We find ourselves at the end of a national election season, one cycling through a particularly depressed economic situation, but Americans, a generally hopeful, forward looking lot have become accustomed to growing in...We find ourselves at the end of a national election season, one cycling through a particularly depressed economic situation, but Americans, a generally hopeful, forward looking lot have become accustomed to growing incivility and resentment in their politics. This resentment stems from what Albert Borgmann defines as the character of our late modern age--we are both sullen and hyper in our daily lives. This situation comes at the intersection of long developing modern elements stemming from the control of nature via a universal scientific method at the behest of our own aggressive pursuit of individuality. The nature of our lives are in turn reinforced and reproduced by our frenetic militarized mobilization to recapture political and economic leadership at an international level. This goal, spurred on by an elite oligarchical vanguard, is reinforced by a ＂wealth defense industry,＂ developed in the late 20th century, designed to protect the wealth of our own elite class. This industry has stripped traditional cultural and academic sites of their ability or interest in interrogating the present status quo, and has rendered them fiat, uninspiring, and indolent in the face of growing income inequities and injustice. American political science has essentially become, in the vein of Marita Sturken＇s work, kitschified--facile, glib, and easily reproduced so as to act as a balm to our bruised, sullen egos, longing for an age of innocence-a smooth and glassy yet opaque history that eases our consciences and forgives the growing antidemocratic practices of our civil oligarchy.展开更多
Where do we draw the line of divinely inspired visionary art, and Christian kitsch？ Folk artists such as the Rev. Howard Finster and Sister Gertrude Morgan straddled the fence of kitsch and visionary art because they...Where do we draw the line of divinely inspired visionary art, and Christian kitsch？ Folk artists such as the Rev. Howard Finster and Sister Gertrude Morgan straddled the fence of kitsch and visionary art because they created work that was blatantly polemical and didactic, yet lived lives that inspired thousands of people across the US. The so-called ＂Southern Folk Art＂ movement consists of self-taught artists from the American South who are self-trained and rely heavily on ＂visions＂ and ＂prophetic words＂ as the genesis of their art. This article contends that the art produced by folk artists is documentation of their visionary insights as opposed to detached works that are admired for aesthetic reasons. While folk art of the American South portrays the charismatic imagination with themes of eschatological community and the second coming, it is the ＂visionary artist＂ that is contemplated, rather than his or her bona fide message of redemption and re-creation.展开更多
文摘We find ourselves at the end of a national election season, one cycling through a particularly depressed economic situation, but Americans, a generally hopeful, forward looking lot have become accustomed to growing incivility and resentment in their politics. This resentment stems from what Albert Borgmann defines as the character of our late modern age--we are both sullen and hyper in our daily lives. This situation comes at the intersection of long developing modern elements stemming from the control of nature via a universal scientific method at the behest of our own aggressive pursuit of individuality. The nature of our lives are in turn reinforced and reproduced by our frenetic militarized mobilization to recapture political and economic leadership at an international level. This goal, spurred on by an elite oligarchical vanguard, is reinforced by a ＂wealth defense industry,＂ developed in the late 20th century, designed to protect the wealth of our own elite class. This industry has stripped traditional cultural and academic sites of their ability or interest in interrogating the present status quo, and has rendered them fiat, uninspiring, and indolent in the face of growing income inequities and injustice. American political science has essentially become, in the vein of Marita Sturken＇s work, kitschified--facile, glib, and easily reproduced so as to act as a balm to our bruised, sullen egos, longing for an age of innocence-a smooth and glassy yet opaque history that eases our consciences and forgives the growing antidemocratic practices of our civil oligarchy.
文摘Where do we draw the line of divinely inspired visionary art, and Christian kitsch？ Folk artists such as the Rev. Howard Finster and Sister Gertrude Morgan straddled the fence of kitsch and visionary art because they created work that was blatantly polemical and didactic, yet lived lives that inspired thousands of people across the US. The so-called ＂Southern Folk Art＂ movement consists of self-taught artists from the American South who are self-trained and rely heavily on ＂visions＂ and ＂prophetic words＂ as the genesis of their art. This article contends that the art produced by folk artists is documentation of their visionary insights as opposed to detached works that are admired for aesthetic reasons. While folk art of the American South portrays the charismatic imagination with themes of eschatological community and the second coming, it is the ＂visionary artist＂ that is contemplated, rather than his or her bona fide message of redemption and re-creation.
