Second, its sad and insulting to the craft when artists attention whore to the masses by making subversive pieces about celebrities and current events.

The 9/11 falling sculpture, the Hillary bust, the bronze shoe (in memory of the one thrown at bush), the obama “hope” graffiti, and now this painting and the Michelle bust.

It gets the art world buzzing and puts money in the artists pockets, but in return makes the rest of the world take artistic statements less and less seriously each time.

Ron,

I think your wife and many others would like to see something aimed at the huge piles of money spent in the sports world…in particular

-men with their fists full of cash, cash falling out of thier pockets:

. walking to sports stadiums away from their wives at home in run down
housing, with babies crying for food/milk
.at stadiums spending gobs of money on
.tickets
.fast food, vendors with money falling our of their pockets
.placing bets with each other
.taking their sons with them to teach them their ways
.etc

-athletes
.wearing expensive uniforms,$ signs
.living in mansions
.advertising cigaretts
.driving Hummers around smoke-clogged cities
.signing balls, photes, shirts, caps, etc

-men watching sports on TV who are
.fat and sloppy
.eating junk food
.smoking with smoke clouds over their heads
.baby in crib in room, criying
.some sleeping or passed out
.betting each other on game, fists full of money
.wearing team caps, shirts, fingers
.mess all around them
.shouting, angry
.exhausted woman in kitchen clean, neat, and organized with men
entering and leaving, and at frig to get more food, hands loaded
with food and drinks, spilling it all over floor and in frig
.men’s gas-guzzeling cars parked at house

-Univ campuses
….with stadiums full of athletes in expensive uniforms and
money falling out of bulging pochets,
.major league recruiters
with arms over shoulders of players offering lots of money, other
players running out to field to play and those still in locker room,
surounded by recruiters, climbing over each other, offering
lots money, contracts with big leagues
.players still in locker room
putting in their lockers their exams and research
with F’s, low scores, or professor notes to redo paper
…..next to univ stadiums are
students slaving over books,
.in dorms, with photos, on desks next to books,
of parents or large families with younger children
.in libraries and classrooms, with bubbles over their heads
about their parents at home slaving at work to earn tuition
and expensive books
.campus entrance with large $ over doors

Students with graduation caps still on
carrying diplomas in one hand with A’s and B’s and
job contracts in other hand with a tiny $ on them
walking into
.science labs
.schools
.hospitals (?)
.art galleries
.etc
.athletes with diplomas with F’s and contracts with many large $$
walking into stadiums

etc, etc.

Thanks,
Nancy

How many big-time art dealers do you know who would hijack billboards with and for their artist’s?

People need to stop the lies about Daniel Lahoda. He is a stand-up guy. I’ve dropped thousands of dollars in his gallery, and he always come through with the coolest, rarest artwork, and always does it with class and sophistication… Daniel Lahoda is the man in this game; people need to trust him. Street Art wouldn’t be what it is without his efforts.

Lincoln’s own words… he is AGAINST redistribution of wealth… Obama’s policies are based on redistribution of wealth “share the wealth” as he calls it. These two men are NOTHING alike!

In his continuing ‘symbolism over substance’ offensive, Obama and his believers like to draw the appealing comparison to Abraham Lincoln: he is another tall man from Illinois who is above politics, or who is very appealing, etc.

There are problems with this analogy. The main contradiction I would like to point out is that of oratory and presentation. Many have pointed out Lincoln’s Cooper Union speech in New York as launching his political career and that is true enough. What they fail to point out is that Lincoln undoubtedly succeeded in spite of his appearance and presentation, not because of it. It was what he was saying and not how he was saying it at all that helped Cooper Union launch Lincoln.

Carl Sandburg in his famous biography of Lincoln describes his “high, squeaky voice” with its Western nasally twang, which immediately put him at a disadvantage with the Eastern bigwigs. His appearance was off-putting to say the least: he was gangly, over-tall and long, awkward and most said ugly. We now suspect this jarring impression might have been caused by disease.

