JaZzArt en València

DEACON 11
“History”

I thought this topic would be quite interesting and I wondered how he was going to approach it. It’s a multi-layered subject: confusing, confounding and one usually…perhaps because of the same reasons…mostly ignored by many. Perhaps that is why we are condemned to repeat it. I am talking about history…

And then he said:

Most of us think of history as a book that contains a record of things, events, people, that happened and that lived in the past. I can imagine that a lot of folk think of history as a story that narrates, with names and dates, the events of other times. Well, I think that to those who think of history like this, then to them history is dead and static. It is just a receptacle of previous news, like yesterday’s newspapers since one cannot change the past, it’s just there to be read and remembered or ignored and forgotten.

But I want you to be aware that history is not just the written (or oral) record of past events and people. That is one aspect of history. The other is dynamic. And we are making it…history…at this very moment. History is the struggle of man to attain his goals in society, to decide and elect his government and pursue happiness and fulfilment in life. History is made as we develop industry, agriculture, philosophy, and even, yes of course, the arts.

History is the clashes between good and evil that we experience in the world at all times. Presently our history is succumbing to evil dictators and rising with the fight for liberation. History is being made by the refugee attempting to reach lands of opportunity and also by the repressive forces trying to keep him away.

Conflict in society creates history. The struggle of the poor on the one side and the desire of the rich to further enrich themselves. The very rich are today rising higher and higher on the shoulders of the very poor, the middle class and the alienated, downtrodden ones of our cities and countries. This is the current state of history. Class struggles have always created history, and that translates to our current state of affairs. We are seeing how chauvinism, radical patriotism, and fanaticism, in otherwise cultured and educated societies, is bringing to the forefront (electing) ignorant, albeit charismatic, leaders that have not learned from the past. Or is it that they wish to emulate some of the more negative aspects of that past? And these so-called leaders are not creating history, on the contrary, due to their anachronistic nature, they are destroying the history that had been done.

There is an absolute good and an absolute bad. Of this have no doubt. And the historical record demonstrates it. This good and this bad, which have nothing to do with the consequences of our actions, also determines history. When a society is being led away from the path of goodness, it becomes conflicted. The people seek answers, reasons and logic but they do not get the truth, they get twisted and perverse lies. The absolutes of good and bad are replaced with an ideology that eliminates them simply by telling, or/commanding, people to know that absolutes do not exist.

So one can say that history is being made by the societal manipulations of ruthless leaders. As well as by schizophrenogenic tyrants who would turn history upside down and sacrifice the future of society…and the world, perhaps…just to provide for themselves positions of power ad perpetuam. We must always remember that dictators and tyrants always hate the people they rule over. And that they have always used history to attempt to prove to the people that they are right and just.

Yet, I must conclude that although history can be confusing, it is not. In essence, God has created Heaven and Earth; He alone rules history. That means all of history, the one we are making…because we have free will…and the history that has been written. God reminded the Hebrew people, through Moses, not to forget their history and not to forget who is their God.

Then why are “they” now trying to make us forget who God is? And “they” are those that are trying to guide and influence us through political parties, music, movies, plays, video games, everything! Could they be trying to make history and rule over it?

Valencia, España, 10th of March 2025, Francisco Bravo Cabrera

«History is as abstract as classical music, as figurative as a Picasso and as frail as the bones in the wings of a hummingbird.» (F. Bravo Cabrera)

Y debe opinar el que sepa y el que pueda, no el idiota…

ON MAYAN TIME

Alright… So I rarely write about myself. Yet, at times, I do find myself writing bits and pieces of my experiences, i.e. fragments my life. Believe me I try not to as I am not my most important subject. But I am a poet…that paints and writes…who opens himself to the mysteries of the universe. Therefore, I have to recognise that some strange things have happened to me and some are worth mentioning. This is one of them, for sure. And what I am about to tell you happened in the general area of the world where most of my other strange things have also occurred, that being the jungles, mountains, lakes and rivers of Central America.

