Masturbation is an Acceptable Virgin Activity
Art as Authority's own Michael Arata presents new work in the Chapel of Mary's Parents, San Bernardino CA from May 25 - July 29, 2006. Opening/Vernissage Thursday, June 15, 5 to 7pm
California State University, San Bernardino
Robert V. Fullerton Art Museum
5500 University Parkway
San Bernardino, CA 92407
Tel. 909.537.7373
For the occasion, Michael Arata has published a 24 page catalog of the works presented entitled "Virgin T's". Michael asked me to write the essay to accompany the publication which I glady accepted. You will find it below in its entirety with several excerpts from the catalog. Copies are available for purchase by contacting artasauthority@artasauthority.com Cost is $20. Many thanks and gratitude to Michael for allowing me this opportunity. KF
FAITH FASHION
You shouldn’t believe that the T-Shirt you’re likely wearing right now is a modern invention. By today’s standards, a T-Shirt is a walking bulletin board with your favourite designer label silk-screened onto it. Michael Arata knows this already because ancient history taught him that the boys in marketing around the time that Jesus was dining on his last bit of foie gras, commonly referred to as the Last Supper, had an enlightening idea for Jesus’ resurrection. On the third day, Jesus rose with a T-Shirt made out of distressed cotton painted purple that said in Times New Roman: “I went to Mount Golgotha and all I got was this lousy T-Shirt”.
However, the “tee” shirt as it is also affectionately called was really the brain child of Mary, the Virgin. Her nickname the Virgin fit her like a “T”. And while we’re at it, here’s something else you might not know about the Virgin Mary. You probably confuse the story of Mary and the Immaculate Conception with a virgin birth, angels and the like, but it didn’t quite happen that way. According to the Wikipedia Free Encyclopedia, “The Immaculate Conception is a Catholic dogma that asserts Mary, the mother of Jesus, was preserved by God from the stain of original sin at the time of HER own conception”. Furthermore, “Mary was conceived by normal biological means (her parents had sex), but her soul was acted upon by God or kept immaculate”. Mary grew up living a life completely free of sin and stayed a Virgin Mary. Fortunately, peer pressure in those days was nothing compared to today. For the record, it was the Miraculous Conception, not the Immaculate Conception nor L’Immaculée Conception by André Breton and Paul Eluard, that involved the Angel Gabriel and the Virgin Mary.
That historic event marked the first time since the birth of (wo)MAN that virginity became both a liability and a commodity, simultaneously: a burden from birth, yet a treasure to be protected by overly zealous fathers and chastity belts, only to be unlocked within the sanctity of marriage; a prize commodity sought after so ardently, perhaps even more than the Holy Grail, which every man swore his honour and allegiance to but so very few actually had partaken. Mary understood this dilemma and when the Angel Gabriel swooped down from the Heavens to announce his fertile message, Mary was already wearing a T-Shirt that said “What, me worry?” Only since James Dean hit the movie screens in a virgin white T-Shirt and faded blue jeans that clung to his ass like Pamela Anderson’s tits in a wet t-shirt contest have T-Shirts enjoyed such popularity. That is, of course, until Michael Arata got a hold of them.
Isn’t this what it’s all about anyway? Getting hold of something virginal, pure white, Snow White, oil, land, your daughter’s fifteen year old girlfriend with the pointy breasts that never wears a bra that you just want to gut up the middle Lolita-style? Managing perceptions, rumours, beliefs, religion, culture - did she or didn’t she get fucked in the ass. Perception: Every time you use the word fuck from now on, replace it with the word suck and you’ll see how it changes your world. Spin. Artists do it all the time. So do Presidents. So does the Church. The Vatican has known this for decades and capitalized on it. The Religious Left, the Religious Right it’s all about you believing that what you expect, desire, want to be the TRUTH - or is at the very least accepted behaviour carried out under the supervision of your peers, society or government.