There is no doubt really as to who the most hated President was in history (when he was serving). It was Lincoln. What was the main subject of the vitriolic, vicious attacks? It was his appearance and presentation. His speeches, for instance, were routinely panned as an embarrassment to the country. One famous example is the Gettysburg Address. Edward Everett’s lengthy address was universally acclaimed; he was an oratory artist of the highest degree. Comments on Lincoln included the observation that he might have saved everyone the trouble by not speaking.

On the other hand, Lincoln was a master of the informal debate, the small group, one-on-one discussions, etc. In the free-form give-and-take of the courtroom or the town hall meeting, Lincoln had no peer. He knew his Bible and his Shakespeare on demand and used favorite anecdotes with adaptation for the situation. His life experience shone brightly through here like it could not in a speech.

So, Lincoln succeeded in spite of a handicap in prepared speeches. Why then did he succeed? He knew what he believed and why with great intellectual and spiritual depth. That is why his true strength was seen in informal settings where someone like Douglas, great at the prepared speech, was often exposed.

We should note that Lincoln was no political dummy. He had a great instinct for the realities. But he knew the value of consistency in the long run. He adapted ingeniously but what drove him were his core beliefs.

Now, if we draw the analogy out, the main success of Obama has been in his appearance, prepared speeches and presentation. He is smooth, suave, and handsome in appearance. His long speeches with their choreographed repetition and enthusiasm are his calling card. Everyone agrees about his style and acumen.

How does Obama do at the press conference, town hall meeting, and more informal interaction? I think we all know! Examples are his speaking to the dead in the crowd at Arlington, the 57 states, etc. Despite saying he would meet John McCain anywhere, anytime, when he was actually called on it, it hasn’t happened. His staff is going to try and avoid it because Obama is terribly gaffe-prone. [see Obamagaffes.blogspot.com.]

I think the bottom line is that, with Obama, there is no ‘there’ there, quite unlike Lincoln. Either he is trying to hide what he believes or he is such a chameleon he just doesn’t know. His ferocious flip-flopping of recent days has given us all vertigo.

If you think about it John McCain is actually a much better fit in this particular analysis. He is pretty bad at the prepared speech, but he excels at town hall meetings because he has had the life experience and he knows what he believes. Love of country and a cause greater than self are not just rhetoric for him. He uses anecdotes to advantage like Lincoln did. He doesn’t have to check what he’s supposed to believe that day.

One other thing that sticks out to me is that McCain has stuck with his beliefs despite significant political risk (e.g. the Petraeus surge) while also being able to adapt and make things workable in the real political world. Lincoln stuck with his anti-slavery stance at great risk but also adapted as he went to make it workable in light of the actual situation. Obama hasn’t stuck to much of anything.

Obama, like his friend Deval Patrick in Massachusetts, is really much more comparable to the Little Giant, Stephen Douglas from Illinois. They all made quite a big splash with their oratory but each of them is so ambivalent as to their core and soul that they can never make the impact that Abraham Lincoln made. Look at how Patrick turned out to see the future.

http://www.jetsetgraffiti.com/2008/07/07/ron-englishs-abraham-obama-poster-for-sale/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Yw5doHeYb0

On July 2nd, Ron English went to Gallery XIV in Boston to treat the locals to a fantastically colorful display of larger than life posters of his historic and iconic image; “Abraham Obama”. An interesting fusion of Abraham Lincoln, and Barack Obama, this image raised all kinds of questions among the fine art cognoscenti in Beantown.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXMLHYHS3CQ

Later that evening, exactly 232 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and under the cover of darkness, the ghost of Abraham Lincoln cast his vote for our next president of the USA by wheatpasting Ron’s offset posters all over the city. The next morning the “crisis” started as Gallery XIV began fielding tons of phone calls from concerned citizens, business owners, and even the Mayor’s office… Who could have created such Anarchy in the streets? Now they know; Lincoln says, “That’s Wassup!”

Here are some pics. as well.

Thanks for the support. I’m sure your viewers will really enjoy seeing this post.

THANKS!!!

-Daniel Lahoda
http://www.JetSetGraffiti.com