCAR and the New York Yankees”. It will not soon be made into a major motion picture starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie coming soon to a theater near you because the Revolution will not be televised, brother.

The Revolution will not be up ten points on the Dow Jones it will not make Wall Street rich and famous it will not have its picture taken with Dick Cheney and Bill Clinton and have stock in Halliburton and send more troops to Afghanistan and Iraq. The Revolution will not tap our phones invade our homes spy on us at work know what library books we read monitor our every movement with computer chips satellite surveillance and nosey neighbors and call it “patriotism”. The Revolution will not be televised.

It will not lock up habeas corpus and throw away the key and give us euphemisms for torture like “rendition” and “enhanced interrogation techniques”. It will not treat the Third World like a cash cow to be milked to the last drop or as a supply of lab rats for Big Pharma’s assembly line of legalized drugs. And it will not stop unions and free speech and turn the workers of the world into slaves of the global-plantation as the global-bank counts its money (which used to be our money) to the last Euro-penny. If you wanna know about any of this then don’t look on TV cuz the Revolution, my friend, will not be televised.

The Revolution will just say no to ChaseVisa, it will not do a commercial for American Express, it will not buy now with no interest till 2012! It will not want to be a billionaire (or a millionaire even) and it may just want to live simply again so that others might simply live because all of this, sister, will not be televised.

There will be no theme song by Britney Spears or Madonna no fund-raiser by NPR no tie-ins to Burger King and McDonalds and the words that are said won’t be trademarked or copyrighted or used as a catch phrase on Saturday Night Live because, my friends, the Revolution will not be televised.

There will be no reality shows or virtual games of the Revolution on Myspace or on Facebook because the Revolution is real, my friends, it’s three-dimensional, it exists right now in every action that comes from an idea that says no to globalization and corporatization, to monopolization and homogenization (which might be good for milk but it ain’t right for human beings, ya hear?). It says yes to any action that comes from an idea like those crazy ones that say we might all be able to live in peace, that we should treat others as we want to be treated ourselves, that nobody should go hungry, that diversity is what it’s about, that our differences are what make us unique, that religion serves to separate us from our brothers and sisters, that we should watch out for any god who tells us to kill in his name, and that most of mankind exists for something more than just to make a handful of people really fucking rich. This Revolution will most definitely not be televised.

The Revolution does not exist on a piece of paper in a book or in a fortune cookie. There is no recipe for this Revolution. It is not in the history books or the newsreel footage or in some politician’s mouth but it exists in our minds when we know when somethin’ just ain’t right, when the words and the actions don’t match up. When they keep us busy with a million distractions (like mice on a treadmill) so we can’t see what’s goin’ on right in front of us. When it’s easier to go back to sleep and turn on the TV, and this is why the Revolution will not be televised.

Because the Revolution is real. It’s the program we join already in progress with no commercial interruptions complete and unedited. It’s what we see in living color when we reclaim our own minds when we think for ourselves when our ideas become action. And then, when enough of us do this the world will begin to change. This is the Revolution. The Revolution will not be televised. The Revolution is live, it’s happening right now, it’s already begun.
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*It's been 40 years since the original protest poem/song was written, and I figured it was due for an update. So here's my version written the other day. Imagine a band behind it with a jazzy soul groove as the words are spoken, or perhaps a solo upright bass...
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THREE SECONDS BEFORE THE LIBERMAN

2009-10-13T14:12:00.001-07:00

The painting itself is spare. Abstract. Black and white. From ten feet away the composition becomes clear, what looks like a charcoal eye staring out from the center behind a milky cloud of gauze, the paint itself tenuous, as if the white and black are filmy ephemera vanishing and emerging with the play of light. And then, the bold strokes of black scratched across a window pane to further obscure the eye. Like calligraphy—India ink flashed on rice paper in an improvisatory testament to immediacy and of going forward beyond thinking. Lines of another language, cryptic and old, and there’s the feeling of happening upon something most intimate. A close-up of an emotion itself, but what does it mean? What does this say? The lines dance as if blown by a forgotten wind and yet they are immutable as a cave painting on ancient rock.

From four feet away the texture is revealed. The canvas with swirls of paint in contradictory motion; huge slashes through plaster through cement through rock as if the unstable surface itself was scraped and gouged with a chisel before it had a chance to solidify. This had been alive once—liquidy and hot, captured in the first moments after it began to cool. Moving closer there are ridges like mountain ranges, raised fingerprints, scars. Thick paint of white and gray in web-like counterpoint to the black which seems deeper now, almost sinister in its blackness. The closer you get the eye disappears.

From two feet away there is a rip of white in the upper left corner. A wound showing the paper-like skin in its fragility. Small stones are embedded in the paint, the surface a slice of rock a sixteenth of an inch thick, this weathered paper which seems at once still wet and older than papyrus. There are colors now, the whites give way to grays to the color of sand to a shadow of blue to the blacks like bamboo reeds obscured by mist, blending into the thick viscous air. Another glance, a gaze at the eye which seems now to be an opening through trees, a dense snow-covered forest. A step closer, the cold can almost be felt.

There are people now. The museum’s piercing stillness is now the blank canvas to footsteps on thick carpeted floors. Four people walk as in procession. Their words are as spare as the paintings: “Hmm...” “Look at that...” Closer they get as they continue their pilgrimage around the walls. A Frankenthaler, a Cárdenas, and then the Liberman, no more than three seconds before each until they pass to David Smith and continue on.

“Hmm...” they say. “Look at that.”

...

THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY

2009-10-08T21:24:00.000-07:00

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The other day I thought of an old flame. In third grade we were childhood sweethearts. We sat next to each other in class, we walked home from school together, we sat side by side on the bus during our class trip to Turtle Back Zoo. We were the two smartest kids in class, smitten with puppy love, and everyone assumed we'd eventually get married and have a brilliant future. But then in fourth grade she moved away and I never saw her again, and years later I ended up as an artist and ne'er-do-well. Wondering what became of her I Googled her name and was surprised at what I found. She had recently been named by one of the top investment banks in the world as its chief of European mergers and acquisitions, the only woman to head a mergers business at a bulge-bracket investment bank (whatever that is)*1. Obviously quite the muckety-muck, rolling in dough, elbow-rubbing with the rich and super-rich. Which got me to thinking about the paths that people take, the callings that summon us.