Michael is carrying on a time honoured tradition, spreading the WORD, crusading to restore and reform; cleansing us of our Original Sin, giving us all a second chance, a second Virginity, filling us with a child’s innocence, under one Democratic Nation and one merciful GOD. Like any other grassroots movement, Michael’s gospel gets out by word of mouth, bumper stickers, rallies, T-Shirts and nowadays, text-messaging, DVD’s and Power Point presentations. Michael even owns and operates his own franchised Church of Mary’s Parents complete with urban Stained Glass windows. He might not have been the first to welcome all spiritual denominations into his Church, but Michael clearly has been the first to accept all major credit cards through Ticketmaster to secure a ticket to paradise. You might think these Virgin T-Shirts are a joke, and you’re probably thinking that they’re art as well; Christ, what else could they be? But you’re not sure. It’s a tough place to be with your pants down around your ankles looking silly looking at silly art no? OK, so they’re a bit kitschy sometimes. God knows that there are a million T-Shirts out there with Adidas plastered on the front, made in China and finding their way into Africa and Palestine but it’s all good. We live in a Democracy – everyone shares in the wealth.
But the real question is do you care about what you’ve become, what you wear, the car you drive, the God you pray to, the food you eat, the art you frequent? Of course you do. IM, Image Management, I told you. Pretend to be cool, pretend to be a virgin, pretend to be an artist if it helps, but it doesn’t matter and it won’t matter in today’s society cause they are all inflated currencies. Take another look at Michael Arata’s work; it is through any lens titillating without the cheap theatrics of a red light district whore or barroom stripper. The Prophet Mohammed can take you to the mountain but he can’t make you jump unless you believe. Michael has taken us up there many times before. Jump, you’ll see and you just might find that what you discover at the bottom hurts a lot harder than the fall. Open your eyes. This is you.
Kevin Freitas
04/10/06
Television space is fishbowl space. There's a world going on in there: that exclamation might be made by a child-person looking, from out of the large world he/she is in, into the small world behind either the aquarium-glass or the TV-screen. In the case of the TV, the world is on something, on-screen, not (as in the case of the aquarium) in something, in the bowl; but, unlike movies, the TV screen isn't all, there's something behind it, something underneath it all - the TV tube lies behind the screen. We know that the screen is only the facade of the box; even now that the screen can be drastically reduced in size - as in the two-inch "
For the film, Art School Confidential, you don't need a Picasso to decipher my blog title. Artists "under 60" should steer clear of movie theaters showing this current film. And if you didn't read this blog warning first, (before reaching into your billfold for movie money and viewing this sick but very real film about the artworld) you might want to change your life course. The movie does tell it like it is, but barely. I would like to know where Malkovich (or better, Clowes) got the statistic that "only one out of a hundred make a living as an artist". Try one out of two hundred or so, maybe. This movie is very cheesy with a lot of really stupid stereotypical students at a New York art school and very corny punchlines. The 3 male roommates, the "big headed" wanna be film maker, the fashion design student who FINALLY! realizes he is gay--come on, gimme a break! And lastly, the very naive and forlorn main character of the movie, Jerome, who is majoring in drawing and painting and wants to be "the best artist of the 21st century"! Where was his brain at? I wonder just how many art students out there think they could be the greatest? You really MUST have talent, know the right people (connections), be in the right place/city at the right time... and PRAY. OR you can do what Jerome did....STEAL (and I'm NOT telling you what, just in case you might have nothing else better to do than to see this film), end up in jail for a crime he didn't commit and then, because of all the publicity, becoming a celeb in the art world. So, is the moral of the film to "create a BIG stir" (does shock have value?) to get "known" or must we all hang up our brushes??? woof woof.
Mais la peinture habite aussi certains romans. Attiré par le thème, il en faut bien un pour s’y retrouver dans le foisonnement éditorial, j’ai rassemblé, au gré de mes errances, quelques ouvrages sur l’étagère de ma bibliothèque. Le fondement de cette collection trouve son origine dans mon intérêt à lire « Le Chef d’Œuvre Inconnu », célèbre roman d’Honoré de Balzac. L’histoire campe un peintre fougueux et secret, Frenhofer, qui préfigure, avant l’heure, l’informel gestuel. Dans sa peinture, son chef d’œuvre, aboutissement de l’histoire, seul un pied sublime subsiste de son combat acharné avec la figure. Fiction pour l’époque, le roman écrit vers 1831 augure l’engagement expressionniste et la vigueur abstraite.
JAMES RENIER
ARTWALK made its annual San Diego appearance last weekend in downtown's Little Italy, a chic neighborhood with high rent condos and high incomes. Larger than last year by all reports and packed with art goers and lovers, a few buyers, live music and bratwurst to go. A good time I believe was had by all. This was the first ARTWALK I had attended; my fellow art walkers, Richard Gleaves, Maura Vazakas and Aileen Rodosevich had already visited many times before. Somehow I knew this year was going to be different and I wasn't disappointed.
