Donald Trump N.S.S.B.

His complaints, animosity, lying and rude vulgarity began in the presidential campaign and went into full blown anarchy on inauguration day. The size of his crowd as compared to that of President Obama’s became an issue. The popular vote loss as compared to Hillary Clinton’s numbers he raised as yet another question. The rounding out for day one was and remains; press coverage. This United States President would lead one to believe he hates the press, that it is unfair and false; but to the contrary he consumes the news (limited to television coverage) with an unbridled passion. Donald Trump is a "dangerous mind," a threat to himself and humanity and very much a ticking time bomb of a man. 

After reaching his one hundred day mark he had no real accomplishment. He had gotten his Supreme Court nominee appointed; but it took a major change in the decades old rule of a clear bi-partisan majority. He also won some favor for the bombing of Syria. There has been no follow up are any coherent plan of action or policy on the Syrian Civil War. By the same token his Muslim Travel Ban remains blocked and he is to date unable to replace and repeal affordable health care. He has multiple appointments yet to be made and his people remain under investigation for collusion with the Russians. Trump lives in the White alone and tweeting in the early morning hours. His weekends are lavish retreats to his ritzy Palm Beach, Florida digs. He spends his time golfing and gorging alone without his wife and young son.

Who gets it next???

Donald Trump having just returned from his first trip abroad; a venture very mixed in tone and accomplishment. He made an arms deal with the Totalitarian Saudi Monarchy. They sang each other’s praises and danced to world repressive and dominance.  He went on to bullying, insulting, boasting and mis-representing almost every protocol and diplomatic standard in the remainder of his trip. The European allies were little impressed with the man, especially Germany and France. This whiles his son-in-law; Jared Kushner becomes part of the Russian query, North Korea defiantly steps up their long range missile testing and his communications director’s sudden resignation. Trumps latest and biggest blast is his decision to drop out of the Paris Climate Accord. This is an incredibly bad move for the USA and the world at large. He may not recover as he has continually spiraled downward from his administration’s outset.

Mr. Trump; those in the Russian Government are not your or our friends (they are laughing at your ineptitude.) The press is not your enemy (it is the corner stone of and essential in a free republic.) With your tweets you are hurting yourself (Twitter is a form of social media not intended as a means of governing.)  Listen to Ivanka; you say she wants you to be a better person/leader. Mr. Trump; by every measure, you are failing miserably. Don’t make The United States a “Loser Nation” following the paths you consistently and irrationally seem compelled to take.

The "Zootopian Art" of Walton Ford

King Kong: Skull Island, Disney’s The Jungle book and Zootopia are all recent movie releases that I’m certain Walton Ford loves. Ford the accomplished contemporary artist; has a MFA in filmmaking and creates works as a fine artist that feature and reflect the creatures of nature and the natural world as his primary subjects. There is no possibility that he could not have loved these fore-mentioned films each possessing an uncanny resemblance and affinity of a definitive purpose and respect of commonality. Ford’s art could have been the basis of each films pre-production design and story-boards. Ford’s extraordinary depth and rang is unpatralled in his times for their achievement in the advancement of a form that has been largely ignored for decades. His lush, detailed, richly colored, exuberant pieces adorn many museums around the country and homes of the uber-rich.  

At first look Ford is a naturalist artist in the grand tradition of the likes of John J Audubon. He has painstakingly studied; primarily at the Rhode Island School of Design, New York’s Museum of Natural History and most importantly from “Mother Nature” herself. He parts from the traditionalist in his treatments of his subjects and places them often in very unnatural situations. He adorns his pieces with unusual texts; sometimes written in Latin that many times over are comedic, ironic and timely. 

The scale of Walton Ford’s art is also worthy of note. I have been fortunate enough to have seen his water-color representation of an Aurochs Bull on several occasions at Washington, DC’s American Art Museum. The dimensions of the work are 95” x 132.” It is divided into three sections and having first seen the work scaled down in the pages of “Art in America” magazine it remains a shockingly interesting as well as astonishingly beautiful experience to see this much larger than life master piece!

Ford remains ever and increasingly engaged in his work. He has recently done portraits of Kong, a commissioned Rolling Stones’ album cover and now depicts human beings in his paintings (usually as background embellishments.) Walton Ford thrives in his own “Zootopian World” as we benefit from his skill, devotion and Herculean extravagance of forms.  

 

...speaking of Neil Gaiman

 

Writer’s writer Neil Gaiman is among the most versatile and prolific in today’s world of social media, constant and “fake news” along with and among other such antics. Some would argue that books and the print medium are dying (if not already dead) but; Mr. Gaiman continues in the best tradition of  author, scribe, story-teller and historian in the most ancient,  beautiful and personal of forms; books. He is most recognized as creator of fantasy but his readership crosses over into main stream literature in almost every possible format. Gaiman creates original titles for novels, picture books and adolescent books along with screen plays, graphic novels and essays. If I’ve left anything out Neil; I apologize. His seminal piece; Sandman, initially written for DC Comics’ Vertigo line of adult fiction cemented his work as epic in form. Sandman consists in multiple books spanning possibly three generations of readers. 

Gaiman’s most recent publication is his retelling of the ancient tales of the Vikings. His “Norse Mythology” featuring Thor-the Mighty, Oden-The All Wise All Father, Loki-The  Shrewd, Heimdall-The Watcher,  Sif-The Lovely and a host of frost giants, dark elves and monsters. Gaiman is at his best and most comfortable with his telling’s of these most ancient of religious legends. Herein he is funny, engaging and full of remarkably unexpected twists. 

There is no one that could possibly speak more eloquently for Neil Gaiman than himself. Following are many of his quotes, insights and comments on his chosen art form. The remaining graphics (largely produced by his foremost collaborator artist Dave McKean) consist of images from his book covers, illustrations, film stills and most importantly the master story man’s own words.