The incident in question took place on the day I was re-deployed to a security detail for a small expedition of archaeologists from a US uni (the name I cannot mention). They were accompanying their colleagues from the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala, to the Petén region of the country to…supposedly…recover some Mayan artefacts. Our journey would take us to a small island in the middle of a huge lake in the vicinity of Flores, the capital city of the Petén region.

The Department of El Petén, is in the northern extreme of Guatemala and in those years it was mostly jungle. I have not been there lately but I believe it has not changed much. The Petén borders on the Mexican states of Campeche, Izabal and Alta Verapaz on the west, and on the east with the country of Belize, which was…at the time…still British Honduras, a colony of the UK. It is important to state that at the time Guatemala claimed the colony as theirs and many thought the dispute would end up in a war. In other words tensions were high between the two countries.

We left our base, located close to the grounds of La Aurora, Guatemala’s international airport, at exactly 0700 hours. We arrived at exactly 0830 hours to Flores. From the LZ we walked to the shore of the lake. The original inhabitants called the lake Noh Petén, and the current ones Lake Petén Itzá and it was a truly beautiful area, I hope it still is. It’s a tropical jungle/rain forest, very hot and very green, and the lake is rather a large one.

In the morning sunshine one could see the large island not too far from the shore. The scientists had went for breakfast at a small bar nearby and they asked me, quite politely, if I could watch their gear. So I sat on the dock to wait looking at the serene, black waters of the lake. The easterly breeze moved the water rhythmically towards my shore hypnotically and I felt transported. It was amazing.

My peaceful, meditative state was suddenly broken by something that hit the water, as if someone had tossed in a large stone which caused ripples to rush towards the dock, but I did not see what it was. I immediately popped back to my professional hyper vigilant self. Then I heard children singing. I got up and walked a few metres towards what looked like an old army field hospital tent. Strange I thought, I had not noticed that when we were arriving to the dock, and believe me, I notice every detail everywhere. But it was there now and I could hear children inside singing, so I decided to approach and investigate. I stood just in front of the tent’s opening and peeked in but I could not see anything. I thought it was because having been in the searing sun for so long, my eyes had not adapted to the darkness inside the tent. In any event, I took a step inside.

There was no one inside. I scanned the empty tent wondering where the hell were the children. I went back outside, looked at my new Texas Instruments digital watch and to my surprise, shock and incredulity, I saw it said 1230 hours. But where had the time gone? I rushed back to the dock to look for the scientists. No one was there. At that very instant the sky turned black and a violent rain storm began. The bright sunny day turned to night and the rain fell so hard I could not see anything in front of me. I just stood in the pouring rain trying to find my bearings.

I thought about accessing the shelter of the field tent, but I could no longer see it. And then, as quickly as the storm, that seemed like the end of the world, had begun, it stopped. In mere seconds the skies cleared and the searing sun returned to its majestic place in the sky, right on top of me. My watch was not wrong, it was, most certainly, the middle of the day. And I noticed I was completely dry.

At that instant I heard one of the American scientists calling me and demanding, in a rather angry manner, where the hell had I been. I was still trying to put my head together but I tried to tell him that I had been right here, at the dock, guarding the equipment. I began to explain that I had heard children singing from the old army field tent over…

“Over where? What field tent? There is no field tent anywhere around here! We’re the only ones here,” the lead scientist was now annoyed and shouting. “This is a restricted area. No civilians allowed! What the hell is up with you abandoning your post?”

The others had arrived. “We looked all over for you, for four hours!” Said one of the Guatemalans. «Where were you?»

The only thing I could reply was, “Wait…” Because he was right, this was a restricted, militarised area. I remembered we had gone through a Guatemalan Army checkpoint, and when I looked towards where the tent had been there was nothing there. Feeling uncomfortable and confused, I managed to compose myself and calmly replied, “I don’t know sir.”

They were right to be outraged. This was a dangerous area that was continually being cleared off by the Guatemalan Army because communist guerrilla insurgents…quite the problem at the time…had been crossing through here en route to towns and villages deeper in the jungle. I knew all of that as well as I knew never to never abandon my post. But I had not abandoned it. This all happened just a few footsteps away from the equipment but I could not explain it.

