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Mark Ryden is an American artist based in California. He is said to have ushered in the new genre of painting and Pop Surrealism, into mainstream art culture. His style, which is reminiscent of the works of the Old Masters, has blurred the traditional boundaries between high and low art. Though inspired by surrealist techniques, he has filled his work with cultural connotations. His work is both mystical and realistic, innocent and eerie. The bright colors and childlike figures on the surface hide a darker, mysterious psyche. His paintings are meticulous and full of detail, with each detail having a significant importance.
Mark Ryden is an American artist based in California. He is said to have ushered in the new genre of painting and Pop Surrealism, into mainstream art culture.
Mark Ryden. The painter Mark Ryden is one of the prominent representatives of the Lowbrow art movement, which is also called Surrealist Pop.
- Mark Ryden - 42 artworks - WikiArt.org
Tell me a bit about yourself? How did you life in art begin?M.R.: I spent the vast majority of my time as a youth drawing and painting. I was also very interested in math and science, but art was my main love. In college, I pursued illustration because I didn’t see myself fitting it with what was happening in the fine art world of the 1980s. I had a passion for classical art, figuration, surrealism, and imagination. These subjects were all but banned from what I saw as a dry and dull art world at that time. For a decade I did commercial work, but things started to change dramatically in the 1990s. I found myself part of the fresh exciting art movement of Pop Surrealism.
“I spent the vast majority of my time as a youth drawing and painting. I was also very interested in math and science, but art was my main love. In college, I pursued illustration because I didn’t see myself fitting it with what was happening in the fine art world of the 1980s.”
Dressed in black with round, wire-rimmed glasses, a black fedora and a silvery goatee, the Pop Surrealist looks like a magical wizard as he surveys the fantastical haven of desserts he’s created for American Ballet Theatre’s new production of “Whipped Cream.”
It was quite the spectacle. It was his paintings brought to life.
” I had a passion for classical art, figuration, surrealism, and imagination. These subjects were all but banned from what I saw as a dry and dull art world at that time. For a decade I did commercial work, but things started to change dramatically in the 1990s. I found myself part of the fresh exciting art movement of Pop Surrealism. “
Ginormous sugary confections glint under draping stage lights: velvety swirls of sugar plum pastry, strawberry-topped cupcakes, powder-coated chocolate drops and glossy, melon-sized gum balls. Theatrical technicians, like Willy Wonka factory workers, scramble around the artist.
Stage hands roll towering peaks of whipped cream across the floor on dollies while prop artists affix Swarovski crystals to vanilla-iced tarts.
Mark Ryden was born in Medford Oregon. He received a BFA in 1987 from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. He currently lives and works in Los Angeles where he paints slowly and happily amidst his countless collections of trinkets, statues, skeletons, books, paintings and antique toys.
“C’mere,”
Ryden beckons, slipping behind a cotton candy-pink dessert counter, a
proverbial kid in his self-conjured candy store. The black backside of
the giant set piece exposes the infrastructure behind the magic —
ladders and trap doors that the dancers scurry up and through.
“It’s
all these details,” Ryden says, showing off the underside of a
monstrous tin coffee can that one of the characters pops out of. “We had
to make these openings big enough for the dancers’ tutus to get
through.”
“I believe if an artist consciously attempts to develop a “style” that art will be hollow and superficial. An artist’s work has to develop more honestly and naturally. I think my work is simply the result of the subconscious accumulation of everything I am interested in.”
How did you develop your style or aesthetic?M.R.: I believe if an artist consciously attempts to develop a “style” that art will be hollow and superficial. An artist’s work has to develop more honestly and naturally. I think my work is simply the result of the subconscious accumulation of everything I am interested in. I try not to judge any particular inspiration as being more valid than another. I can let an Old Masters painting influence me just as much as a vintage cartoon.
Ryden, nicknamed the “godfather of Pop Surrealism” by Interview
magazine, is known for his kitschy, brightly colored paintings blending
pop culture elements and old master techniques for a glossy,
danger-tinged, fairy-tale-like aesthetic. His first European
retrospective, at the Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Málaga in Spain,
closed on March 5.
Ryden, nicknamed the “godfather of Pop Surrealism” by Interview magazine, is known for his kitschy, brightly colored paintings blending pop culture elements and old master techniques for a glossy, danger-tinged, fairy-tale-like aesthetic.
Can you describe your working process from idea to finished product?M.R.: I start by looking at the things I surround myself that inspire me. I can’t move forward in any way if I don’t feel a strong spark of excitement or creativity. It’s important to be in a peaceful state of mind and then I invite the spirits to come into the studio. I don’t stare into a blank canvas or paper. I look through my various collections of books, toys, statues, photographs and other things, and something will trigger an idea. I will make many, very loose sketches. Eventually I will be forced to pick something to take further. The decision is difficult because I can’t make that many finished paintings. They are meticulously painted and take a very long time to create.
“I start by looking at the things I surround myself that inspire me. I can’t move forward in any way if I don’t feel a strong spark of excitement or creativity. It’s important to be in a peaceful state of mind and then I invite the spirits to come into the studio.”
Ryden, who launched his career designing book and album covers, including Michael Jackson’s “Dangerous,” did more than simply design the costumes and backdrops though. His cutesy, seemingly saccharine style with a darkly humorous, Tim Burton-like twist inspired the creation of the production.
There’s something very unsettling, disturbing, about his paintings, which hides behind the sometimes very sweet surface.”
-Alexei Ratmansky
“His style is completely original, it’s very precise and detailed. He uses classical techniques, but the story he tells is very contemporary,”
“His style is completely original, it’s very precise and detailed. He
uses classical techniques, but the story he tells is very contemporary,”
Ratmansky says. “There’s something very unsettling, disturbing, about
his paintings, which hides behind the sometimes very sweet surface. I
just thought it was a good fit for the music and that it would make this
1920s work feel contemporary.”
What are the various challenges you face?M.R.: My biggest challenge is managing my time. There are some many paintings and various projects that I want to do, but I can only do so many things. I often try to do too much. The business and logistical side of being an artist can swallow up all my time if I am not diligent to prevent it. I spend too much time with email. I hate email.
Over the past decade, this marriage of accessibility, craftsmanship and technique with social relevance, emotional resonance and cultural reference has catapulted Ryden beyond his roots and to the attention of museums, critics and serious collectors. Ryden’s work has been exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide, including a recent museum retrospective “Wondertoonel” at the Frye Museum of Art in Seattle and Pasadena Museum of.
Ryden typically works solo, painting on flat canvases in his Portland,
Ore., studio. He and his wife, the artist Marion Peck, moved there last
year after Ryden had spent 35 years in L.A.
What kind of narratives or stories do you like to convey through your work?M.R.: I don’t attempt to convey any of my own stories or narratives, instead I like that my work can trigger the viewer to imagine their own narrative or story. For me, the meaning of a painting can’t be described with words or a story. Instead it is the image itself that is the meaning. I choose to work with figures that carry iconic power, but I like to leave the mystery undisturbed. I leave it to the viewer to interpret the images how they will.
Mark Ryden is a veteran of the Pop-Surrealism style, having been at the forefront of this genre since the late 1990’s when it was first taking roots in the artistic community.
Mark Ryden is a veteran of the Pop-Surrealism style, having been at
the forefront of this genre since the late 1990’s when it was first
taking roots in the artistic community. A curiosity cabinet personified,
Mark Ryden’s works are often presented in thematic groups where one
major theme is explored throughout the series, further interacting with
Ryden’s main influences, including: Post world-war toys to historical
figures such as Abraham Lincoln, meat, dogma, religion and symbolism,
and into numerology, mysticism and occultism.
Ryden’s primary
medium is oil on canvas or panel, with each piece beautifully and
precisely encased in its own unique frame, many of which are original
designs by Mark Ryden himself, with the remainder coming from restored
antique frames. The frames are an artwork of and to themselves, and when
married with the artwork, transports the viewer through the
looking-glass and into a most surreal vision of the 19th century.
Mark Ryden’s works are often presented in thematic groups where one major theme is explored throughout the series, further interacting with Ryden’s main influences, including: Post world-war toys to historical figures such as Abraham Lincoln, meat, dogma, religion and symbolism, and into numerology, mysticism and occultism.
What would you cite as your inspirations behind your work?M.R.: Inspiration is the most valuable commodity for an artist; it is for me anyway. My studio is packed full of things that inspire me. I live inside my own cabinet of curiosities. My studio and house are overflowing with stuff. I regularly go to flea markets and antique shops where I have amassed a variety of things that inspire me. I collect everything from old children’s books, interesting product packages, to toys, photographs, medical models, skeletons, shells, minerals, and religious statues. I also have an extensive collection of books on shelves that go all the way up to the high ceiling behind my easel and drawing table. I think it is the range of diversity of my inspirations that most defines my art.
Ryden’s primary medium is oil on canvas or panel, with each piece beautifully and precisely encased in its own unique frame, many of which are original designs by Mark Ryden himself, with the remainder coming from restored antique frames.
Artworks
from Ryden’s 1998 “The Meat Show” series contemplate meat and the idea
that we, stripped of our humanity, are ourselves meaty creations. Ryden
also explores the relationship we have to meat as food, in comparison to
the living creatures the meat was originally taken from, and also how
the viewing of meat has changed over the centuries to a point where to
see it depicted in contemporary artwork is almost absurd and strange.