I would never recommend being an artist to anyone. First of all, the hours are terrible, being constantly on call to the Muse who oft times wakes you in the middle of the night with an inspiration that must be heeded. On top of that the pay generally sucks, which forces you to have a second job (one that actually pays the bills). You don't get much recognition, and if you diverge from the marketable and refuse to "brand" yourself, then there's a good chance of everlasting anonymity. In addition, this working all the time for little or no pay and recognition is not that great for the morale. For some, depression is as much of a companion as the Muse. For others, it's addictions (and other self-destructive behaviors). For others, suicide (be it fast or slow). And needless to say, relationships are a challenge--the instability of the artist's life an impediment to all but the most steadfast. And a life spent as an artist is at times like being a building on the edge of the ocean, understanding erosion on a daily basis as the tide ebbs and flows, as one's foundation is undermined. So why does one do it? The poet Robert Bly says that someone who spends 20, 30 years in their art "goes down to the countryside of grief"*2 where they become a friend to sadness. And this somehow sustains. I think of what the Brazilians call "the sadness that is beauty"--an intuition of the very nature of things that is all-encompassing, between nothingness and eternity; a glimpse into our humanity and the maddening transience of our existence. For someone who has spent a lifetime in their art this feeling is the drug, the high, the reason--at times almost godlike.

So what of someone whose calling is to make money? Personally, I have as much insight into this as a rock would have into doing the breast-stroke. I am sure there is a passion to it, in amassing great wealth, but I wonder if there is humanity? I think back to the article about my third grade girlfriend's success. The very next paragraph began with an announcement, about her bank laying off 300 people, accounting for 15% of its investment bankers. I wonder where the humanity is in this.

*1. Her latest success is being named recently in Forbes as one of the 100 most powerful women in world finance, routinely brokering billion-dollar deals.

*2. "When anyone seriously pursues an art--painting, poetry, sculpture, composing--over twenty or thirty years, the sustained discipline carries the artist down to the countryside of grief; and that descent, resisted so long, proves invigorating. As I've gotten older I find I am able to be nourished more by sorrow, and to distinguish it from depression."
--Robert Bly

THE TREE FALLS... (Part 2)

2009-09-29T10:22:00.000-07:00

T.S. Eliot said “the artist is heterodox while everyone else is orthodox.”*1 The problem though with being on the outside is the seemingly inescapable longing one has to one day fit in. Kierkegaard maintained that the minority is stronger than the majority because the minority is made up of those who think for themselves and actually have an opinion**2, whereas the majority is oft times the product of monolithic thinking. But the paradox of the minority is that it is born from the majority—the majority’s orphan child, its unwanted bastard. Throughout history, in art as well as in politics, the minority has struggled for acceptance, which ultimately has meant to be allowed back in to the majority. They (the minority) want what the majority has and what they (the minority) are subsequently denied, and this is human nature, this craving for acceptance. Few want to be rejected. Few want to be outcast. The slave wants freedom. The woman the vote. The writer the publisher. The artist the gallery. Think of the Impressionists—rejected by the Academy they got together and put on their own shows. Think of the punk rockers. In a world of rock stars with castles and private jets they had three chords and borrowed (sometimes stolen) equipment, and with this they revolutionized music. And for a time these rebels exist in a charmed space defined by their own passion and conviction (and the rejection of the world at large). But then comes the ever-encroaching entropy of the majority. The majority may be stupid but it’s no dummy. Eventually it sees what’s going on in that seedy club, in that makeshift art exhibit, and then, like all powerful entities in charge, it wants a piece of the action, and it goes about it the only way it knows how, by acquiring as it would any other commodity. And the next thing you know there is elevator music of the Sex Pistols and Van Gogh coffee mugs. To return to Kierkegaard, as the majority subsumes the minority’s truth the truth must once again retreat to a new minority***3. Truth exists, but it prefers the demimonde to Fifth Avenue. It can’t survive for long as a commodity to be bought and sold. And this is the problem with art—the problem that has existed for millennia and exists to this day--the virus-like craving for acceptance from the world at large, felt on some level, at some time, by the artist. And nowhere is this paradox more striking than with what is now called “outsider art”. In order to be accepted something must first be defined. Critics of the day didn’t know what to make of the Impressionists’ splashes of color and seemingly improvised anti-compositions. But eventually a new generation was able to redefine Impressionism until it not only became accepted by the masses but its paintings today command some of the highest prices on the world market. The paradox itself is that this “definition” is the entrée to acceptance for the artist and her art, and in the process of being defined the work and the artist are thereby changed****4. Like trying to observe a molecule. Like Schrödinger’s cat. In the unopened box the cat—or in this case, the art--can exist in its charmed space. But once the box is opened... So we have “outsider art” at the fancy Manhattan gallery, in the glossy magazines, at the Venice Biennale, and the majority appears with checkbooks in hand.

The question that must be asked though, is how can a work of art be known, be recognized without this process taking place? Is it even possible? Is it not human nature to want to distinguish oneself, to stand out from the masses? The initials after one’s name, the resume, the awards, the renown, the bank account. Intrinsically these things have nothing to do with art, but we have spent centuries convincing ourselves that they in fact do, to the point that we cannot look at a piece of artwork without this somewhere in mind. Here’s how it works: There is the artist. There is her art. There is someone who sees the art. And this is where the trouble begins. How to look at art without comparison, without categorization, without the awful weight of the continuum of art and consequently art criticism and the opinions of society and the marketplace hanging above one’s head? How to see something for what it is, intrinsically, without rushing headlong to that next step, the Pandora’s Box of acceptance which leads to commodification? And the question this raises is what is art’s true purpose? Is it personal or is it cultural, or can the personal be cultural (which is a heterodox notion in an orthodox mindset). I think of what the Spanish call duende. In the Spanish arts, duende is difficult if not impossible to define, yet it is recognized instantly when it happens. A guitarist plays flamenco. Something about the musician, the audience, even the night itself suggests that something rare may occur. Something beyond all definitions. Something risen from within as well as without, coaxed into existence by the entirety of the scene as if from a sacred space. Something that won’t be repeated and whose lifespan might be but a moment. “Eso es!” people call out. “That is it!” And in that moment all who can hear and can see and can feel are forever transformed*****5.

*1. "The artist is the only genuine and profound revolutionist, in the following sense. The world always has, and always will, tend to substitute appearance for reality. The artist, being always alone, being heterodox when everyone else is orthodox, is the perpetual upsetter of conventional values, the restorer of the real... His function is to bring back humanity to the real." –-T.S. Eliot

**2. “Truth always rests with the minority, and the minority is always stronger than the majority because the minority is generally formed by those who really have an opinion, while the strength of a majority is illusory, formed by the gangs who have no opinion—and who therefore in the next instant (when it is evident that the minority is the stronger) assume its opinion, which then becomes that of the majority, i.e., becomes nonsense by having the whole train and numerus [big numbers] on its side, while Truth again reverts to a new minority” –from The Diary of SØren Kierkegaard (#128)

***3. Ibid.

****4. “Throw away the lights, the definitions, and say of what you see in the dark that it is this or that it is that, but do not use the rotted names. Throw the lights away, nothing must stand between you and the shapes you take when the crust of shape has been destroyed. You as you are? You are yourself.”
–-from “The Man with the Blue Guitar” by Wallace Stevens

*****5. Since I heard faintly the voice of the first wild goose, upon mid-sky alone my thoughts have been fixed. –-Mitsune, Japanese ca. 900

FUCK IT! IT'S ALL BULLSHIT!!!

