Author: wjacobr

Visual artist, poet, novelist, activist & Street Medic, living in North. Penn Name: Jacob Russell My blog is a confluence of art, writing, politics. my Art portfolio: Art-by-Willard.com

Rest in Power, David Graeber.

Rest in Power, David Graeber.
A dialog.

A: When a good person dies, they move to another plane to further their good among the living.

B: Ah… if only I could still believe in these beautiful dreams…

A: And why can’t you, now?

B: Because there is no “other plane.” There’s only here, and now, in this life.

A: But that’s where the other plane come into existence.

B: What do you mean?

A: A person carries their good with them, in their
actions and love while they are alive–and we look to them to help us believe and trust as they do–that’s what changes.

B: Please explain.

A: When they die–we no longer look outside ourselves to find what made them what they were–but what they were, lives now within all who knew them–and far beyond, in ever growing numbers of those who knew only of their good through others.

A. The other plane, then… 

B. Yes… lies within us. Can you not feel it welling up within, out of the very mourning of their loss?

#1165 (reworked) Homo Agonistes

Thalo blue glaze to bring that almost-crimson red-violet, to purple–and give the figure dimension with it’s yellow compliment.
This should be much larger: maybe, 72×36.. . but where would I put them, when I make more than 100 new pieces a year? I feel defeated, even when I’m ok with a piece.
See comparison with last version HERE:
https://jacobrussellsmagicnames.com/2020/08/24/1165-homo-agonistes/.

22×26. Oil over acrylic on canvas

Abstract Abstract Acrylic Painting Abstract oil painting Abstract painting abstract watercolor Acrylic Ink activism Anarchists Ari Figue's Cat Art Art & Capitalism Art Criticism Assemblages capitalism Cityscape series Collage colonialism Criticism drawing dreams ink Journaling Literature Metalpoint Mixed Medea mixed media Occupy Philly Oil on canvas Oil painting Pavement Series Pen & ink Pen & Ink & watercolor Philosophy Photographs Poetry Police State Political Politics religion revolution Rhizomatics (Cells Words Maps) Urban Street Sketching watercolor watercolor & ink Willard Art

#1164 Shroud No. 5, Illuminated from Within.

24×18 Oil over acrylic ground on canvas. Have been playing with this technique, and beginning to get what I wanted. I think this is going to be a series. … of shrouds.  This has since been reworked, as Shroud in a Sea of Blood and Fire — see the post above.

#1164
View more work at Saatchi Art, and on my web portfolio: ART BY WILLARD For photos on this blog, click MY ART on the right panel and scroll down.

Burning ambition…

An image that haunts … I see what’s happening., and it near pushes me to want to self-immolate in front of some establishment whatever..
but I know it won’t make any difference. Any more than the monks in Vietnam. Or Norman Morrison..(does anyone remember, Norman Morrison? … . but it still haunts me, as a way out, as pain that may be sufficient to burn away the pain I feel inside me.

http://100photos.time.com/photos/malcolm-browne-burning-monk

Journal: November, 2016. Post election

I finally got a couple hours of sleep.

The rage has dissolved into tears, and the tears into grim resolve. It’s time to wipe the tears, to do what must be done… and then… to laugh, a laughter sadder than tears.

Do I bother to draw water to drink? Do I prepare food to break the fast? This pen, and these brushes? Is there any reason to pick them up, to make marks on this paper?

How many times I’ve wondered–what was it like, in Germany, 1933?

I think about the people who voted for … I will not write that name, or let it pass my lips… the ‘good Germans’

I will not be a ‘Good German.’ I will not be a ‘Good German.’

No more, the prattle of the ‘realists.’ No more talk of following those who ‘get things done.’ There is no longer any reality worth living, but that which we take up and create for ourselves.

Love, Solidarity, Imagination…RESISTANCE!