Such is our modern-day relationship with meat in much of western
society.
““I believe to get ideas you have to nourish the spirit. I stuff myself full of the things I like: pictures of bugs, paintings by Bouguereau and David, books about Pheneous T. Barnum, films by Ray Harryhausen, old photographs of strange people, children’s books about space and science, medical illustrations, music by Frank Sinatra and Debussy, magazines, T.V., Jung and Freud, Ren and Stimpy, Joseph Campbell and Nostradamus, Ken and Barbie, Alchemy, Freemasonary, Buddhism. “
“I believe to get ideas you have to nourish the
spirit. I stuff myself full of the things I like: pictures of bugs,
paintings by Bouguereau and David, books about Pheneous T. Barnum, films
by Ray Harryhausen, old photographs of strange people, children’s books
about space and science, medical illustrations, music by Frank Sinatra
and Debussy, magazines, T.V., Jung and Freud, Ren and Stimpy, Joseph
Campbell and Nostradamus, Ken and Barbie, Alchemy, Freemasonary,
Buddhism. At night my head is so full of ideas I can’t sleep. I mix it
all together and create my own doctrine of life and the universe. To me,
certain things seem to fit together. There are certain parallels and
clues all over the place. There may be a little part of Alice in
Wonderland that fits in. Charles Darwin, and Colonel Sanders provide
pieces. To me the world is full of awe and wonder. This is what I put in
my paintings.”
“I admire and have been influenced by countless artists. Most are from long ago such as Carpaccio and Bronzino from the early Italian Renaissance. I like Northern Dutch artists like Van Eyck and the later French academic painters David, Gérôme and Ingres.”
Which artists do you admire? How have they influenced you?M.R.: I admire and have been influenced by countless artists. Most are from long ago such as Carpaccio and Bronzino from the early Italian Renaissance. I like Northern Dutch artists like Van Eyck and the later French academic painters David, Gérôme and Ingres. But, I also like contemporary artists like John Currin. One of my favorite painters right now is Neo Rauch. They all influence me in many different ways. I like the way Bouguereau exquisitely paints flesh while the characters of Leonoroa Carrington seem mystical.
Ryden is also a proficient writer and
includes artist statements and review essays for each of his artistic
series, which can be found at his website here.
Reading through the writings, one is immediately drawn to the open
frankness Ryden has when discussing his method, as described in his
statement for “Wondertoonel” 2004, (which roughly translates
as “wondrous theatre”) which gives the viewer an insight into the mind
of the artist whilst also providing a guide to navigate his
breathtakingly surreal artworks by:
Clearly infused with classical references, Ryden’s work is not only inspired by recent history, but also the works of past masters. He counts among his influences Bosch, Bruegel and Ingres with generous nods to Bouguereau and Italian and Spanish religious painting.
“It is only in childhood
that contemporary society truly allows for imagination. Children can see
a world ensouled, where bunnies weep and bees have secrets, where
“inanimate” objects are alive. Many people think that childhood’s world
of imagination is silly, unworthy of serious consideration, something to
be outgrown. Modern thinking demands that an imaginative connection to
nature needs to be overcome by “mature” ways of thinking about the
world. Human beings used to connect to life through mystery and
mythology. Now this kind of thinking is regarded as primitive or naive.
Without it, we cut ourselves off from the life force, the world soul,
and we are empty and starving.”
Artworks from Ryden’s 1998 “The Meat Show” series contemplate meat and the idea that we, stripped of our humanity, are ourselves meaty creations.
What would you say is your favorite piece of your own work and what does it mean to you?M.R.: I like different pieces for different reasons. One piece that pops into mind is Medium Yams because of its modest scale and simplicity. In general I gravitate towards creating massive, detailed, and epic works. While Medium Yams was a very small and simple piece it held great power. It was a favorite of many at the exhibition where it was displayed.
Mark Ryden came to preeminence in the 1990’s during a time when many
artists, critics and collectors were quietly championing a return to the
art of painting. With his masterful technique and disquieting content,
Ryden quickly became one of the leaders of this movement on the West
Coast.
Mark Ryden came to preeminence in the 1990’s during a time when many artists, critics and collectors were quietly championing a return to the art of painting.
Upon first glance Ryden’s work seems to mirror the Surrealists’
fascination with the subconscious and collective memories. However,
Ryden transcends the initial Surrealists’ strategies by consciously
choosing subject matter loaded with cultural connotation. His dewy
vixens, cuddly plush pets, alchemical symbols, religious emblems,
primordial landscapes and slabs of meat challenge his audience not
necessarily with their own oddity but with the introduction of their
soothing cultural familiarity into unsettling circumstances.
Viewers are initially drawn in by the comforting beauty of Ryden’s
pop-culture references, then challenged by their circumstances, and
finally transported to the artist’s final intent – a world where
creatures speak from a place of childlike honesty about the state of
mankind and our relationships with ourselves, each other and our past.
There is an obvious horror connected with the meat industry. The blood, the gore, the inhumane butchery. So many of us indirectly participate in this with our ravenous consumption of meat.
There is an obvious horror connected with the meat industry. The blood, the gore, the inhumane butchery. So many of us indirectly participate in this with our ravenous consumption of meat. Sue Coe has explored that arena exquisitely in her work and writings. In my own art I am not personally making a statement or judgement about the meat consumption in our culture. I feel more like I am just observing it. Just like T-rex, I myself am a passionate meat-eater. I feel that the consumption of animal flesh is a natural primal instinct just like sex and making paintings. But there is that paradox of knowing how that scrumptious porterhouse made it to my dinner plate. We have lost any kind of reverence for this. It would be interesting if people would have to kill an animal themselves before they earned the right to eat it.
Beyond the conceptual impact, meat simply has a very strong visual quality. The wonderful variety of textures and patterns in the marbling of the meat is sumptuous. Subtle pinks gently swirl around with rich vermillions and fatty yellow ochres. These visual qualities alone are seductive enough to make meat the subject of a work of art. Meat is glorious to paint. It is so easy to transcend the representational to the abstract. Meat has been a subject for painters from Rembrandt to Van Gogh.
- In a quote from Juxtapoz magazine back in the day, Ryden explains his reason for incorporation meat into his work.
Clearly infused with classical references, Ryden’s work is not only
inspired by recent history, but also the works of past masters. He
counts among his influences Bosch, Bruegel and Ingres with generous nods
to Bouguereau and Italian and Spanish religious painting.
“There may be a little part of Alice in Wonderland that fits in. Charles Darwin, and Colonel Sanders provide pieces. To me the world is full of awe and wonder. This is what I put in my paintings.”
Over the past decade, this marriage of accessibility, craftsmanship
and technique with social relevance, emotional resonance and cultural
reference has catapulted Ryden beyond his roots and to the attention of
museums, critics and serious collectors. Ryden’s work has been exhibited
in museums and galleries worldwide, including a recent museum
retrospective “Wondertoonel” at the Frye Museum of Art in Seattle and
Pasadena Museum of California Art.
Mark Ryden was born in Medford Oregon. He received a BFA in 1987 from
Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. He currently lives and works
in Los Angeles where he paints slowly and happily amidst his countless
collections of trinkets, statues, skeletons, books, paintings and
antique toys.
There’s something very unsettling, disturbing, about his paintings, which hides behind the sometimes very sweet surface.
To see more of Mark Ryden’s stunning artwork, please visit his website, or his Facebook page.
Movies that Inspired Me
Here are some movies that I consider noteworthy and worth a view. Enjoy.
Stories that Inspired Me
Here are
reprints in full text of stories that inspired me, but that are nearly
impossible to find in China. I place them here as sort of a personal
library that I can use for inspiration. The reader is welcome to come
and enjoy a read or two as well.
My Poetry
Art that Moves Me
Articles & Links
You’ll not
find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
This is an introduction to the art of Greg (Craola) Simkins. He has created his own form of art with appears to be an off-shoot of the “low brow” movement that originated out of California. He is a talented young man that paints a very odd and eclectic mixture of birds and contemporaneous themes all mashed together in a kind of confusing array of post surrealistic nightmares.
His niche is low-brow bird portraiture.
Greg ‘Craola’ Simkins was born in 1975 in Torrance California, just south of Los Angeles. He grew up with a menagerie of animals including a number of rabbits, which often emerge in his paintings. He began drawing at the early age of three and was inspired by various cartoons and books.
The idea of escape is getting lost in a daydream and wandering through one’s imagination.
Why the name The Escape Artist?
The idea of escape is getting lost in a daydream and wandering through one’s imagination. As I make art, this process is very important to me. It’s important in the planning stages as I just fill my sketchbooks with whatever interesting images that entertain me, and it is important at the composition stage where I lay out these ideas in their ideal situations so as to move onto the final stage of painting them.
Once I get to the painting stage, the concept is at most finalized, but with a bit of room for improvisation. Once I start painting, the muscle memory and mechanics take over and I will put on music, audiobooks, movies, podcasts, etc… but generally, find myself zoning out and falling into the process of painting which can be almost meditative. Next thing you know and 8 hours have passed by and something new has been created on the canvas. It’s an awesome feeling being in that “Escape Zone.”