2009-02-13T04:46:00.000-08:00

Today's art scene is FUCKED! If you wanna know what's REALLY happening check out the listings under "EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT KRONOS BUT WERE AFRAID TO ASK!" (especially "ART GALLERY 101")... (over there, to your right, muthafucka!---->)

GOES GREAT WITH THE SOFA!

2009-02-02T09:52:00.000-08:00

Check out highlights below from our recent exhibit of amazing oil and mixed media paintings from this artist who is so famous that I can't even say his name without having to pay him $10,000, so I will let his work speak for itself...

"Untitled #1" 164" x 164" oil on canvas

"Untitled #2" 184" x 98" oil, mixed media on canvas

"Untitled #3" 212" x 152" oil, watercolor, bird's feathers, lint on canvas

"Untitled #4" 417" x 361" oil, acrylic, watercolor, vomit, boiled ham on canvas

"Untitled #5" 188"x 127" acrylic, macadam, barnacles, Nutella on canvas

"Untitled #6" 504 x 504" crayon, pencil sharpenings, used Kleenex, toenails on canvas

"Untitled #7" 1253" x 1253" radioactive elements, moss, amoeba, dental floss on canvas

--all work copyright 2009
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KRONOS ROCKS YOUR ASS OFF!

2009-01-26T15:15:00.001-08:00

PUNK/INDIE/ALT/ROCK @ KRONOS!!!

2009-01-17T09:08:00.001-08:00

KRONOS UNPLUGGED!

2009-01-12T17:56:00.001-08:00

MUSIC OPEN MIC NIGHT!

2009-01-12T17:55:00.001-08:00

METAL-MANIA @ KRONOS!

2009-01-09T07:07:00.001-08:00

NATHAN STITELER & TEDDY BEAR CHRISTMAS @ KRONOS!

2009-01-09T07:05:00.000-08:00

KRONOS's ROCKIN' AWESOME WEEKEND!!! (Parts 1 & 2)

2008-12-23T12:28:00.001-08:00

KRONOS ROCKS AGAIN!!!

2008-12-16T06:53:00.001-08:00

KRONOS ROCKS!!!

2008-12-13T09:03:00.000-08:00

HIGHLIGHTS from the CURRENT SHOW! (Dec 5, 2008 through Jan 4, 2009)

2008-12-08T16:48:00.000-08:00

Our FEATURED ARTIST in "The Show" Room: DIANA YOUNG (digital art/computer manipulations).

In "The Collection" Room, exciting work from 27 local, regional, and national artists:
David Modler, Jessica Martinkosky, Keith Mills, Adam Wentworth, Sara Wentworth, Jenny Luznicky-White, Kat Corrin, Cody Brogan, Jordan Roeder, Laure Stevens-Lubin, Lynn Lough, John Bell, Marian Engel, Eric Scott, Cassie Ford, Brian Boyd, Charlene Schillinger, Joan Belmar, Mary Catherine Richardson, Jennnifer Parker, Julie Steiner, Eddie Moone, George Peterson IV, Brian Harrison, Crystal Myers, & Angus Carter.

HUMAN RIGHTS DAY @ KRONOS!!!

2008-12-08T12:01:00.000-08:00

KRONOS UNPLUGGED!

2008-12-03T13:14:00.001-08:00

An evening of unplugged rock music by two amazing bands:
TEN TRICK PONY &
THE RECEPTION (w/ Kevin from "August")!
12/6 7:30pm $5 cover/donation...

ART OPENING/RENT PARTY @ KRONOS!!!

2008-12-02T14:56:00.000-08:00

MUSIC OPEN MIC NIGHT!

2008-12-01T17:16:00.001-08:00

MUSIC @ KRONOS!!!

2008-11-24T11:58:00.000-08:00

SATURDAY NITE ROCKS @ KRONOS!!!

2008-11-19T06:38:00.000-08:00

THE WAREHOUSE ROCKS...FRIDAY!!!

2008-11-17T09:32:00.000-08:00

Quote of the Month (November)

2008-11-05T20:50:00.000-08:00

"Barack On!"
--said by someone after Barack's victory speech! (Tuesday night)

BARACK ON!!!

2008-11-05T09:13:00.000-08:00

Last night was a triumph of reason, rational thought, intelligence, and compassion! It's great to have hope again (and to be living in a blue state)!

ARTISTS WHO REALLY SUCK!

2008-11-03T16:40:00.000-08:00

The new Slideshow-Movie from KRONOS Art Gallery!!!

(click on link below)

EPISODE 1
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVR5J_uAerw

EPISODE 2
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vB53jeWLzAk&feature=channel
_______________________________________________________________________________________

KRONOPALOOZA!!!

2008-10-28T13:25:00.000-07:00

KRONOS ROCKS THE VOTE!!!!

2008-10-28T13:22:00.001-07:00

GALLERY GORILLA!!!

2008-10-20T14:11:00.001-07:00

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 24th from 5-11pm...
KRONOS Art Gallery presents:

GALLERY GORILLA!

KRONOS is curating a warehouse space in Staunton
for once-a-month one-night-only guerrilla "ART-JAMS"!
Wonderful, radical, beautiful contemporary art plus live music!

From 5-8pm we'll have the "Art Opening" part of the
evening with exciting work by David Modler, Brandon Wallace,
Eric Scott, Julie Steiner, Scott Ackerman, Keith Mills, James Lightbourne, Cassie Ford, Diana Young, Lynn Lough, Ezekiel Woods, Leslie Banta, Marian Engel, Jennifer Canton, Kevin Postupack, and more! With live DJs Tenacious Tim & K-PAC, followed @ 8pm
by the "Jam" part of the evening with a rock concert by "the world's
greatest rock band"...

PABLO & THE DREGS!!!

This part is a benefit for KRONOS and there'll be a $5 cover/donation
to help us keep doing what we do best (which is piss off the status quo & bring fabulous art & music to the valley!)!

GREAT ART! GREAT MUSIC!
A PERSON IN A GORILLA SUIT!

What better way to spend a Friday evening! AND it's part of the
"Staunton Fourth Fridays Gallery Walk", for you culturally-minded
(but there ain't no landscapes here, M***********!).

