Art (frame-of-mind) History

As I’ve discussed before, I think that our culture has a perspective on drawing that is oriented to an “Art frame-of-mind,” which is opposition to a “Language frame-of-mind.” While Language stresses communality and shared signs, the main threads in the Art frame-of-mind are Iconicity, Individuality, and Innovation. These are cultural orientations in the “West” that impact the way we treat drawing and the way has developed in our culture.

Now, I’m not an art historian, nor do I really want to devote a great deal of my own time to researching it, but the thought did arise of how the Art threads arose. Medieval drawing seemed fairly uniform in terms of style – more conventionality than iconicity or individuality. Where did the change occur?

My speculation would place Iconicity starting around the Renaissance period, along with the growth toward accurate anatomy and perspective. It was a period of learning about nature instead of dogma, and so drawing was culled from perception of nature. I’m guessing that the Individuality and Innovation threads arose in response to this Iconicity, especially with more modern movements like impressionism and abstract art.

But, all this is guesswork. If anyone with more drive, knowledge, or resources for these issues wants to confirm or squash these speculations, I’d be first in line to read up on them.

We the People, third times the charm?

Hey, I just found out We the People: A Call to Take Back America has now entered its third printing in about two years. Not bad I'd say. Unfortunately, the subject matter will stay relevant for a long time to come, even when this administration has gone and left (assuming they do leave... gulp).

For those who have it already, how many comic creator cameos can you spot in it?

Six degrees of Wikipedia

As many people are now discovering, there's a fun new tool called "Six Degrees of Wikipedia" which does just what one thinks: finds the connections between entries. Alas though, stumped it on my second try. It seems "Karl Marx" and "George Bush" are separated by over ten entries, so it gave me an error! Sounds about right actually...

The Antecedent

I'm always one to plug good works, especially political ones, so here's the "press release" for a new monthly strip at Comixpedia:

Bryant Paul Johnson is a very talented artist who creates a regular comic (comics are not just for kids!) called Teaching Baby Paranoia that wonderfully blends history, fiction and footnotes.

His new series The Antecedent looks at events in American history that eerily parallel current events today. The first installment "Two Fisted Shenanigans" tackled fiscal conflict of interest in the Washington administration - Jack Abramoff was not the first scoundrel in the lobbies of government. The second, just posted installment "Seditious Acts" looks at the Alien & Sedition Act in the Adams Administration - the original Patriot Act in American history.

In my book with Thom Hartmann, we bring up several parallels between older and current politics, including the Alien and Sedition Acts. Nevertheless, I encourage everyone to check out this new strip!