Simkins’ art continued to progress to the age of 18, when he started
doing graffiti under the name ‘CRAOLA’. Graffiti art became his impetus
for creating and gave him the confidence to paint large works. In
addition it taught him perspective, color theory and further developed
artistic skills, which later translated into his work with acrylics.
Falling into the process of painting which can be almost meditative. Next thing you know and 8 hours have passed by and something new has been created on the canvas. It’s an awesome feeling being in that “Escape Zone.”
What’s an average day in the studio?
Once I get in, I answer emails, go through sketches and draw a little to warm up, maybe edit some video, finish my coffee, and then sit down at the easel and pour my paint for the day. Once that is in place, I will paint as long a stretch as possible. I don’t like taking breaks and will generally eat my lunch while working as well.
I try to keep in that creative headspace and block out the rest of the world. Around dinner time, I go inside and help out making food and getting the kids to the table, we spend time together as a family, put the kids to bed at bedtime, and then sit down to watch a show with my wife and work on drawings and concepts.
After receiving his Bachelor’s Degree in Studio Art from California
State University of Long Beach in 1999, Simkins worked as an illustrator
for various clothing companies and bands. He later moved on to
Treyarch/Activision where he worked on video games including Tony Hawk
2X, Spiderman 2 and Ultimate Spiderman while attempting to paint with
every free moment he had.
In 2005, Simkins pursued his desire to paint as a full-time artist.
Since then, he has been featured in numerous group exhibitions and had
successfully sold out solo exhibitions.
Birds are key figures in your work. Where does your fascination with birds come from?
How could anyone not be fascinated with birds? They are these jewels, weapons, music boxes, and much more that dart around the sky as masters of the air. They defy gravity, they curiously watch us—waiting for us to make a move, they come in so many varieties, some create bonds with us, others taunt us, and some would even comfort us.
They are incredible creatures, and I have chosen to give them personalities in my work and in The Outside for all these reasons. The main bird in my work is Breeze, a large blue jay that befriends my character Ralf “The White Knight” and protects and teaches him the way of that world.
After receiving his Bachelor’s Degree in Studio Art from California State University of Long Beach in 1999, Simkins worked as an illustrator for various clothing companies and bands.
It is his careful weaving of pop culture, the old masters, nature,
carnival kitsch, and (most importantly) his warped imagination, that
makes Greg Simkins a sought-after surrealist painter today. Simkins’
artwork has appeared in galleries throughout the world.
The exhibition includes a number of beautiful works on paper. What’s your relationship with drawing and how is it part of your creative process?
It can be either to get an idea out as fast as possible so as not to lose it or something to later be refined into its own finished project. I enjoy getting the gesture of an idea to use later on in a piece, but sometimes I feel that gesture is beautiful in itself, even with all its flaws. It is the kernel of an idea and I chose to share some of those in this exhibition.
I also enjoy doing charcoal portraits which gives me a whole other way to study shape and form and mark making, which speaks to my other work. Working in multiple mediums always teaches me something new to add to each other.
How could anyone not be fascinated with birds? They are these jewels, weapons, music boxes, and much more that dart around the sky as masters of the air. They defy gravity, they curiously watch us—waiting for us to make a move, they come in so many varieties, some create bonds with us, others taunt us, and some would even comfort us.
“My creative demands are self imposed and my frustrations are my
limitations. I sketch a lot and plan many pieces that I never get to paint. It kills me, there are so many things I want to paint and find the ticking of the clock to be deafening. Most of the time it is too many ideas and a lot get shelved or pop up in future shows. It is also a blessing sometimes because I get to revisit these ideas and tinker with them a bit and watch them blossom into something far greater than my original vision. It is as if the technique catches up with the idea over that time span, and I am thankful for it.”
– Greg ‘Craola’ Simkins (Empty Lighthouse Magazine)
It is his careful weaving of pop culture, the old masters, nature, carnival kitsch, and (most importantly) his warped imagination, that makes Greg Simkins a sought-after surrealist painter today. Simkins’ artwork has appeared in galleries throughout the world.
Fictional Story Related Index
This is an index of full text reprints of stories that I have
read that influenced me when I was young. They are rather difficult to
come by today, as where I live they are nearly impossible to find. Yes,
you can find them on the internet, behind paywalls. Ah, that’s why all
those software engineers in California make all that money. Well, here
they are FOR FREE. Enjoy reading them.
Movies that Inspired Me
Here are some movies that I consider noteworthy and worth a view. Enjoy.
Stories that Inspired Me
Here are
reprints in full text of stories that inspired me, but that are nearly
impossible to find in China. I place them here as sort of a personal
library that I can use for inspiration. The reader is welcome to come
and enjoy a read or two as well.
My Poetry
Art that Moves Me
Articles & Links
You’ll not
find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
“The Prince of Pop Art”, Mitch O’Connell is a beloved, cherished and respected leader of the “Lowbrow” art movement and one of the greatest illustrators of all time! Inspired by Pin-ups, hot-rods, comics, sideshows and all things kitsch, cuddly and curvaceous, he takes the vintage and makes it contemporary with his distinctive, eye-popping Pop Art imagery.
“I'm tempted to tear out the pages and hang them on the wall!"
-USA Today
Magazine work includes Newsweek, Time, Rolling Stone, New Yorker, Entertainment Weekly, GQ and Playboy!
He’s happy to play nice and follow instructions with illustration assignments for nearly every publication on Earth.
"We're smitten with everything Mitch has ever done. There's no escaping that his art is awesome!"
-Bizarre magazine
Magazine work includes Newsweek, Time, Rolling Stone, New Yorker, Entertainment Weekly, GQ and Playboy! Overnight deadlines met for newspapers include The New York Times, Village Voice, Chicago Tribune and dozens more!
He’s been featured in the world of rock ’n’ roll on album covers and posters for groups from The Ramones to Weezer to No Doubt to Moby!
He’s been featured in the world of rock ’n’ roll on album covers and posters for groups from The Ramones to Weezer to No Doubt to Moby! Mitch’s doodles are utilized in advertising campaigns for major companies from McDonalds to KFC, 7-11 to Coca-Cola! And when he’s not working with an art director, his fine art paintings have been exhibited in sold-out gallery shows from New York to Berlin, Tokyo to Miami and Hollywood to Mexico City.
"An eye-popping curation of the pop artist's finest illustrations!"
-Yahoo! Music
His sexy tattoo flash is a fixture on the walls of tattoo shops around the word (and on the bodies of thousands of tattoo lovers) with many of the designs collected in two bestselling books “ Mitch O’Connell Tattoos Volume 1” and “Mitch O’Connell Tattoos Volume 2“!
His sexy tattoo flash is a fixture on the walls of tattoo shops around the word (and on the bodies of thousands of tattoo lovers) with many of the designs collected in two bestselling books.
His newest book, “Mitch O’Connell, the World’s Best Artist by Mitch O’Connell” is a huge career-spanning retrospective look at his art from the age of 3 to now!
Just how many book reviews get a 100% love with five stars! Not many. This should tell you all something.
"A pop surrealist and low-brow luminary ...an over-the-top, kitschy, vibrant mood-elevating coffee table book!"
-Huffington Post
The following are some reviews for those of you who are a tad unsure of this artists greatness…
And then there’s the AWESOME, AMAZING ARTWORK on the inside. From tattooed vixens to big-eyed bunny rabbits, there’s something here for the whole family…if you have a family where the kiddies are allowed to look at pictures of nekkid women. There is a mind-altering feast for the eyes in store for you.
Earlier today, if you heard a sort of weird, high-pitched shrieking noise, not unlike the mating cry of some long extinct bird, wafting high above the trees, far off in distance...it was just ME receiving a package from my UPS Heart Throb that contained THIS BOOK, quite possibly THE BEST BOOK EVER!
First of all - it has a vinyl cover. A VINYL COVER!!! Perfect for tubby-time viewing, or perhaps for enjoying in the inflatable wading pool on those hot summer days.
And then there's the AWESOME, AMAZING ARTWORK on the inside. From tattooed vixens to big-eyed bunny rabbits, there's something here for the whole family...if you have a family where the kiddies are allowed to look at pictures of nekkid women. There is a mind-altering feast for the eyes in store for you.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to get back to squeezing that vinyl cover. (This is apparently a new fetish I didn't know I had, and to tell you the truth, it's got me a little worried.)
- I'm Still Squealing!
A review of his book on Amazon.com
If you liked the art on the cover, well, there is more of it inside. The book itself is reminiscent of retro children's books with a foam / vinyl embossed type cover. It even has glitter. Its something you can't appreciate on the internet. The size is thick with tons of vibrant reproductions of his artwork.
There is lots of detail like the pages have a contoured edge. The book construction itself is amazing. The reason I bought this on amazon was because my bookstore's copy was damaged. Seeing it in real life made me want this book, so I had to get it.
Its just fun to pick up and flip through.
Chances are you are an artist and will find some inspiration in here even if it is a little bit crazy/freaky. I wouldn't give this book to a child, the audience is more adult. I can't say this is lacking anything as it is just an art book with good examples. The time that went into this book puts it over the top.
Worth 5 stars. I can see why 66 people thought it was awesome. I don't know who would rate this a 4 or less unless they had a problem with amazon. Sweet!