GALLERY GORILLA is in the old warehouse in the alley directly behind DESIGN @ NINE (which is an upscale clothes shop at 9 E. Beverley Street in beautiful downtown Staunton!) So go visit our friend Christie at DESIGN@NINE and then come on over for some great art & music! Look for the beautiful GALLERY GORILLA sign created by artist Charlene Schillinger! For more info call: (540) 213-1815.

P.S. And don't forget to support our friends @ The Visulite by going there this week to see RELIGULOUS! (which is not to be missed by any thinking person!)

KRONOS: OBAMA '08!

KRONOS presents: GALLERY GORILLA!

2008-10-20T10:44:00.001-07:00

HIGHLIGHTS from the CURRENT SHOW! (October 10th through November 30th)

2008-10-14T13:46:00.000-07:00

(Click on image to enlarge!)

SPOKEN WORD @ KRONOS!!!

2008-10-13T08:52:00.001-07:00

SNEAK PREVIEW of KRONOS's Upcoming Show!

2008-10-08T10:32:00.001-07:00

From the series "Campaign Signs We Want to See!"

KRONOS's One-and-a-Half Year ANNIVERSARY!!!

2008-10-06T13:05:00.000-07:00

KRONOS Art Gallery celebrates it's 18 month ANNIVERSARY this Friday, October 10th!

Here's all that we've given to the community since we first opened our doors...

(Click on image to enlarge)

KRONOS ROCKS YOUR WORLD!!!

2008-10-06T07:41:00.001-07:00

ART OPENING--NEW SHOW!!!

2008-10-06T07:35:00.000-07:00

Quote of the Month (October)

2008-10-03T08:15:00.000-07:00

"Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented."
--Elie Wiesel

MUSIC @ KRONOS!!!

2008-10-02T09:38:00.000-07:00

THE TREE FALLS...

2008-09-30T10:57:00.000-07:00

It's a sad fact that some art galleries depend upon a rich clientele to keep going. It is also a fact that other art galleries charge their artists a membership fee to stay afloat (some in the neighborhood of $10,000), while still others declare a non-profit status and thus depend upon grants to keep their doors open. The questions that this raises are "Where is the public in all of this?" and "Who after all is art made for?" In those moments of wishful thinking does the artist see her work out there in the world for all to see (regardless of bank account)? Does she see art itself as something sacred, both the process and the result; that it can both soothe and outrage, and perhaps shine a light on something that others try to hide? That it can be a mirror for the artist herself, as well as for society at large; a reflection of the present, as well as a hope (or a warning) for the future? With all the artists who have ever lived and all the artwork that has been made, why do some people still feel that irrepressible need to express themselves? Instead of saying that it's all been done before, their actions speak resoundingly that some things still need to be said! The true artists at times cannot help but feel the vastness of Art, the gravity of the continuum of which they themselves are a part. So what does it mean when the platforms for presenting their artistic statements to the world are ignored (or at least not supported) by the very people for whom the artists create, namely, the public? And yes, there are artists who say that they "do it for themselves". But yet there must come a moment when they want to reach beyond their own skin. After all, if the work is universal then there is a longing on some level to present it to the universe! And this brings us back to our opening contention, that the majority of the public fails to give artists its support, which forces the above-mentioned vicious cycle upon the artists and the galleries, and forces us to ask, "If the public ignores our artists then is the art itself meaningless? And how do we respond as artists if those for whom we create are oblivious to our creations?"

And this begs another question as to what actually constitutes meaning. Many (including artists) need a roadmap to find this thing called meaning. And this roadmap consists of accolades, awards, grants, fame, fortune and the like, but upon examination is this really it? When we rely on the extrinsic for our validation, have we not traded in a concrete foundation for a house of cards? When we put our faith in the external as our raison d'etre, do we not mortgage our souls for the arbitrary and capricious; for that which goes on behind the scenes (in oft-times shadowy places)? The million dollar question: Is a work of art only great after it has been recognized by the so-called experts? Or in other words, is its worth dependent upon these outside forces, its intrinsic qualities invisible until pointed out by others?

And this calls to mind the proverbial "tree falling in the forest". Let us imagine a hermit living in the woods, far from the maddening crowd. He keeps to himself and only goes into town once a month for supplies, his life spent in his shack and the woods around it. When he no longer comes to town the storekeeper becomes curious, and after six months he ventures into the woods, to this place hidden from the rest of the world. Inside the shack he finds hundreds of paintings--beautiful, daring, original paintings that have never existed outside these simple walls. And the question then arises, "When is that moment when these works of art will be granted their existence?" To the world outside this may be a great discovery, but what did it mean to the hermit-artist? If something truly is does it need anything else? Or better, can we as human beings be satisfied without that echo from outside? For our mythical hermit-artist in the woods, the tree fell, and it was deafening.

KRONOS ROCKS YOUR WORLD!!!

2008-09-22T09:15:00.001-07:00

ROCK OUT @ KRONOS!!!

2008-09-18T20:29:00.001-07:00

POETRY NIGHT @ KRONOS!!!

2008-09-16T20:06:00.000-07:00

STRANGE MUSIC @ KRONOS!!!

2008-09-15T07:14:00.000-07:00

OUTSIDER/INSIDER

2008-09-12T07:32:00.000-07:00

Until recently I thought graffiti artists were about as "outsider" as you could get. First of all they literally worked outside! And second, what they did was and is illegal. Vandalism. Defacing public property, such as the outside (and inside) of buildings, bridges, subways, and trains. And this made them more like outlaws than artists. They had to work when people weren't looking (specifically the heat), and they had to work fast because you never knew who was about to come around the corner. So there was an element of Zen to their work, like ink drawing on rice paper. The spontaneity, the here-and-now, the fact that you couldn't linger or go back and correct your mistakes. There was danger. And I imagine no other artist would get the feeling of exhilaration upon completing a work as did the graffiti artist. So it was indeed surprising, when trying to curate a future show at KRONOS of New York City graffiti artists, that they weren't as "outside" as I thought. As the saying goes, "Politicians, ugly buildings, and whores all become respectable if they last long enough." I'd like to think that when they were young Turks in the 1980's, dashing around NYC like invisible super heroes, leaving their mark, their tags wherever they went, that they would have looked with derision on the establishment, at the snooty, stuck-up art galleries of Manhattan, for they weren't about that, were they? But now it appears that the mainstream establishment has embraced these one-time renegades, and made "NYC graffiti artist" and "outsider artist" a good thing to list on one's resume. And the sad thing is that these one-time renegades are returning the embrace. If an "outsider artist" (who by definition shuns the mainstream) ends up coveting the mainstream you can call him a hypocrite, but if he ends up cheerfully accepting the mainstream then by definition he is no longer an "outsider artist", and you can rightfully call him a sell-out.

