The People's Cube - Political Satire

On January 29, 2007, the progressive visitors of Berkeley and San Francisco lined up at the Doe Library on the University of California campus to enjoy a poetic rendition of the kind of stuff that's happening in their bedrooms on weekends (minus cocaine).

The topic of ABBA Ghraib has already been discussed on the Cube: we theorized about a torture chamber where detainees with tied feet are forced to listen to a looped tape of Dancing Queen for hours on end, unable to even as much as tap their feet to the fabulous rhythm.

Pictures don't usually render sounds, but this talented painter's S&M fantasies do bring up certain echoes of the erstwhile Village People hits. I wonder how many of the Berkeley and San Francisco attendees secretly thanked the artist for giving them fresh ideas they could re-enact later that night at the bath house.

ZombieTime.com posted this report

In 2005, renowned Colombian artist Francisco Botero unveiled a series of over 80 paintings and drawings which depicted stylized renditions of the prisoner abuse by American guards at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

I attended the opening night festivities on January 29, 2007, where these photos were taken.

Botero has stated in several interviews ... that he intended to create a modern-day "Guernica," referring to Picasso's famous painting of the Nazi bombing of a Spanish town in 1937. As Botero puts it, "Art is a permanent accusation."

Botero admits that his paintings don't depict what actually happened at Abu Ghraib; instead, inspired by the famous Seymour Hersh article about the abuses at the prison, Botero simply wanted to "visualize what was really happening there." (Fake but accurate?)

This reminds me of Hollywood's propensity for excessive fantasy violence, especially sexual violence - created by people who claim to oppose it. Take the recent Sundance Festival showing a rape of a 12-year-old girl while Elvis Presley is heard singing in the background, or a man dying from a ruptured colon after having sex with a horse in a barn.

The creators, distributors, and their captive fans will tearfully cite important social causes and the need to raise awareness of these difficult issues of our time - but let's face it: they secretly enjoy watching it. The fantasy scenes of dark sexual violence tickle their swollen taboo glands - all other explanations are mere side effects.

This also reminds me of Some Gnostic cults in the Middle Ages who engaged in ritualistic sexual orgies under a pious pretense of mortification of the flesh and fighting sin by sin.

And, of course, this reminds me of the Soviet youth magazines that published occasional stories about Western rock'n'roll bands to "illustrate the decadence" of the Western lifestyle, and the information-deprived Soviet teens who used to read those stories religiously, so as "to learn more about the degenerate culture of the class enemy."

On TV, Young Communist League (Komsomol) activists feigned disgust while discussing Black Sabbath or Iron Maiden. And everybody knew that the journalists, the readers, the activists, and the viewers all secretly enjoyed this music, which was declared a taboo by the Party's mind control apparatus.

Today's Islamic societies have more artificially imposed taboos than the Soviet Politburo could dream of. Perhaps, the proverbial resentment of the Western culture in the Middle East can be partially explained by the fact that most people find themselves secretly enjoying it and are horrified by the idea that someone in their family, especially women, might do the same.

Why else would Mohammed Atta go to a strip club on the night before the terrorist attack? Let's face it: all those Muslims who have moved to the West but claim they resent its culture are hypocrites. Just like the liberal Berkeley crowd, they secretly enjoy the fantasy of breaking cultural taboos while piously condemning it in reality.

It is important to distinguish between the natural and necessary taboos (incest, rape, pedophilia) and the artificial ones (rock music, bikinis, female sexuality). When they get thrown together into one Abu Ghraib-style pile - intentionally or not - one man's perverted Technicolor dream becomes another man's neck being slowly sliced off on a grainy terror video.

Ironically, the Berkeley crowd refers to those armed with the rusty saw as "freedom fighters."

Back to square one.

Cycle of violence, anybody?

A comment on Fernando Botero's art:

In one word: kitsch.

In more than one word: Simplified aesthetics for the unwashed masses: static, shapeless, blunt, devoid of nuance that makes it easy to draw (and to color by numbers), and also easy to grasp in its entirety within a couple of seconds. The lack of artistic detail goes hand in hand with the lack of psychological detail. No thinking is required. You've been told what to think by this piece of "art." Move along, there's a long line of comrades in the back who also want to be aesthetically educated by "art."