The book itself is reminiscent of retro children’s books with a foam / vinyl embossed type cover. It even has glitter. Its something you can’t appreciate on the internet. The size is thick with tons of vibrant reproductions of his artwork.
Indirectly, I've been a fan of Mitch's art since roughly, 1987. I worked as a designer at a newspaper and we had subscriptions to two clip art services (big, hulking glossy printed pages of several images, covering nearly anything that can be advertised).
One was Metro and the other was Dynamic Graphics. Dynamic Graphics was my "go-to" service as, each month, I scoured it's pages for that flashy, interesting, fun art with the peculiar "MoC" signature.
Since then, I learned the MoC was a cool artist named Mitch O'Connell and I saw his work here and there in Heavy Metal and some comics. I've moved on from the newspaper business but, thanks in part to the Internet and various art books, I've been able to follow Mitch's enthusiastic, dynamic work the last several years.
I've always admired his bold, daring renderings. As an illustrator myself, I find inspiration in his lines and color palette. Today, I'm proud to say I now own this comprehensive book. Tons of color, tons of illustrations, tons of inspiration.
Even the design of the book itself is daring and bold. I've perused it several times since receiving it in the mail and I plan on perusing it several more times, seeing something new and interesting each time I open the book.
Mr. O'Connell's art speaks for itself but I'll say that It's unique a completely different style than what anyone may be used to. I especially like the 70s-style. He not only acknowledges it, he embraces it and you have to admire that. I highly recommend!
- Lived up to my expectations
The puffy plastic cover over Mitch O'Connell The World's Greatest Artist gives a damn good indication of what's inside: A massive, whopping, ridiculously definitive collection of Mitch... and all Mitch.
From the cutesy-sweet to the clip art to the truly naughty, here is EVERYthing. Superb book design makes the collection seem to fly, float and take on a life of its own.
There was a long, long wait for this terrific tome; it was truly worth the wait. WOW!
- Holy moley! All this and World War, too.
The puffy plastic cover over Mitch O’Connell The World’s Greatest Artist gives a damn good indication of what’s inside: A massive, whopping, ridiculously definitive collection of Mitch… and all Mitch.
From the cutesy-sweet to the clip art to the truly naughty, here is EVERYthing. Superb book design makes the collection seem to fly, float and take on a life of its own.
This book is so amazing you'll want to sleep with it tucked under your head. And thanks to the soft puffy cover you can!
Try it, i did. Hoping some of O'Connell's brilliance would seep into my brain.
Fat chance! If you have been a long time devote of O'Connell or have no idea who he is (been living under a rock?) You NEED this book!
By merely placing this book on your coffee table you will immediately notice that you have become more attractive to the world.
You'll start getting more dates than you can fit in your calendar. And you don't want to be left behind when it hits the New York Times best seller list, do you? I didn't think so. Get in on Mitch-Mania now!
- My Bible has arrived!
I cant put this book down!! It had me hooked just with the glitter cover. Wow!! I've loved this mans work for years. I can sit and look at his art and tattoo flash for hours. This is a great addition to my collection of his books and art work. Filled with beautiful women and kitsch galore. This book is VERY large and informative. We learn more about the man, myth and legend!!! It's also a great price for so much magnificent eye candy. I highly recommend it to any lover of Pop, Surrealism, Kitsch or just Damn good art! :)
- 5.0 out of 5 stars This book is Fan-Stinken-Tastic!!
I cant put this book down!! It had me hooked just with the glitter cover. Wow!! I’ve loved this mans work for years. I can sit and look at his art and tattoo flash for hours. This is a great addition to my collection of his books and art work. Filled with beautiful women and kitsch galore.
It has a sparkly cover and It's Mitch! So, It's good. I usually only read on the Crapper but I already crapped today. I may just break my own rule and read this while sitting on the couch!
- The most important book you will ever buy
EXCITEMENT! FUN! NUDITY! THRILLS!
BALLOONS! NUDITY! ALCOHOL! CAKE!
HILARITY! NUDITY!
When a book has that as it's opening intro you know you have stumbled across the new bible. Mitch may be the world's best artist (his words, mentioned many many times in this book) he is also probably the world's funniest artist.
This book is comical to the extreme, louds of laughing out loud guffaws and so much drink sprayed across the room, luckily I chose to read this in lots of different locations so everywhere got a nice even coating of beer.
This book is a huge collection of his artwork, from drawings as a kid to early adverts he was commissioned to draw to posters, tattoos and toilet seats, it is all here. The history of his rise to greatness and even a tour of his mansion (puts the Taj Mahal to shame) can be found in this book. Also its the only book I've come across that has a gift shop at the end.
Hopefully there will be more books from Mitch to entertain us all. I'm now off to locate him to get myself one of his tattoos.
- World's best book
The second worst thing about moving to Wisconsin (first being living under incipient fascism)is not having access to Mitch O'Connell. A lot of the art in this book only appeared in posters , leaflets and other material distributed in and around Chicago (Mitch 's art has appeared on everything from pencils and skateboards to delightful women's bare butts- I personally am waiting for the whoopee cushion).
Years ago I could pick the stuff up tear it off walls and enjoy it! My 20 year deprivation has been cured with this book collecting Mitch's unique (well sometimes a bit bizarre) interpretations of reality.
The world goes into Mitch's brain gets mashed around and comes out well wonderfully different- and you can see it all here in this book without skulking around sleazy burlesque houses, grunge band concerts and other affairs- though all of the latter do enhance the experience! Only thing that would make it better would be if it came with an inflatable Little Puddles doll.
- Modest Title Masks True Genius!
This book is a huge collection of his artwork, from drawings as a kid to early adverts he was commissioned to draw to posters, tattoos and toilet seats, it is all here. The history of his rise to greatness and even a tour of his mansion (puts the Taj Mahal to shame) can be found in this book. Also its the only book I’ve come across that has a gift shop at the end.
This is the only art book I own that actually entertained me. Face it - most art books you pay for nothing- a lot of white space around a a reproduction of a piece you can't afford. That means you are paying most of the cover price on blank or what design shysters call negative space. O'Connell doesn't waste anything- including your time.
Rather than hiring some fancy college boy shill to write essays, O'Connell does the writing his'sef which is why I am am actually going to read every word- eventually. Right now I'm just happy to skim and look at all the purty five star pictures.
By the way, not only are there sparkles in the puffy plasticine cover- its spot glitter- which means it was probably really expensive other than just expensive.
- Gave Me A Stiffy
Having known the artist for about 35 years, I've had the great pleasure of watching him progress from talented teen to peerless paragon of pop art. Now, with the publication of this classy compendium, anyone who is even remotely interested in popular art can share in this pleasure. With exceedingly-deft hand, keen eye, and acerbic wit, Mitch O’Connell has come to occupy a place in pop surrealism that is shared with only a few artists --Robert Williams, self-described progenitor of the ‘Lowbrow’ movement, springs to mind.
While many of the pop surrealists or other Lowbrow artists share the same interest in skewering the social, cultural, political, and sexual mores of our consumerist culture, no one --for my money, anyway-- does a better, funnier job of sending up the obsessions of the modern world. While his technical skill is beyond reproach, and repeated study of his work will prove this, it’s Mitch’s sense of humor that will find readers coming back to this volume for amusement long after the average coffee table book has been shelved and forgotten.
In a wonderful addition to the content, the exceedingly-high production values of the book --with a brilliant, sparkled and textured cover; heavy, glossy-stock pages; and stunning page layouts-- will make even those who are not familiar with Mitch’s work sit up and take notice. Presuming there are yearly awards given for outstanding book design, I’ll be not at all surprised to find this book topping the list of nominees.
So, summing up: If you’re a fan of Mitch O’Connell, buy the book. If you’re interested in modern art, buy the book. If you’re fond of well-designed and executed art books, buy the book. If you merely want to take a chance on a bold and brilliant artist, this is the one to pick up...you won’t be disappointed!!
- A peerless artist, a peerless book
While many of the pop surrealists or other Lowbrow artists share the same interest in skewering the social, cultural, political, and sexual mores of our consumerist culture, no one –for my money, anyway– does a better, funnier job of sending up the obsessions of the modern world. While his technical skill is beyond reproach, and repeated study of his work will prove this.
I purchased this book expecting just another glowing biography of yet another pampered, spoiled, filthy rich, low-brow artist. All I can say is "I was blind...and now I see!" After reading this man's, no, this immortals, life story and gazing at his life's work, I declare myself his humble servant.
The colors, line work and, most importantly, the brilliance BEHIND the work, have given my life a purpose. I worship at the filthy, somewhat ripe feet of my Lord and Savior: Mitch O'Connell. Mitch, I hope you are reading this. I have scanned the photos from your book and created wallpaper (no, not digital wallpaper, but actual paper wallpaper) and covered the walls of my cabin with thousands of images from your book, and more importantly, you. I now live in my car and only enter my shrine to you, formally my home, to worship at an alter that I created that features an 8' paper mache head of you (it came out really cool- except the left side looks a little droopy and concave. One of my cats climbed onto it before it was fully dried.).