In trying to set up my show I discovered that these five particular one-time outlaws like perks, such as a free place to stay, gas money, having all their expenses paid, and one of them (I'll call him "Prima Donna") said he was even used to having art galleries fly him all over the world in jets so he can attend his own openings. Consequently, this guy didn't even want to come to Virginia because we were so low rent. So I asked another one of the graffiti artists if they might know some young, hungry, up-and-coming graffiti artists in New York. Someone trying to make a name for himself who wouldn't mind loading all the artwork in a van, schlepping it and the other artists down here, and kicking in for gas money. "We don't hang around kids," our 40-something outsider artist replied. I guess if you're 20 it's cool to be a rebel, an anarchist, an iconoclast, a struggling artist, but when you're pushing 50 you gotta get real and re-prioritize. If you're struggling in your 50's you're a loser. And I understand this, the erosion of the artist's soul. I even understand them wanting to tap into that mainstream river of money for a change. I mean, why not? But the thing is, that they are doing so by trading on their having been true outsiders once, back-in-the-day. And as reprehensible as this is (the word "sell-out" comes back to mind) it's the same reason there are Van Gogh calendars, coffee mugs, and mouse pads. If something's dead it can no longer be dangerous. It can no longer rock any boats so therefore it can become a commodity. The selling of their outsider status to the establishment for money and recognition may be justified by a crappy economy and a hard life lived in need of payback, but it's still being a sell-out and a hypocrite. I guess the question comes down to "Is one an 'outsider artist' simply because they can't get accepted by the insiders (as much as they might want to be accepted), or is one an 'ousider artist' because their art is their own, and they truly don't give a shit about what anyone (especially the establishment and its money-making machinery) thinks about them or their art?"

MUSIC @ KRONOS!!!

2008-09-10T05:22:00.001-07:00

HIGHLIGHTS from the CURRENT SHOW!!!

2008-09-05T06:17:00.000-07:00

Our Solo Artist is Seattle's BOO DAVIS/QUILTSRYCHE and her heavy metal evil rock quilts in "The Show" room!

And in "The Collection" room, new and exciting work from Ezekiel Woods, Jasmine Austin, Brandon Wallace, Mauricio Esperon, Leslie Banta, Scott & Julie Keen, Diana Young, Jessica Martinkosky, Samone Riddle, Charlene Schillinger, Eric, & K-Pac.

HEAVY METAL OPENING VIDEO SLIDESHOW!!!

2008-09-01T09:38:00.000-07:00

KRONOS's ANTI-QUILT QUILT SHOW EVIL ROCK OPENING!!!
FRIDAY, AUGUST 29th, 2008! What other art gallery has openings like this!!! (Word!) Click on link below for a 2 1/2 minute video slideshow...

Quote of the Month (September)

2008-09-01T09:37:00.000-07:00

"We'll fight the powers that be just
don't pick our destiny 'cuz
you don't know us, you don't belong!"
--Twisted Sister

HEAVY METAL EVIL ROCK QUILTS R COMING!!!

2008-08-26T14:21:00.001-07:00

TIMID SOULS STAY INDOORS!!!

2008-08-23T09:21:00.000-07:00

BIG MUSIC WEEK @ KRONOS!!!

2008-08-19T13:37:00.001-07:00

FRIDAY, AUGUST 22nd...

SATURDAY, AUGUST 23rd...

OLYMPIC$ 4 $ALE!

2008-08-18T13:18:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that at one time the Olympics were all about the amateur. The storied integrity of the amateur athlete, living like a monk in order to train in obscurity for that one moment of glory that came every four years. It wasn't about the "professionals", who back in the day were thought to sully whatever sport they played. (Think the early days of golf and Bobby Jones, who chose to never turn pro!) Professionals were all about money and endorsements and all the other distractions that were believed to be anathema to the true amateur athlete, his spirit, his soul, and indeed the spirit and soul of the Olympics itself! So it was with this in mind that I offer you this... The swimmer Michael Phelps just became the greatest Olympian ever, winning 8 gold medals in a single Olympics, surpassing Mark Spitz. And just a day or so since the historic event there is already a DVD on the market all about Michael Phelps's 8 gold medals!(!!) The money-making machine is ever-alert, ever-opportunistic, like a cancer transforming everything to dollar signs.

CHEAPO ART SALE!!!

2008-08-15T10:31:00.001-07:00

KRONOS ROCKS (and THEN SOME)!!!

2008-08-12T14:11:00.000-07:00

EVIL ROCK QUILTS R COMING!!!

2008-08-12T14:10:00.001-07:00

FAREWELL to A.S.

2008-08-04T11:25:00.000-07:00

KRONOS bids farewell to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.
(1918-2008)

"The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties, but right through every human heart."

--Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

ROCK @ KRONOS!!!

2008-08-04T09:41:00.000-07:00

Quote of the Month (August)

2008-08-01T06:46:00.000-07:00

"Where, oh where, have the smart people gone?"
--P!NK

THE INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS!

2008-07-30T11:32:00.000-07:00

Today our neighbors had their driveway resealed. Now from the point of view of the artist this seems right up there on the "Top Ten Colossal Wastes of Money by Americans" list. That someone would think about their driveway at all, let alone worry about it enough to pay someone to reseal it is indeed mind-boggling. Extending my vision further down the street I see several brand new GIGANTIC pick-up trucks. And when I say GIGANTIC I mean Godzilla could ride in back; I mean, I've had apartments that were smaller. And if I could extend my vision even further to the local miracle mile, I would see huge flat screen TVs for sale for thousands of dollars each. Yet we are of course in a Recession. Rent, food, gas prices are all sky high. And of course in a Recession nobody has any money to buy fine art. Art, after all, is a luxury, and art galleries are suffering dearly. So my question is, what's up with the $60,000 pick-up trucks? With the flat screen HDTVs, with the resealed driveways? People obviously have money enough or credit enough to spend on these necessities! I worry about my fellow Americans. I wonder if they have any self-awareness at all, or if they are pod-people whose souls have been snatched away, whose minds have been so infiltrated by TV commercials and celebrities and media propaganda and religious dogma that their thoughts are no longer their own. I mean, what, do you wake up one morning and say, "I must buy a pick-up truck that's 40 feet long and gets four miles to the gallon!" Or "We need a four foot wide flat screen HDTV so we can have the best TV with the best picture and sound on the market so we can watch 'American Idol'!" I fear that the LCD--the infamous "lowest common denominator" has perhaps won the day. Decade upon decade of the bombardment of images, of how we're supposed to look, act, feel, live and what we're supposed to buy, it's all become part of our consciousness to the point of it becoming who we are. We are what we think. And if we don't think for ourselves then someone else will gladly step in and think for us. It's like the old Dracula myth, that Dracula cannot come into your home unless he is first invited. I want people to think for themselves; to be aware of what things want to be invited into their minds. The world needs its artists now more than ever because of this. Because if they're worth their salt, our artists are the ones who point the way through all the detritus to the authentic, to the truly necessary.