Conclusion: In its spiritual and intellectual values Botero's art approaches (and almost equals) The People's Cube! Nobody is too slow, nobody is too smart, everybody is equal! Approved by the Teachers Union! A model for progressive education reform - no more failing grades!

This came in the email from Zombie

Zombie wrote:Wow, that's a nasterful essay. (I was going to write "masterful," but once I saw my n-themed typo, I realized it perfectly described the whole situation.) You did a whole lot more philosophizing about that exhibit than I did even. Suddenly, I feel so significant. But yeah, the hypocrites in the audience nauseated me. What their sexual thrill comes from is not the whips and blood, but the humiliation; they literally shudder with pleasure when they perceive an underdog being humiliated and oppressed by a capitalist dominator. The sexuality of righteousness!

What I didn't reveal in my Botero coverage is that there were "NO CAMERAS ALLOWED" signs posted everywhere inside and outside the gallery, and they were checking all bags and searching people for cameras before letting them in. Only a couple of media members were allowed to have them, and they had to agree not to show the art. Me, however, I snuck a camera in in my shoe (!!! it's a small camera), and -- knowing that I would swiftly get kicked out -- loitered around nonchalantly for a few minutes and then extricated the camera and took as many pictures as I could in a 30-second spree before practically being tackled by a guard and frog-marched out the door! Seriously! I bleated, "I didn't know cameras weren't allowed!" It was all over in a flash. But I got just enough images to make a report out of it -- I supplemented my own snaps with jpegs I found on the Web.

Sometimes one must sacrifice oneself for art!

-- z

Red Square wrote:A comment on Fernando Botero's art:
In one word: kitsch.
In more than one word: Simplified aesthetics for the unwashed masses: static, shapeless, blunt, devoid of nuance that makes it easy to draw (and to color by numbers), and also easy to grasp in its entirety within a couple of seconds. The lack of artistic detail goes hand in hand with the lack of psychological detail. No thinking is required. You've been told what to think by this piece of "art." Move along, there's a long line of comrades in the back who also want to be aesthetically educated by "art."
Conclusion: In its spiritual and intellectual values Botero's art approaches (and almost equals) The People's Cube! Nobody is too slow, nobody is too smart, everybody is equal! Approved by the Teachers Union! A model for progressive education reform - no more failing grades!

Your Coruscant Incarnadine Quadrilateral,
It brings to mind the clumsy attempts of an adolescent art student who, upon finding what they believe to be a profound subject, then attempts to mimic the style of Diego Rivera in order to synthesize two "concepts" (undefined but 'emo' so clearly valid) that are somehow loosely associated in their self-absorbed cerebrum... no doubt while wearing a Che T-shirt...

I give it three thumbs up!

Also... Botero has a thing for fat women...

There's nothing wrong with a good pudgy woman of proletarian or peasant stock - here's an example from the Motherland that supports this pont.

<img width="540" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... _venus.jpg">

Boris Kustodiev. Russian Venus. 1926. Nizhny Novgorod Museum of Art.

My point exactly. Clearly, Kustodiev has respect for this person and it is apparent in the fact that he gives her character, emotion... he captures her doing something classically Russian... traditional, using leaves to scrub herself while bathing as they might in communal peasant bathhouses and something that is still done today even in many Russian spas... she is smiling... One can imagine her laugh.

The Bathroom 1989
The Bathroom 1993

Botero's The Bathroom 1989, not to be confused with The Bathroom 1993, leaves us with nothing... there is no nobility in this woman's cellulite... no character... it is so lacking in anything that might give us clues to who she is that she becomes a cypher... an object, and that lack of humanity makes her almost repulsive. The Bathroom 1993 is worse as she is even more faceless...

Clearly, Kustodiev had a love of his subject - a respect, and a wish to celebrate her. Botero's woman is a thing... not a person... she is objectified to the point of fetishism.

He is a bad, bad man!

Sister Massively Opiated wrote:Botero's woman is a thing... not a person... she is objectified to the point of fetishism.