If you have any personal items that you could send me for my alter I would appreciate it. I would collect your hair, but....! Could you send me some of your old clothes or maybe some toe nail clippings? I would expect them to be brightly colored and dipped in glitter, just like your art. I am working on a life size action figure of you that I can clothe in Holy vestments so you can perform ceremonies and we can have imaginary conversations- together! Everyone out there, please, throw away your Bibles and holy books and pick up Mitch O'Connell The World's Best Artist and let's commence to worshipping at the Holy Church of Mitch! Amen!
- This Book Spoke To Me- no kidding it actually talked
The perfect book to introduce the unsuspecting Cool Kid to the work of Mitch O'Connell!
If you like hot rods, 1950's comics, kitsch culture, tattoos, big-breasted women who aren't afraid to spank you when necessary, pink poodle dogs, aliens, motorcycles and the sarcastic, self-aware humor of one of America's favorite retro-culture artist, then this is the book for you!
And it comes wrapped up in a plushy, plastic foam cover that cleans up easy if splattered with blood, baby vomit or spunk. Or a disgusting combination of all three!
This book will make you laugh!
This book will tentpole your trousers!
This book will make you a cooler individual than your lesser friends! I am cooler than you, because I own this book (and a few other Mitch O'Connell books too.)
What are you waiting for? Get up on this book!
- Throw money at your local bookseller for this book!
If you like hot rods, 1950’s comics, kitsch culture, tattoos, big-breasted women who aren’t afraid to spank you when necessary, pink poodle dogs, aliens, motorcycles and the sarcastic, self-aware humor of one of America’s favorite retro-culture artist, then this is the book for you!
Mitch O'Connell's latest book, "Mitch O'Connell the World's Best Artist by Mitch O'Connell", is the BEST and GREATEST book ever penned by the Master to this date!
Mitch, my friend for over 30 years has created the world's MOST magical collection of SUPER ART.... yes, the term is SUPER ART!
Owning his most current book has cured my arthritis. By reading the pages my 60 year old eyes now possess 20/20 vision. I can walk without a cane. My elderly wife read it and is now using tampons again. THE BOOK IS A MIRACLE!!! This modest genius has created the cures for all maladies of the Human Condition by merely printing the World's Best Art; HIS World's Best Art and AMAZING LIFE STORY in this Remarkable 288 page book!
Ladies & Gentlemen throw away your Bibles because THIS IS IT!!!!!!! The only Good Book you will ever need!
You will never EVER get a bigger bang for your $20.
- GOD'S GIFT TO THE ART WORLD !!
All art books have pictures (that's kind of the idea) but how many would you sit down and read? Sure, "Mitch O'Connell, the World's Best Artist" is chock-full of the requisite lifetime's worth of artwork (well, maybe two-thirds to half a lifetime, he's not dead yet), but it's also brimming with personal tales and anecdotes filled with witty, self-deprecating braggadocio, all wrapped in a puffy, sparkly vinyl cover.
Not many other (any other?) artists can claim to have been published in everything from the New York Times to Juggs and you'll learn that and many other fascinating facts when you read this book.
Did I mention the puffy, sparkly vinyl cover? It's an art book which moonlights as a coaster, which is super-practical (buy a set!). So, if you like 60's kitsch, creepy clowns, and big-eyed rabbits (and who doesn't?) then this is the book for you.
- The first coffee table book you'll actually read!
All art books have pictures (that’s kind of the idea) but how many would you sit down and read? Sure, “Mitch O’Connell, the World’s Best Artist” is chock-full of the requisite lifetime’s worth of artwork (well, maybe two-thirds to half a lifetime, he’s not dead yet), but it’s also brimming with personal tales and anecdotes filled with witty, self-deprecating braggadocio, all wrapped in a puffy, sparkly vinyl cover.
I first saw Mitch's work back in the dark ages - before computers and t'internet and the writing of book online reviews. It was a "graphic novel" (trans.: Fat Expensive Comic Book) called GINGER FOX, and I've been following his work ever since, picking up the odd book or flyer or cover whenever I came across them.
Now, all of that scattered detritus has been collated into one big fat squishy plastic-covered wipe-clean book. Fatter and more expensive than Ginger Fox, who must be in her fatter and more expensive mid-50s' by now.
Mitch has an assured clean graphic line, a searing sense of eye-popping colour, a healthy interest in the female form, and a joyous sense of the pop-art poetry inherent in the commercial ephemera those fancy-pants "high art" snobs just don't get. I want to delve into the dark recesses of this man's "gentleman's magazine" collection, but fear I may never emerge... Go buy!! NOW!!
- Squishy!
I never in a million years would have thought I'd own this book. I'm a fan and I love art books but my own art has consumed all resources and left my book aquiring funds non existent. Fast forward to my B-day party this yr and I get Mitch's book for a gift. So of course we immediatly crack it open to take in the mind bending eye candy.. First words out of my mouth. "danmmit, he IS the Worlds Greatest Artist!"
Endless hours of entertainment. Known about in France. As advertised. All in all pretty stinkin' cool. Color me jealous and inspired all at the same time. So if you're like me, put it on your wish list, and if you can buy it just do it now. You'll be happy you treated yourself.
- Worlds Greatest Artist, yea right.
In 2015 my friend, the fabulous artist Mitch O'Connell, created this excellent illustration of Donald Trump as one of the evil aliens from John Carpenter's 1988 science fiction film, They Live. Once Trump became president, Mitch tried to install a billboard with the illustration, but no one in the US would let him. He ended up displaying it in Mexico City, though.
Well, Mitch recently found out that a Times Square billboard company will allow him to display his illustration on a billboard and he's started a gofundme campaign to make this dream a reality.
The fabulous artist Mitch O’Connell, created this illustration of Donald Trump as one of the evil aliens from John Carpenter’s 1988 science fiction film, They Live. Once Trump became president, Mitch tried to install a billboard with the illustration, but no one in the US would let him.
Fictional Story Related Index
This is an index of full text reprints of stories that I have
read that influenced me when I was young. They are rather difficult to
come by today, as where I live they are nearly impossible to find. Yes,
you can find them on the internet, behind paywalls. Ah, that’s why all
those software engineers in California make all that money. Well, here
they are FOR FREE. Enjoy reading them.
Movies that Inspired Me
Here are some movies that I consider noteworthy and worth a view. Enjoy.
Stories that Inspired Me
Here are
reprints in full text of stories that inspired me, but that are nearly
impossible to find in China. I place them here as sort of a personal
library that I can use for inspiration. The reader is welcome to come
and enjoy a read or two as well.
My Poetry
Art that Moves Me
Articles & Links
You’ll not
find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
There is a sizable majority of the American (and by extension, globalist) oligarchy believe that they will be able to “ride out” the coming “shit-storm” of societal upheaval slated for America. They have bought land, and established residences, and constructed mini-fortresses in far away lands for precisely this purpose. Well, I am going to be the first to lay out the truth; you all will not be able to avoid your comeuppance.
It’s coming.
It’s heading and barrelling right down upon all of us, and this time, the oligarchy will be not be spared.
The American second civil war will not be like Bosnia, Rhodesia, Rwanda, or any other revolutionary messes. You know the ones. Where the wealthy creates a situation, and then skedaddles off to a “safe haven” to wait out the societal reconstruction.
Take note. This time is different.
We are coming after you.
The world is connected. There’s a Burger King and Pizza Hut on Tutuila island, for goodness sakes! Internet is everywhere. We know where your “hidy holes” are, and who built them, and when, and what mechanical systems you utilize. We know which planes you fly, who pilots them, and where the pilots families reside.
We know a lot more than you think we know, and (drop the bullshit) you know that us “deplorables” are not at all the under-educated white racists that you so loudly proclaim. We are watching you all with seething anger.
I met Lloyd Blankfein at a Super Bowl. It was the New England Patriots and the New Jersey Giants. And Blankfein came up to me, “I know who you are, but you don’t know who I am.” And I said, “The hell I don’t! You run Goldman Sachs. I know who –” and he was stunned that I knew who he was. He said, “I know who you are,” like, “I know who you are. Ha-ha. I know what you’re up to, but you don’t know who I am.” “Oh, yes, I do.”
-Rush Limbaugh
We are chomping at the bit for an excuse to come after you all. It’s gonna be glorious.
Factory
workers, with their company name badges, in the parking lot of their
employer. Two dead and one dying with his legs shot off. He and his
co-workers had no idea that “world war III” would break out while they
were trying to clock in at work. When one group of people identify
another group, and target them with hate, and violence, it only
escalates. It gets worse. Eventually there is whole-scale blood shed. Do
not be under the illusion that it will never happen in America. There
are enormous groups of people just chomping at the bit to attack
conservatives and traditionalists. All in the name of a progressive
utopia.
See how easy it was to find this information, on just a three key-word search. Very easy.
But you know, escape anywhere will be fraught with problems. We, as humans, are all interconnected. He have histories, associations, and ties. And, it’s not all “black and white” internet data streams either. It’s personal. It’s visceral.
It's not going to be like you all think. With some kind of race genocide, on top of political machinations, with overtures of hicks riding around like some scene out of Mad Max.
There are going to be elements of WWIII, and WMD. There's going to be a great deal of political and sociological changes, and you are right to realize that "blue areas" in America will not be safe.
But you are wrong to think that you all can sneak away and go somewhere where you will be forgotten. You will NOT be forgotten.
Let that sink in.
And, it’s all going to come back and haunt you.
