Revolutionary
Ambivalence
Pete Milosovich © 2011
Flooding the streets with streams of polarized antagonisms; crowds rushing to the point of no return when forces of authority clamor for control, and the crowd surges for dissolution. The stark reality of social change beckons the call for the noble ideals of humankind to burst onto the scene, filling the hearts and minds of citizens with justice liberated from the confines of corruption, pulling us beyond the dark impenetrable shades ofhuman weakness.
The pageantry and idealism of such a profound impetus celebrates the intense desire of humankind to free itself from the shackles of oppression. Expositions of past masters, painted murals from the anonymous, and political propaganda; from Liberty Leading the People by Delacroix to the state propaganda machine of Mao Tse Tung, and the massacre of so many unknowns for works of transgression in the public sphere. Socially impacted works penetrated by the overwhelming jabs of ideology at the heart of our complex existence threaten to obliterate other perspectives circulating at the fringe of revolution; works that embrace a sense of ambivalent detachment, reject the obvious, and transcend convention.
The brilliant painter William Cumming (1917-2010) denied the polarizing statements behind red flags, rifles, and bayonets, instead celebrating the human body as a magnificent enigma, sometimes driven by motion, yet immersed in a daily existence that celebrates the mundane. Mr. Cumming depicted ordinary existence with extraordinary use of color and complex abstracts that conceals as much as it reveals, the inevitable technical paradox at the heart of so many great works …revealing the unseen through in obvious means, undeniable technical brilliance. Mr. Cummings claimed he didn’t know how to paint, perhaps a stab at the heart of convention that granted complete liberation from the social upheavals he experienced throughout a long
prolific career.
Pete Milosovich © 2011
Flooding the streets with streams of polarized antagonisms; crowds rushing to the point of no return when forces of authority clamor for control, and the crowd surges for dissolution. The stark reality of social change beckons the call for the noble ideals of humankind to burst onto the scene, filling the hearts and minds of citizens with justice liberated from the confines of corruption, pulling us beyond the dark impenetrable shades ofhuman weakness.
The pageantry and idealism of such a profound impetus celebrates the intense desire of humankind to free itself from the shackles of oppression. Expositions of past masters, painted murals from the anonymous, and political propaganda; from Liberty Leading the People by Delacroix to the state propaganda machine of Mao Tse Tung, and the massacre of so many unknowns for works of transgression in the public sphere. Socially impacted works penetrated by the overwhelming jabs of ideology at the heart of our complex existence threaten to obliterate other perspectives circulating at the fringe of revolution; works that embrace a sense of ambivalent detachment, reject the obvious, and transcend convention.
The brilliant painter William Cumming (1917-2010) denied the polarizing statements behind red flags, rifles, and bayonets, instead celebrating the human body as a magnificent enigma, sometimes driven by motion, yet immersed in a daily existence that celebrates the mundane. Mr. Cumming depicted ordinary existence with extraordinary use of color and complex abstracts that conceals as much as it reveals, the inevitable technical paradox at the heart of so many great works …revealing the unseen through in obvious means, undeniable technical brilliance. Mr. Cummings claimed he didn’t know how to paint, perhaps a stab at the heart of convention that granted complete liberation from the social upheavals he experienced throughout a long
prolific career.