Thank you for saying it. I was thinking the same but didn't have the right words. His Abu Ghraib prisoners are not persons either. They are objectified fetish items. That's what the San-Fran crowd likes most, I guess...

Art, shmart! One man's art is another man's porn star tied spread eagle on a borsht-stained Sealy Posturepedic with . . . oops, sorry, wrong thread.

But like I was saying, after viewing these important works of People's Art, I am so insulted at the degradation of those poor unfortunate terrorists whose only crime was the premeditated murder of innocent women and children, that I feel myself becoming radicalized. My inner-terrorist is threatening to join "the resistence." Unless I receive an immediate apology and a large cash settlement to subdue my legitimate wrath, I just might . . . oh wait, I'm not a Muslim. Curses!

Another one by Kustodiev -

The Merchant's Wife. 1918. Oil on canvas. The Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia.

This one has deliberately kitschy overtones to convey this woman's world and her lifestyle. It's obviously done with a tongue firmly in cheek - and yet she's not being objectified. Also look at the masterful attention to detail. In fact, finished one year after the Revolution, this picture no longer reflected the reality of the time - it was more of a nostalgic recollection of the good old stuffy bourgeois boredom that had been lost forever. People may have disparaged that life laughingly before, but what came next made many bitterly regret the change.

<img width="540" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... s_Wife.jpg">

Nice samovar!

THATS NOT A PAINTING! THAT'S MY EX-WIFE! Garrggghhh! (of course she was much, much, much, much older when I met her...which was in '94) She was still rich no doubt, took her filthy wads of Rubels and headed to Paris after the Glorious Revolution...<sigh> I still miss her, tis a shame she had to die for me to pay off that Yacht (which burned in a fire three months before it was payed off) <looks around nervously> none of you are with the Insurance Kulaks are you? I have to be going now... I was never here! Forget everything I just said!

Here are some HOT Russian woman in Soviet art.

SMO wrote:Clearly, Kustodiev had a love of his subject - a respect, and a wish to celebrate her. Botero's woman is a thing... not a person... she is objectified to the point of fetishism.

He is a bad, bad man!

Isn't that the point though - to turn something human into nothing more than an animal (or more bluntly: a pile of flesh and nerves with hair sticking out?) After all, the Party does pride itself in considering human beings as nothing more than Macaca. Of course in Bio we are told that the Macaca is our evolutionary ancestor and that we gradually evolved into the "things" we are today because of the Macaca. Yet, if someone with the right political affiliation were to call me Macaca he/she/it would be stating a truth... whereas If I were to call someone Macaca I would be deemed a racist, bigot, intolerant and hateful knuckle-dragging Nazi. Once again we see the glorious Double-Standard of Hope coming into play. Some things are acceptable to the *proper peoples* while they are taboo to the *lesser peoples*. You would think though the Botero would paint a more "human face" on his ABBA Ghraib subjects to get the desired effect of moral outrage? Hmm, or maybe he wishes us to see both the dogs and the detainees as one in the same (very unlikely, but a fun way to twist things).

Caca!

Premier Brezhnev wrote:Here are some HOT Russian woman in Soviet art.

As a progressive person, I enjoy exploring the realms of self-deprication and humiliation. I have found the services of a dominatrix quite instructive in my excursions into personal debasement for The Common Good™. Lady Astrid, my dominatrix, looks remarkably similar to the idealized specimen of collectivism shown in the picture above. She's so pure and wholesome on the outside, but quite the Torquemada on the inside.

I'll have to have Lady Astrid whip me with wheat at our next session! Grrrr...........

Good Chairman, if you haven't been to see Lady Astrid, I highly recommend her. Talk about professionalism.

My dearest friend and confidant, Dr. Palimpsest, so eloquently wrote:Good Chairman, if you haven't been to see Lady Astrid, I highly recommend her. Talk about professionalism.

My goodness, Dr. P - she is one tough cookie! I would let her paddle my bloated behind with that red book of truth any day or night! Is she cheap or does she require The People's Tax-Dollars; I happen to have a sweaty wad on my person now if she requires the "finer things" in life. I know *personally* how hard it is not having at least ONE stretch limo, let alone going without three!