What? You think that you don’t have siblings, who are married with kids? You think that they are immune from the consequences of your evil machinations? You think that you are NOT on watch lists? You think that your behavior is not tracked? You think that your “connections” in whatever government entity will protect you?
Listen up.
The world is not a new “enlightened”, and “progressive” reality where wars are long behind us. Where citizens will turn in their weapons willingly to be serfs under a wise Kingly leader. Nope. Those are all imaginary fantasies that many of you all believe.
They are not true.
Most of human history has been fraught with terrible, terrible battles and conflicts. Where entire blood lines were executed. Where women, if they were lucky, were enslaved as sex slaves, while everyone else were killed. Know your history. Entire cities were decimated. Men, women, children, even the dogs and cats. All killed and the ground salted afterwards.
The time has come that you all must start to live like the Kings of old. With poison testers, thrice-tested body guards, and loyalty oaths that are rock solid. You will not be able to hole-up behind strong stone walls. You will not be able to escape to a land where you will be unknown and untraceable. You will not be able to escape the wrath of your fellow citizens who have spent decades watching you cart your weight around and lord over us.
We are coming for you.
Know your history. This is what really happens when a particular group comes to power and their enemies are disarmed. It is never pretty. Know your history.
You think that your accents, behaviors, and lifestyle won’t give you away. You think that being a flabby old white dude walking on the beach of Mahebourg on Mauritus will be overlooked? Is that what you think? Do you actually believe that an extensive underground lair in Dunedin will protect you? Hey! Am I being specific enough for you? Or, perhaps you think that you will be different…
We are coming for you.
No, you do not have to worry about one singular person. Personally, I not going to do Jack Shit. But what you will need to worry about is the consequences of your support… in all the myriad of ways… for the coming Shit Storm that is going to engulf the United States into a conflagration of an unparalleled magnitude.
Read your history books. You cannot simply take on a defensive posture and hole up like some hermit in a monastery while Rome burns, or the Huns sack your city, rape your women and torture everyone else.
The “bubble” of civility is coming to an abrupt end.
Graphic photograph of a capture and subsequent rape of a young girl by German soldiers. Know your history. This will be common. Know your history.
It had a good run. At least in America, it did. Eighty years. That’s long enough to assume that things will always be a certain way, and full danger is really only the stuff of nightmares. Well, it is ending.
In large part because of your actions.
As such, the historical “normal” is returning. Buckle up. You and yours are all in the cross hairs.
Greek authors rarely go into any detail when describing the fall of a city, so if we want to know what this really means, we are to some extent forced to use our imagination. However, it's clear from what little we hear that Xenophon's 'universal law' usually meant 3 things:
All movable property was taken
All adult men were killed
All women, children and elderly men were sold into slavery.
The first of these points is least well attested, but probably most widespread. Every warrior who was sent against an enemy settlement would hope to come away with a profit.
Homes could be stripped of furniture and metal objects; temples could be robbed of their dedications and temple treasuries emptied. If there was time, even the rooftiles and wooden fittings of houses could be torn off and carried away.
The simple fact that large amounts of ancient coinage and jewellry was preserved in its hiding place (buried, thrown into wells, etc.) shows that people were quite concerned to keep their valuables out of the hands of greedy invaders.
The second point is better known, because it was a matter of justice and pride. When a city was attacked, it could choose to surrender; if it did not, it forfeited any claim to mercy. Those who had decided to resist their enemies would get what they deserved. The most explicit example of this is the fate Agamemnon desired for Troy:
Not a single one of them must escape sheer destruction at our hands. Not even if a mother carries one in her belly and he is male, not even he should escape. All together they must be exterminated from Troy, their bodies untended and invisible.
-- Iliad 6.57-62
There are loads of examples from Greek history of sieges ending with the slaughter of all adult men. These massacres removed the defeated community's ability to fight and ensured that there would be no further resistance.
The third point arises from the fact that the Greeks seem to have considered it barbaric to kill captured women and children as well as men. The few examples of this in Greek history were condemned as savage. Once the needs of revenge had been satisfied, the remaining population was instead considered a potential source of profit:
When they were delivered to her by the Persians, Pheretime took the most guilty of the Barkaians and set them impaled around the top of the wall; the breasts of their women she cut off and planted around the wall in like manner. As for the rest of the Barkaians, she told the Persians to take them as plunder.
-- Herodotos 4.202
There was substantial money to be made from this, which is why commanders sometimes tried to restrain the bloodlust of their victorious troops. Even if it was just, as well as satisfying, to kill the defenders, it still amounted to the destruction of a source of income:
Dionysios' entire army burst into the city (...) and now every spot was a scene of mass slaughter; for the Sicilian Greeks, eager to return cruelty for cruelty, slew everyone they encountered, sparing without distinction not a child, not a woman, not an elder. Dionysios, wishing to sell the inhabitants into slavery for the money he could gather, at first attempted to restrain the soldiers from murdering the captives, but when no one paid any attention to him and he saw that the fury of the Sicilian Greeks was not to be controlled, he stationed heralds to cry aloud and tell the Motyans to take refuge in the temples which were revered by the Greeks. When this was done, the soldiers ceased their slaughter and turned to looting the property.
-- Diodoros of Sicily 14.53.1-3
The beginning of this passage is unique in actually describing a scene that must have been typical when a city fell to a Greek army. Most successful siege assaults were not the result of elaborate circumvallation, but of a surprise assault or betrayal.
As a result, rather than bottling up the helpless enemy from all sides, the attackers usually entered the city from one point and began their rampage from there.
Those left in the city therefore had two choices: either to resist or to flee. The former would result in the brutal fate sketched above - but the latter explains how Greek communities often seem to have survived a lost siege despite the genocidal intent of their attackers. It was often possible for a substantial part of the population to get away.
Their ultimate fate would then depend on what the victorious enemy intended to do with the settlement. Sometimes (especially in the Archaic period) their intent was to seize the territory for themselves; in these cases the town would be razed, and the fugitive population cast adrift. Fear of this outcome was supposed to keep the Spartans in the fight against the Messenians early in their history:
The most wretched of all things is for a man to leave his city and its fertile fields, reduced to the life of a beggar, wandering with his mother and aged father, his little children and wedded wife. Wherever he ends up, he will be as an enemy dwelling among them. He will succumb to need and detestable poverty, bring shame upon his family, disgrace his splendid looks. All forms of dishonour and misery will dog him. Since this is how it is and no one cares for or respects a wanderer or his offspring at all, let us fight hard for our land and die for our children without sparing our lives.
-- Tyrtaios fr. 10.3-14
If they had friends elsewhere, they might be able to obtain a temporary home, or even gain resident status and a home away from home, as the Plataians did at Athens when the Spartans razed their settlement in 427 BC.
In the Classical period, the intention was often rather to plant settlers on the conquered territory in order to expand the victorious city's number of land-owning citizens. This is what Athens did with the land of most of its defeated enemies from 506 BC onward. In such cases, the captured city might be reinhabited - at times by the new settlers along with the old population of women and children, whom they took as wives or slaves.
Alternatively, once due vengeance had been exacted, the remnants of the city's population could simply be allowed to return to it, often subjected to tribute and an imposed political regime. When the Athenians finally lost their fleet at Aigospotamoi in 405 BC, fear washed through the city, because the Athenians fully expected to meet the same fate that they had inflicted upon other Greeks throughout the decades of their Empire - the eradication of their community, the death of their men, and the sale of their women into slavery. However, for reasons that are still debated today, the Spartans decided to spare them. They got away with "only" a sack, the destruction of their walls, and the imposition of the tyrannical yoke of the Thirty.
- What actually happens when a city is sacked?
You should have paid attention to history class. The historical normal is one where no one is ever safe. It is always a short bubble of time, no more than one or two generations in length where people can live together in some sort of sanity.
But that bubble always pops, and the people living their nice safe lives are often overtaken by the shock and brutality of the reality that will overwhelm them.
We
know what will happen. It has been well documented. People will be
collected. They will be rounded up into urban areas, or centers. The men
will be separated out from the group. They will be led to an isolated
area, a cellar, a warehouse, a cluster of tree, an area behind a
bulldozer. They will then be held down by two people and shot dead.
We are coming for you.
It’s going to be historical. It will be Biblical, and it will consist of many elements that are not at all “enlightened” and “progressive”. It will be raw and unbridled.
Who are “we”?
We
have learned all about the great con game, and we are fed up. We know
know what is going on and we are pissed, and desire real, substantive
change. Now, for those of us who have awakened from the con, it is time
for a clean break – a refusal to accept that anything over the past 60
years was any good…a desire, that is, to move forward in an entirely
new way, unshackled to whatever we might have said or done in the past.
Like water, we are not one set person, but rather a very lose and amorphous collection of many well-educated people that will not allow instigators, and criminals to scurry away unscathed. It won’t be me, but I’m telling you that it will be others. And they won’t have any set plans, no set maps, no coordination. But they will see you all for what you actually are; big, plump, juicy, lush, targets to seize and use for purposes that you do not want to read about.
Yet…
Yet, there is still time. You can alter your future and atone for your sins. Your future does not need to be that of fertilizer spread out upon a glassed-over barren wasteland. You can change. You can start taking action to prevent the crisis that is barrelling straight down the Pike for us all. You can make a difference.
Yes, YOU!