POETRY @ KRONOS!!!

2008-07-25T20:49:00.001-07:00

KRONOS ROCKS!!!

2008-07-20T09:18:00.001-07:00

HIGHLIGHTS from the CURRENT SHOW! (July 11--August 23)

2008-07-14T11:08:00.001-07:00

SOLO ARTIST in "The Show" room: JOAN BELMAR (from Chile by way of DC--www.belmart.net)

In "The Collection" room: New & exciting work from Meg Brooks, Scott & Julie Keen, Scott Ackerman, Denise Kanter, Diana Young, Ashley McCoy, Ezekiel Woods, Cynthia Greene, Bethany Tobin, Cristina Alana Goncalves, Jennifer Parker, Erin Taylor, Karen Snarr-Beiler, Charlene Schillinger, Samone Riddle, Bonnie Johns, & Kevin Postupack.

--all work copyright 2008

_____________________________________________________________________________________

THEATER @ KRONOS!!!

2008-07-14T07:13:00.001-07:00

ART GALLERY 101: You Say You Want a Revolution...

2008-07-09T08:03:00.000-07:00

REBELLION AND ROCK MUSIC have gone hand in hand since Elvis. A stick-it-to-the-man, question authority, fuck-the-establishment mindset that has been part of the wellspring from which so much great music has arisen over the past sixty years. It's an odd symbiosis. The musicians originally rebel against the status quo with something diametrically opposed to it. Their art speaks to others like themselves, the disenfranchised and disaffected (who are usually the young people, who by definition have little vested interest in a society run by those opposite themselves, namely, the "old people", "the squares"). And then an interesting thing occurs. This product of the counter-culture becomes a hit, it makes money and a lot of it (to translate into the language of the establishment), and this same establishment then goes out of its way to embrace it. And of course the musicians are swayed by suddenly becoming rich and famous, and eventually they succumb and "sell out", they break up over "creative differences", they die or commit suicide, or they form their own record label (like The Beatles or Led Zeppelin) to retain creative control and make even more money. (Today we have Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead pioneering the selling of their albums over the Internet, bypassing record companies altogether!) And as far as present-day rock rebellion goes, it's still very much alive in alternative, industrial, hard rock and heavy metal (check out the artisdangerous.com landing page!), not to mention rap (which can be the most rebellious of all).

So what about art? Where is that same kind of fierce rebellion in the visual arts? It still exists in isolated pockets (Joroko*1 is a great example), but overall today's artists remain a pretty timid bunch, especially the more they strive to become "known" and accepted into the "art world", doing things that we've discussed at length in other ART GALLERY 101 lessons, such as "branding themselves" and making art specifically for the "white-walled art galleries", which in turn pander to a rich clientele. And here is the fundamental reason why rock musicians are more rebellious, while so many of today's visual artists are rather tame. Young people are the ones who buy a rock band's CDs, whereas today's "known" artists must rely on rich people to survive (or to get rich and famous in the first place). In today's art world the rich call the tune. (And haven't they always since before the Renaissance?) And of course, the very nature of the products of art and music are factors as well. An original work of music is usually best represented aurally by the wonderful technology inherent in today's CDs, whereas the best visual example of a piece of artwork is the artwork itself. Original artwork doesn't lend itself to being mass-produced. And since young people don't traditionally spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on art, an artist must look elsewhere to make money. And this brings up another crucial difference. Rock musicians realize their work, their music through performance, primarily through playing live before usually enthusiastic audiences of young people (who in turn buy their CDs and the tickets to their shows). Therefore their music and their radical behavior are reinforced on a regular basis by their fans, to the point of most rock musicians echoing the sentiment that while record companies indeed suck, if it weren't for their fans they (the rock bands) wouldn't be able to keep going, both literally and emotionally.

Visual artists have nothing of the sort to rely upon.**2 Their artwork is realized on the public level through being displayed in the gallery, and of course the more "high-end" and "big-city" the gallery the more of a rich clientele they possess, the more chance there is of the artist selling her work and making money. And unfortunately the art world is still governed by this iniquitous mindset (the few upstart galleries like KRONOS notwithstanding), artists and galleries being suck-ups to the rich, in a closed environment that doesn't encourage rebellion.

So how can today's artists become more like rock musicians? (Dare to dream!) The answer is to bring young people into the equation, first by getting them into art galleries in the first place, and then having them think that art galleries are a place that's happening, that's vital. Young people recognize bullshit almost instantly, which is the reason why they don't traditionally flock to art galleries, so we must make the art gallery a relevant place. A place of new ideas, of fearlessness, and indeed of revolution where the spirit of art itself hasn't been co-opted by a pandering to the marketplace as defined by the rich. After all, what is art really about? The next step is that artists have to start mass-producing their artwork in the form of very affordable prints (or other such things) so that young people can buy them. (And it would help if they [the artists] could give up the idea of being "rich and famous", because this idea is perpetuated by the "white-walled gallery". To be a rich and famous artist today is to be either very lucky or to be a slave to an oppressive and creatively-stifling mindset.***3) Granted, an original piece of artwork is unique, one-of-a-kind, and as such should be valued accordingly. Its three-dimensionality, its color, size, and texture cannot be realized in a mass-produced facsimile. But that doesn't mean that vital, beautiful, affordable art cannot be made available to a brand new public, especially with the advances in today's technology. But this is where it's up to the artist. He must make the effort to make at least a part of his artwork accessible as though it were a CD, which is not to devalue the art, but rather, open it up to an entirely new audience. After all, revolution never originated from the rich.****4 And of course this will be a slow process, as there is no infrastructure in place for distributing artwork en masse as there is for music. (Perhaps the Internet can somehow be used in this regard.) Because it is visual, art can be just as powerful as music. Look at the enormous posters of Stalin and Chairman Mao. One glance can speak volumes, and if a picture is indeed worth a thousand words then let's make our artwork actually say something that matters, and then get it out there to the people. It's possible, but it will take a radical shift in thought on the part of the artists (followed by action) to make it happen.*****5

*1. www.joroko.com

**2. Whereas rock musicians have fans, artists have the gallery owner!

***3. Refer to what Malcom X said about "house Negroes" vs. "field Negroes" (artisdangerous.com "FILOSOFEE/Quotes").

****4. B'lee dat!

*****5. Through radical art galleries, guerilla art shows, artistic anarchy and the like in order to reclaim our power as artists. Anything is better than the way it is now.

KRONOS ROCKS!!!

2008-07-07T05:19:00.001-07:00

NEW SHOW @ KRONOS IS COMING!!!