To guilt free perversity! *clink*

Punchy, old pal, you'd better take two phat rolls of Franklins. Astrid's a member of USWUNA (United Sex Workers' Union of North Amerika) and the bosses demand their fair share of The People's Tax-Dollars™. She's worth every red cent, though - but so are we, my friend, so are we! <laughs with an air of self-congratulation>

Using wheat as a bookmark in The Red Tome of Truth (aka Das Kapital),

Cheers, *clink*

--Dr. P

P.S., Most magnanimous Chairman, I must thank you for sending over that wonderful set of wine glasses made from the finest Konflict Krystal. Your taste is impeccable.

Oh good! I was wondering if you got that little care package of wine glasses (it is of the finest quality; I heard a few Hollywood Celebs are trying to get their hands on that kind of Konflict Krystal!). Yes, those useful-idiots are going to have to sleep around a little bit more to get their paws on that kind of *luxury* item!

Cheers, *clink*

Meowsevich

Meow,

Just a humble request... this cold has come back tonight with a vengeance and I have just spent the last six hours sleeping... could you try your best to hit the crapper when you start your nightly purge? Please... just for tonight... I'm really not feeling so hot...

Thanks
SMO

The comrades at Berkeley probably haven't seen this Abu Ghraib variation, from Iran:
https://www.palpress.ps/images/lib1/s0gfmebthzp5.jpg
That is Mohammed "Dialogue of Civilizations" Khatami in the imam's clothing. Palpress.ps is a Hamas website.
My congratulations to Khatami on his recent honorary Doctor of Laws degree from St. Andrew's University.

That's just their way of peacefully expressing themselves for all to see.

I knew David Blain was Palestinean... and to think he was hanging above London in a lucite box for eigth months... what if he had a dirty bomb...

If he had a dirty bomb, then the toiling masses wouldn't require electricity or light bulbs to make light, and could operate in the dark by their own glowing light. That way, we can still take their tax dollars for that particular service and keep even more of the money for ourselves!

Sister Massively Opiated wrote:My point exactly. Clearly, Kustodiev has respect for this person and it is apparent in the fact that he gives her character, emotion... he captures her doing something classically Russian... traditional, using leaves to scrub herself while bathing as they might in communal peasant bathhouses and something that is still done today even in many Russian spas... she is smiling... One can imagine her laugh.

The Bathroom 1989
The Bathroom 1993

Botero's The Bathroom 1989, not to be confused with The Bathroom 1993, leaves us with nothing... there is no nobility in this woman's cellulite... no character... it is so lacking in anything that might give us clues to who she is that she becomes a cypher... an object, and that lack of humanity makes her almost repulsive. The Bathroom 1993 is worse as she is even more faceless...

Clearly, Kustodiev had a love of his subject - a respect, and a wish to celebrate her. Botero's woman is a thing... not a person... she is objectified to the point of fetishism.

He is a bad, bad man!

OWWWWWWWWW! my poor bleeding eyes.

Can't we please have more of the lusty-Muslim-comrade-babe in the original post and less of the slendersexiness-challenged types depicted by Botero? Please? Pretty please?

There are some things that even party members ought not to see.

Oh... by all means... check out Iran's Next Top Martyr...

Dr. W. S. Palimpsest wrote:

Premier Brezhnev wrote:Here are some HOT Russian woman in Soviet art.

As a progressive person, I enjoy exploring the realms of self-deprication and humiliation. I have found the services of a dominatrix quite instructive in my excursions into personal debasement for The Common Good™. Lady Astrid, my dominatrix, looks remarkably similar to the idealized specimen of collectivism shown in the picture above. She's so pure and wholesome on the outside, but quite the Torquemada on the inside.

I'll have to have Lady Astrid whip me with wheat at our next session! Grrrr...........

Good Chairman, if you haven't been to see Lady Astrid, I highly recommend her. Talk about professionalism.

Send her my way. There is always an open room in the Kremlin

Sister Massively Opiated wrote:Oh... by all means... check out Iran's Next Top Martyr...

Oh that was just what I needed. Little Mosque on the Prairie was particularly nice. Instead of a blind Mary could there have been a blind Shiek?

hot stuff!

i think it's great picture...