Well… listen NOW.
But let’s speak frankly to each other. I’m not the smartest guy you’ve ever met, or the hardest-working. I was a mediocre student. I’m not technical at all—I can’t write a word of code. What sets me apart, I think, is a tolerance for risk and an intuition about what will happen in the future. Seeing where things are headed is the essence of entrepreneurship. And what do I see in our future now?I see pitchforks.
- On Friday Jun 27, 2014 at 12:04 pm Michael Krieger posted an article where he offered up a warning for thouse oligarchs about the coming shit-storm and what you can do about it.
He and others have warned you.
Once
a political ideology takes power, they are ruthless in their treatment
of opposition. They will kill you, and if you are a woman, they will
rape you and then kill you. There will not be any mercy. It is better to
die fighting when they come to your house, than to accept the lies that
they will put you into “protection” for your own best interests.
If we don’t do something to fix the glaring inequities in this economy, the pitchforks are going to come for us. No society can sustain this kind of rising inequality. In fact, there is no example in human history where wealth accumulated like this and the pitchforks didn’t eventually come out. You show me a highly unequal society, and I will show you a police state. Or an uprising.
There are no counterexamples. None. It’s not if, it’s when.
-From Nick Hanauer’s excellent Politico Op-Ed: The Pitchforks are Coming…For Us Plutocrats
The is something about money, wealth and power that corrupts. It corrupts everyone it touches, and no one is immune. If you are wealthy then you are corrupted. There are no exceptions.
You might not think that you are corrupted.
You might, somehow, think that you are different. “Just one of the guys that got lucky.” You are deluding yourself.
The “freedom from need” corrupts the soul. Thus, the individual finds other pursuits to occupy the void in their being.
"What I do care about is the kind of power that such money can buy, and how that power is then abused to purchase politicians and run roughshod over entire societies. I have also been disgusted with the fact that the 0.01% as a class seem self-absorbed, apathetic and delusional when it comes to the catastrophe the current economic and financial system is reaping upon the planet. So busy are they patting themselves on the back and scrambling to acquire that next billion to see what is rapidly unfolding beyond their moats."
- Michael Krieger
And that is where you are all.
You might consider yourselves smart, intelligent, lucky, fortunate, or whatever.
But you are not.
You have forgotten so much.
The
progressive liberal communists rounded up anyone who could possibly be a
threat to them. They loaded them into trucks. They tied their hands
behind their backs, and they killed them.
You have forgotten, or maybe never had the experience of being a most valued employee; working 14 hour days for months in a row, earning the company millions of dollars and then you suddenly being let go on Christmas eve. Coming home to a shocked wife, with the baby screaming for food, and you being forced to go into your meager savings… savings that will be depleted in a week… to buy some day-old vegetables, and on-sale food-stuffs.
That’s America for the last fucking three decades you God damn son-of-a-bitches!
You think that we are going to turn the other cheek and not find a scapegoat to roast over some burning embers? Maybe you weren’t the the person who handing out the pink-slip, or the manager that approved it, or the VP that authorized it, or the President that demanded it. But all of you… EVERY… FUCKING… ONE… contributed.
We will never forget.
Your time is coming.
At the same time that people like you and me are thriving beyond the dreams of any plutocrats in history, the rest of the country—the 99.99 percent—is lagging far behind. The divide between the haves and have-nots is getting worse really, really fast. In 1980, the top 1 percent controlled about 8 percent of U.S. national income. The bottom 50 percent shared about 18 percent. Today the top 1 percent share about 20 percent; the bottom 50 percent, just 12 percent.
-From Nick Hanauer’s excellent Politico Op-Ed: The Pitchforks are Coming…For Us Plutocrats
Yes.
Inequality is one aspect of it. There are “haves” and “have nots”. But that’s not the point. Many of us watched our life fall apart before our very eyes, not because we were lazy while we toiled in the company, but rather instead to make the bottom-line look better to the investors of the companies where we were employed.
We see pictures in history books and say, “nah that could never happen here”. The roads are dirt. The people are wearing military clothing. There isn’t anything that looks like a part of America in the pictures.
This attitude… one of us being just a useful tool… like a broom or a toilet brush… has altered the emotional fabric of America. And, yes, part of the turmoil that you see all over America today is a direct result of this arrogant behavior.
But the problem isn’t that we have inequality. Some inequality is
intrinsic to any high-functioning capitalist economy. The problem is that inequality is at historically high levels and getting worse every day. Our country is rapidly becoming less a capitalist society and more a feudal society.
Unless our policies change dramatically, the middle class will
disappear, and we will be back to late 18th-century France. Before the revolution.And so I have a message for my fellow filthy rich, for all of us who live in our gated bubble worlds: Wake up, people. It won’t last.If we don’t do something to fix the glaring inequities in this economy, the pitchforks are going to come for us. No society can sustain this kind of rising inequality.
-From Nick Hanauer’s excellent Politico Op-Ed: The Pitchforks are Coming…For Us Plutocrats
Oh, do not be under the illusion that the situation and the contributors can all be quantified on some sort of chart. They cannot. Like the school kid relentlessly bullied by the school-hall bullies, an anger has been pent up for decades.
You do not want to be on the losing end of that stick.
During
these times and types of conflicts it is NORMAL for women, and girls to
be abducted, raped repeatedly and then killed. This is a historical
norm.
The only way that you avid this fate is to confront it.
Face on. Right now.
Do good works, and stay out of politics. Help people.
In fact, there is no example in human history where wealth accumulated like this and the pitchforks didn’t eventually come out. You show me a highly unequal society, and I will show you a police state. Or an uprising. There are no counterexamples. None. It’s not if, it’s when.Here’s what I say to you: You’re living in a dream world. What everyone wants to believe is that when things reach a tipping point and go from being merely crappy for the masses to dangerous and socially destabilizing, that we’re somehow going to know about that shift ahead of time. Any student of history knows that’s not the way it happens.
-From Nick Hanauer’s excellent Politico Op-Ed: The Pitchforks are Coming…For Us Plutocrats
You know that this is coming. Its not a surprise.
You all are not fools. Indeed, you all are investing in property, safeguards and insurance plans.
ISIS
sex slave at a slave auction in an occupied region of Syria. During
periods of change, the plight of women is always a dangerous one.
What I am saying is that clutching your bags of gold and scurrying off to your rat-hole in some remote location is not the answer. Historically it will not end up like you think. This will not be like a Hollywood movie.
Instead, it will (more) be like a barricaded city that tries to deal with an overwhelming and vicious Mongol horde.
Revolutions, like bankruptcies, come gradually, and then suddenly. One day, somebody sets himself on fire, then thousands of people are in the streets, and before you know it, the country is burning. And then there’s no time for us to get to the airport and jump on our Gulfstream Vs and fly to New Zealand. That’s the way it always happens. If inequality keeps rising as it has been, eventually it will happen. We will not be able to predict when, and it will be terrible—for everybody. But especially for us.
-From Nick Hanauer’s excellent Politico Op-Ed: The Pitchforks are Coming…For Us Plutocrats
Imagine that you and your family are living in one of those cities, one thousand years ago.
It’s a very large city for the time. With large stone walls that tower up many, many stories high. You have a great life, based on trade along the “silk road”. You are wealthy. You have a large spacious home. You have a beautiful family, servants, fine clothes and a home filled with fine arts, laughter and parties.
You are aware of the coming Mongols.
You have discussed this matter with your other wealthy friends. They all have strong political connections and everyone reassures you that there is nothing to worry about. Most of the Mongols are over-rated they say. Plus they have provided reassurances that our military, with the best fighters in the world are more than a match for them. They even took you on a tour of the military barracks and you saw first hand how well organized they were.
Rather than agree to the demands of the Mongols, the most intelligent in the city advised that the rulers confront the Mongols with their superior military.
And so a strong force of 20,000 of the best warriors in the city left the city gates and marched forward with trumpets blowing to confront the horde.
You don’t know what will happen. But you have been reassured that your military will be victorious. After all, they have never lost a battle for at least four decades.
Still you worry.
All you know is that the military went out one week ago and never returned. The King gave you every assurance that things are proceeding well, and that you need not worry. But the truth is that you feel very uneasy.
This is a joint suicide by a Burgermeister and his family upon news that the Americans were entering the town.
The wife says that people are beginning to talk and rumors are starting to fly about what happened at the battle last week.
You cannot put your finger on it, but there is this feeling of dread and gloom that you cannot shake. yet, the sky is blue. The birds are fluttering in the trees, and the boys are playing in the yard. Your daughter just bought a nice silk dress that she is going to wear to a religious celebration in two days. Yet, that dread persists.
“Maybe I should flee?” you ask yourself.
Maybe.
At Politicon 2019 in Nashville on Saturday, during a "conversation" with Never Trumper MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace, James Comey said, "Our leaders must reflect the glue that holds us together. They can’t be people who lie all the time. They just can’t. And I hope people see that’s true whether they are Republicans or Democrats.
Wallace then asked, "What if he wins again? Will you still believe that?"
Comey said, "I will be, from my new home in New Zeland, I will still believe in America."
-Townhall
Do you want to place a bet that what Comey says will come true? That he will be safe and forgotten in New Zealand?
Do
not think that in today’s “modern” and “enlightened” society that we
are beyond mass genocide against a particular race, or group of people.