2008-07-03T07:10:00.001-07:00

Quote of the Month (July)

2008-07-01T07:10:00.001-07:00

"Perhaps our life is revealed only when we no longer resist."
--anonymous

NEW ISSUE of THE METEOR!!!

2008-06-19T08:29:00.000-07:00

The THIRD issue of The Meteor, KRONOS Art Gallery's fabled tabloid, is here! For your reading pleasure, we present the front page! To read the rest go to KRONOS Art Gallery and pick up a copy for the ridiculously low price of one dollar!

(Click on image to enlarge)

POETRY & MUSIC @ KRONOS!!!

2008-06-09T06:18:00.000-07:00

FRIDAY, JUNE 13th (Yes, another Friday the 13th event!)
One of our favorite poets, LORRAINE REES, reads from her work!

SATURDAY, JUNE 14th @ 7:30pm
See why Staunton is the "new Seattle" with two FABULOUS local rock bands on the verge of world-famousness!

HIGHLIGHTS from the CURRENT SHOW! (May 30th--July6th)

2008-06-02T10:43:00.001-07:00

--all work copyright 2008

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Quote of the Month (June)

2008-06-01T09:09:00.000-07:00

"The more they fuck with me the more I wanna gut it out."
--G.I. Jane

EITHER PRESIDENT BUSH IS A COMPLETE IDIOT OR ELSE HE THINKS THAT WE ARE!!!

2008-05-29T11:29:00.000-07:00

Just how dumb does he think we are? In today's NY Times there was an article entitled:

Bush Likens Iraq to World War II

COLORADO SPRINGS--President Bush on Wednesday called the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan a "great struggle" akin to World War II and warned anew against those who would waver in it.

"To win the first war of the 21st century, we need to prevail not just in the battle of arms, but also in the battle of wills," Mr. Bush said. "And we need to recognize that the only way America can lose the war on terror is if we defeat ourselves."

(Or if we let Bolshevik-breeding art galleries say whatever they want as they try to sow the seeds of discontent. If yer not with us, then yer with the terrorists! Amen! Lock 'n' Load! And pass me a beer while we git 'r done!)

AWESOME NEW SHOW--FRIDAY NIGHT!

2008-05-29T11:19:00.000-07:00

KRONOS's new show which opens this FRIDAY, MAY 30th (6pm-10pm) is AWESOMELY AMAZING!!! JOROKO (from Denver, CO) is our SOLO ARTIST, and his work made me catch my breath yesterday when I took it out of the boxes! Painting/sculpture/mixed media work which is his response to our endless War in Iraq, and I say with certainty that his anti-war art is more powerful, disturbing, and strangely beautiful than ANY artists I know of working today! They are in a word, KICK-ASS!--like nothing this valley (or even NYC has seen--except when Joroko's shown there!).

Plus, we'll have new and exciting work from these 17 local and regional artists:
Jordan Roeder, Deena Warner, Ezekiel Woods, Diana Young, Brooke Sayre, Piper Brown, Janly Jaggard, Jennifer Parker, Eliza Martin, Dymph De Wild, Chico Harkrader, Ellie Meixner, Meg Brooks, Charlene Schillinger, Alexandra Hofgren, Karel Pavelevich, & Kevin Postupack!

PLUS, special guest DJ P-MAC spinning an evening of PUNK ROCK!!! With refreshments, dancing, the unveiling of KRONOS's brand new T-SHIRTS, our tabloid The Meteor on sale, and coolness bestowed upon all who attend!

KRONOS: Because We Care!

NEW SHOW @ KRONOS IS COMING!!!

2008-05-26T08:57:00.001-07:00

NEW SHOW PREVIEW!!!

2008-05-21T21:15:00.000-07:00

The NEW SHOW @ KRONOS will open on FRIDAY, MAY 30th @ 6PM! Our SOLO ARTIST is JOROKO, and here is a teaser of several pieces of his from the upcoming exhibit! To find out more about JOROKO, go to www.joroko.com

MARSUPIAL MAN @ KRONOS!!!

2008-05-15T08:04:00.001-07:00

HEAVY METAL @ KRONOS!!!

2008-05-06T10:42:00.000-07:00

Quote of the Month (May)

2008-05-04T05:54:00.000-07:00

"An artist should be in a continuous state of becoming."--Bob Dylan

The SOUTH FRENCH BROADS @ KRONOS!!!

2008-04-28T13:09:00.000-07:00

"If Frank Zappa and Minutemen front man D. Boone had ever gotten trapped in an elevator together with a bass, drum set, and an arsenal of toy pianos, slide whistles, samplers, and harmonicas they might have produced something a bit like the music of the SOUTH FRENCH BROADS. The duo is from Asheville, North Carolina, and they pound out songs that swing from noisy, discordant circus music into bassy-funk jams and back again. But as the saying goes, a slide-whistle solo is worth a thousand words--so you should probably stop reading this and just go see them!" --Arts & Entertainment/ Smart Bets

The SOUTH FRENCH BROADS are an eclectic 2-piece ensemble that incorporate bass, drums, sax, harp, vocal, and sound toys into an energetic mix of rock, punk, jazz, comedy, and theatrics. Based in Asheville, NC, the duo has been playing the local scene to a steadily growing following and has been branching out to NYC and even Staunton, Virginia! The energy onstage is incredible as Radix pounds the drums with punk rock abandon tempered with lush jazz stylings--all the while playing the sax, one-handed, on selected numbers. Alex scurries around looping bass lines to enable the addition of harmonica and various toys. While seasoned musicianship is apparent, the duo seek foremost to entertain with a variety of styles, stories, and a fast-paced set of pieces that rarely reach three minutes. Oddly original!

@ KRONOS Art Gallery... (Of course!)
FRIDAY, MAY 2nd
8PM (sHaRp!) 3 bucks!

LEA @ KRONOS!!!

2008-04-24T08:02:00.000-07:00

LEA, Washington DC's favorite singer/songwriter, will perform this SUNDAY, April 27th @ KRONOS! With a lovely voice and fantastic, funky originals, supported by jazz bassist extraordinaire Wil Power, she is a complete delight! The concert begins @ 8PM!

POETRY @ KRONOS!!!

2008-04-21T12:07:00.000-07:00

"A bludgeon of words, a verbal explosion..."

The always controversial, provocative (and often hilarious) poetry and stream of consciousness assaults of KRONOS's fearless leader KEVIN POSTUPACK.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23rd @ 7:30PM.

KRONOSTOCK 2!!!

2008-04-18T08:41:00.001-07:00

KRONOS's ANNIVERSARY MESSAGE...

2008-04-16T12:11:00.000-07:00

WHAT IS ART'S PLACE in a society where the contestants and judges on "American Idol" are household names, whereas the average American would be hard-pressed to name five contemporary artists (Thomas Kincaid notwithstanding); where music and art programs are routinely cut from public schools for budgetary reasons. What lesson does this teach our present and our next generation regarding the value of art itself and its very reason for existing? Is the education of a largely uneducated public vis-a-vis art the responsibility of the artists who must become de facto teachers as well? Throughout history, art has always been one of the hallmarks of a civilized, progressive society, so what has happened to us here in America at the dawn of the 21st century? How has art become so watered down, so dilluted to the point of being as palatable and easily digested as baby food? Instead of an enthusiastic public of art lovers trying to keep up with the latest artistic directions, it is the artists themselves who through self-censorship and self-monitoring (with an eye fixed on marketability) have weakened and in many cases destroyed the very thing that should be unalloyed and pure. And what of the artists who press on with their singular vision in the face of overwhelming pressure to conform? Instead of being recognized and celebrated as heroic individuals in an age of conformity they are uniformly ignored and often relegated to a marginal existence of obscurity. Well, it is time for both the artists and the public to step up to the plate. For the artist, to forego the cheap and easy successes in favor of the grander vision. For the public, to demand more of themselves (and of the artists), and to realize that art is not made in a vacuum and that they (the public) are a part of this continuum of artistic expression. By supporting the arts and indeed the artists, by buying their work and putting it on their walls they are keeping the artists alive, and helping them and art itself to flourish.

This essay was reprinted from the very first issue of SAMIZDAT (April/May 2007) because the message it conveys is as timely as ever.

For a further inquiry into the state of modern art please check out "ART GALLERY 101".

HIGHLIGHTS from the CURRENT SHOW!

2008-04-15T08:27:00.001-07:00

KRONOSTOCK!!!

2008-04-11T10:21:00.001-07:00

KRONOS's ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY!!!

2008-04-09T11:36:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's been a year of rebellion, and to celebrate, KRONOS will have its BIGGEST SHOW YET! 23 ARTISTS!!! Our SOLO ARTIST is MARY BETH BELLAH--"PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT" (radical, political, experimental fiber & quilt art!) And in "The Collection" room 22 exciting local, regional, and national artists including Ashley De Angelo, Denise Kanter, Leslie Banta, Charlene Schillinger, Travis Frye, Karen Snarr-Beiler, Eddie Moone, Brian Boyd, Chico Harkrader, Joan Belmar, Jesse James Calderon, Robert Stuart, Diana Young, Cristina Alana Goncalves, Ezekiel Woods, Jennifer Parker, Eliza Martin, Piper Brown, Dave Moore, Janly Jaggard, Dante Alighieri, & Kevin Postupack! Photography (pinhole camera, stereoscopic, erotica), sculpture, abstract and figurative painting & drawing, glassware! PLUS, the always groovy tunage of DJ par excellance MC Brian Boyd (w/ special guest K-PAQ)! FRIDAY, APRIL 11th 6pm--??? Food, drink, art, music, door prizes! Nobody throws an opening like KRONOS!

FOLLOW-UP...

2008-04-03T05:39:00.000-07:00

This is the sequel to yesterday's blog (the subject of which has haunted us here at KRONOS for the past day).

The following are two follow-up letters, the first sent to the san francisco art institute, the second to the david zwirner gallery in New York City...

to the sfai:

Regarding abdessemed's exhibit you are a disgrace for even showing this, for even considering it! The sfai has publicly announced to the world that it is morally bankrupt. Your credibility is gone and whoever organized the show should resign in shame and rethink their place in the world.

to the david zwirner gallery:

To keep adel abdessemed as one of your artists states very clearly that you are morally bankrupt and that your credibility is gone. If the other artists on your roster had any backbone or conviction they would tell you what to do with your gallery!

Kevin Postupack
Director KRONOS Art Gallery

BIG CITY ART GALLERIES' MORAL BANKRUPTCY

2008-04-02T10:24:00.000-07:00

KRONOS found out about an EXTREMELY DISTURBING thing today in the world of art that all artists should be aware of. (Go to todayinart.com to learn more.) The Walter & Mcbean Galleries (a part of the San Francisco Art Institute) recently held an exhibit that is reprehensible on so many levels as to be mind-boggling. A so-called "artist" named adel abdessemed was given an exhibit there which consisted of videos he made of a goat, a horse, a fawn and other animals chained to a wall and then bludgeoned to death with a sledgehammer. The art gallery published the following blurb about the "artist" and his exhibit:

"Each killing occurs so quickly that it's difficult to determine definitively what has happened. Do these incidents represent slaughter or sacrifice? What are their social, cultural, moral, and political implications? Or are such questions now verging on irrelevance, as if something else altogether were taking place (or about to), something wholly other, unforeseen, unexpected? At once intimate and spectacular, abdessemed's work aims to convert the banal into the dramatic. Transforming everyday materials and images into unexpected and sometimes shocking expressions, his inventive gestures, as if by alchemy, work to undo dominant modes of perception and entrenched sociocultural norms--they work, in short, to generate new relevance for radical ideas and actions. Actively defying social, cutlural, moral, and religious taboos, abdessemed contrives to subvert common sense and knowledge, received wisdom, and established biopolitical systems."

Now if this isn't the BIGGEST CROCK OF SHIT that KRONOS has ever read! Once again, these are snuff films of animals being bludgeoned to death in the name of art! From this perspective I guess one can define Mengele's experiments at Auschwitz as art, and that adel abdessemed is in fact a "Mengelist"! This to KRONOS is almost unbelievable! (And once again the only kind of "modern art" to make it to the mainstream media is gratuitous shock-art while the REAL ARTISTS are still ignored en masse.) KRONOS deplores this utterly, and we urge thinking people everywhere to write letters of reproach and condemnation to the Walter Mcbean Galleries (exhibitions@sfai.edu) and the David Zwirner Gallery in NYC (angela@davidzwirner.com) which is unfortunate enough to represent adel abdessemed.

In closing, we include a copy of the letter KRONOS Art Gallery sent to the above two galleries:

Are you kidding me with your bullshit blurb regarding this so-called "artist's" horrendous exhibit (rightfully canceled--but the question is raised as to what "gallery" would be so fucked-up as to entertain this as "art" in the first place)? Instead of an exhibit and words of praise this freak should be arrested and forced to undergo psychological examination. People who kill defenseless animals without remorse, especially in a ritualistic way, are not artists but SOCIOPATHS! It just proves once again that the so-called high-end big city art galleries have their heads so far up their asses that they wouldn't know art if it bludgeoned THEM to death!... Now THERE'S an idea!

Kevin Postupack
Director KRONOS Art Gallery

Quote of the Month (April)

2008-04-01T15:15:00.001-07:00

"Indeed, life is a battle."
--Vincent Van Gogh