Here are people who were seized out of their homes at the dead of night
by militarized police (the Federal Police), handcuffed with wire-ties
(behind his back) and then killed and dumped in a mass grave. Like this
poor fella. I am quite sure that the person putting the wire-ties on his
clasped wrists was very polite and nice about it. Cool and
professional, most certainly. Then he was handed over to others. Those
others then killed him like one would step on cockroach. And, with just
as much care. What? You think America can’t relive the Bosnia
experience?
Or do you think that he will be in chains before he can ever reach an airplane? Or, barring that, seized by the NZ authorities upon the direction of the American government?
All of you are delusional.
Raped and then killed. This is the fate for most targeted women from the ages of 10 to 40. Those outside will probably just be killed.
You keep on dancing near the fire, unaware that you are dowsed in kerosene and that a single spark can set you, and those around your alight.
Because here’s an odd thing. During the past three decades, compensation for CEOs grew 127 times faster than it did for workers. Since 1950, the CEO-to-worker pay ratio has increased 1,000 percent, and that is not a typo. CEOs used to earn 30 times the median wage; now they rake in 500 times. Yet no company I know of has eliminated its senior managers, or outsourced them to China or automated their jobs. Instead, we now have more CEOs and senior executives than ever before. So, too, for financial services workers and technology workers. These folks earn multiples of the median wage, yet we somehow have more and more of them.
-From Nick Hanauer’s excellent Politico Op-Ed: The Pitchforks are Coming…For Us Plutocrats
Grbavica where a huge complex was set up for the mass internment and rape of women. This is what it looked like at the tail end of the war. 1996.
People! You have jumped over the turnstiles, and gobbled up all the money that you can. Then you set up systems to keep it all for yourself. And somehow you think that the rest of us hasn’t noticed.
Well, we have, and we are royally pissed off over it.
Wal-Mart is our nation’s largest employer with some 1.4 million employees in the United States and more than $25 billion in pre-tax profit. So why are Wal-Mart employees the largest group of Medicaid recipients in many states? Wal-Mart could, say, pay each of its 1 million lowest-paid workers an extra $10,000 per year, raise them all out of poverty and enable them to, of all things, afford to shop at Wal-Mart. Not only would this also save us all the expense of the food stamps, Medicaid and rent assistance that they currently require, but Wal-Mart would still earn more than $15 billion pre-tax per year. Wal-Mart won’t (and shouldn’t) volunteer to pay its workers more than their competitors. In order for us to have an economy that works for everyone, we should compel all retailers to pay living wages—not just ask politely.
-From Nick Hanauer’s excellent Politico Op-Ed: The Pitchforks are Coming…For Us Plutocrats
All of you are fucking guilty.
And if you live in an upscale neighborhood, YOU WILL BE TARGETED.
There will be no avenues of escape. You are FUCKED.
While Donald Trump is undoing many terrible things, nothing is being done about the pre-genocidal conditions already put in place. Unless action is taken by the President or Congress, it is just a matter of time before they will be mobilized against YOU and your family. Take notice.
We rich people have been falsely persuaded by our schooling and
the affirmation of society, and have convinced ourselves, that we are the main job creators. It’s simply not true. There can never be enough super-rich Americans to power a great economy. I earn about 1,000 times the median American annually, but I don’t buy thousands of times more stuff. My family purchased three cars over the past few years, not 3,000. I buy a few pairs of pants and a few shirts a year, just like most American men. I bought two pairs of the fancy wool pants I am wearing as I write, what my partner Mike calls my “manager pants.” I guess I could have bought 1,000 pairs. But why would I? Instead, I sock my extra money away in savings, where it doesn’t do the country much good.
-From Nick Hanauer’s excellent Politico Op-Ed: The Pitchforks are Coming…For Us Plutocrats
Back to the wealthy man living in his villa in the upscale part of the city-state that he inhabits…
Last night over some chicken and some fine vintage wine, you discussed what was going on with a fellow trader friend of yours. He had entered the city and was planning on leaving in the morning. He said some worrisome things.
He said that he used to trade to numerous cities to the East. But he no longer trade with them any more. They no longer exist.
When we went to visit them, they were abandoned. Some still had the walls intact, but most of the homes were empty. Some wild dogs and a goat or two were all that remained. He said that most of the homes no longer had roofs and it looked like the entire city was sacked and set ablaze.
Some had piles of bones blowing in the sand and trapped under broken stone, bricks and walls. Farm fields of plants weren’t harvested and allowed to go fallow. The trees were ripe with apples, but no one collected them.
He couldn’t tell what happened.
All he said was that it looked like it came upon everyone suddenly and no one was spared. Even the churches were burned to the ground. What was not looted, was intentionally destroyed.
He said that he was going to leave in the morning and wanted the family to leave and accompany him.
960403-A-2407B-008
Photo of a suburb in Sarajevo Bosnia after the fighting that took place
between the Serbians and the Muslims,taken by Specialist Nadine Byrnside
from the 55th Signal Company Combat Camera team, in a place called
Grbavica on 3 April 1996.
In Conclusion.
I tip my hats off to Mr. Hanaeur and Mr. Krieger. I think you all should listen to them. But if you choose not to, that is fine. Then listen to me. Your fucking days are numbered, and if America burns, then do not rest easily, for you will be searched out. Located and slaughtered.
It will be historical.
Heed my words. There will be no place for you to hide.
I am talking about the annuals of history and the role that you will play in it. It will not be pretty. But there are things that you can still do about it. You can still make a difference. And running away to hide is not one of them.
This
is what happens to people who do not “go along” with the “new” way of
doing things. It is never pretty. You are rounded up. You are
handcuffed, and you are killed. That is the way it has been for
thousands of years. It never stopped. It will continue.
It is time to atone for your sins. Do not put it off.
Now, you are probably wondering what happened to the family that was awaiting the news of the battle between their city and the Mongol hordes…
Large Urban Cities…
Worse was to come in 1221 — ‘a year to live in infamy’. While Genghis’s other armies had been busy in the east, threatening Tbilisi in Georgia and terrifying the Christian world, Tolui, one of Genghis’s equally reprehensible sons, took Merv (in modern-day Turkmenistan), one of the largest cities in the world.
Promised safety, the citizens surrendered and emerged from behind their walls. Tolui ‘surveyed the masses dolefully gathered with their possessions, mounted a golden chair and ordered mass executions to commence’.
They took four days and nights to complete.
Genghis’s rotten fruit did not fall far from the tree. Terror — and the certainty of its visitation — was a major weapon in Genghis’s arsenal: decapitated women, children and even cats and dogs were reputedly displayed.
- Was Genghis Khan the cruellest man who ever lived?
Complete devastation…
Incursions into Southeast Asia were largely successful, most factions agreed to pay tribute, and only the Invasions into Vietnam and Java failed.
Europe was devastated by the Mongols.
They destroyed near enough every major Russian city, and invaded Volga Bulgaria, Bulgaria, Poland, and Hungary.
If rumours spread that the Mongols were coming, then it would cause a mass panic, and some would run to safety.
There was no guaranteed way to defeat the Mongol hordes, they continuously defeated much larger armies, so numerical strength couldn’t protect you.
Mongol conquests would leave once populous and flourishing areas as wastelands, with little to no people, those remaining would be slaves.
-ESKify
The Women…
Genghis Khan had so much power that he could do whatever he wanted.
For instance, when Genghis occupied some new area, he would kill or enslave all the men and share all the women amongst his tribe.
Genghis Khan would even make beauty contests of captured women to decide which woman is the most beautiful one.
Yeah, he was having his Miss Universe competition before it was cool. So, the queen of those beauty competitions would win the privilege to become one of many Genghis Khan's women.
Rest of the Mongolian army would share all the other contestants.
-The Richest
The Wealthy…
Genghis Khan was the most feared human of the 13th century, who could destroy dynasties just by moving his little finger. He created the Mongol Empire all by himself and earned his eternal spot in the history books.
However, a lot of people had to suffer for Genghis Khan to succeed. Oh yes, the Mongolians were known for their horrendous torturing techniques.
One of the most popular was pouring molten silver down the throat and ears of a victim. Genghis Khan also liked bending his enemy's back until the backbone snapped. If that sounds barbaric, skip this next part.
So, the Mongols once celebrated victory over Russians in a very bizarre way. They picked all the Russian survivors, dropped them on the ground and put a heavy wooden gate on top of them.
Then, Genghis Khan and the entire Mongol army had a huge banquet on that wooden gate. They ate, drank, and watched how Russians were dying one by one from the suffocation, pressure, and wounds.
-The Richest
A return to the old ways…
“The greatest joy for a man is to defeat his enemies, to drive them before him, to take all they possess, to see those they love in tears, to ride their horses, and to hold their wives and daughters in his arms.”
-Genghis Khan.
SHTF Related Index
This is a collection of my posts related to prepping, SHTF (Shit Hit The Fan), CWII (American Civil War 2), Fourth Turning (Strauss–Howe generational theory)
and other posts related to the very sad and sorry tatters that America
is today. Actually, I am a little stunned that I have written so much
about these matters. But America today is very ill and there are things
that really should be said.
Here are the posts.
SHTF and Related Index
Some prepper humor…
Articles & Links
You’ll not
find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