And I still cannot explain it. The sound of something hitting the water, the missing time, the children’s voices, the sudden rain and the military tent. For me it will remain a mystery. It was one of those strange things that happen, I reckon, in certain parts of the world for the which there is no rational explanation. Not that I ever look for rational explanations, hell, I am a poet…

C.2025, Francisco Bravo Cabrera – 05/09 MAR 2025 – Valencia, España

Here are some more mysteries I would love someone to solve for my peace of mind…

1) If women say that all men are the same, then why do they fuss so much about choosing one?

2) If the moons of other planets all have names, why is ours just called Moon?

3) Why is Tarzan always so well shaved when he lived in a tree in the middle of the jungle?

Well that is enough for now, until I consult with more philosophers to find out more of these enigmas…

CHEERS

7) Marina Abramović. The «grandmother» of performance «art». Frankly speaking I didn’t always feel the same way about this grandmother, but once her complete life of «art» played out I saw that she was no artist that I could call valuable or useful to art history. The way she uses people is akin to abuse and the way she manipulates the observers (or admirers) is a total farce. Her supposed «chance» meeting with Ulay, her one time partner, was contrived. And contriving art is okay by me, but don’t pass it off as real. Therefore she makes my list. Perhaps I am not as disgusted with her as I am with many of the others that populate this top ten, but…

8) Tracy Emin. Let’s start by saying that her claim to fame came when her «Bed» became a work of art. Frankly it is a disgusting piece and it may just show how untidy and unclean she could be or could have been. I don’t know, I’ve never met her. At least if she did sleep on such a bed. The bed is surrounded with vodka bottles, used condoms and all manner of rubbish. Whatever it is, if art it is, it is bad, useless art. She cannot draw or paint, as you can plainly see in the photograph below. Yet, she is held as one of the great artists of the UK.

9) Fernando Botero. The painter of volume, as he calls himself. But those silly little fat figures that he paints are not representative of volume. If you want volume look at the figures of Rubens or the portraits by Jenny Saville. Botero’s do not even represent cartoons. Everything he paints is the same. All the figures have the same blank or withdrawn expression. There is no magic, no power, no charm in his work, therefore he is most definitely in my list.

10) Keith Haring. This artist and social activist made it to the top of the art world by making doodles. Yes, similar to the ones we all made in our high school notebooks when we were bored in class. There is no aesthetics in his work, and absolutely no rhyme or reason. They could have easily been made by a seven year old. And for a seven year old they might have seemed like art, but really, it is not good art at all for someone that considers himself an artist. He started out making these doodle on or close to galleries. Why didn’t he make them on truck stops on an interstate highway?

Well here it is my top 10 most useless artists. I can re-arrange them as they are all really number one. And please understand that my words (passionate as they might be) are not meant to cast any aspersions on the artists themselves. I dislike their work. I do not know them, never met any of them and do not know anything about their lives or personalities. This is for sure not an attack ad hominem. It is an attack on their supposed «art».

CHEERS

4) Romero Britto. Well Britto should take up a lot, if not most, of the slots in my ranking of my worst ten artists (my opinion). Really I should not even include him as an artist, because he is not. He is a mystery. I cannot understand why or who would purchase one of his atrocities. He stands next to the great bad ones like Miró and Kahlo. Yet those were simply bad artists, Britto is not an artist. And if you search, you find nothing about hi, He says he never studied art, and that is quite evident when you see his «works» which resemble a kindergartner’s colouring book. I will let you be the judge.

There really is no reason to put any more as they are all the same.

5) Jean-Michel Basquiat. The «enfant terrible» of the 1980’s. The boy-man who wanted to become famous and rich, and who managed it. I must say that I do respect him a bit more than most of the others, but I still consider him a terrible artist. His mother trained him in the arts and he profited from it, to a certain extent. He was a «graffiti artist» for a while, an abstract musician, a painter, a bohemian, a bum on the streets, and a spoiled brat who did not know how to live and ended up the way he did. Suicide by overdose of drugs. His works are uninspiring and quite cliché, boring to the max and do not, nor have they ever proffered anything to art history. The fact that he was always around the «greats» of his time contributed to his posthumous success. As to the value of his works, well, that is a mystery just like with Britto.

6) Damien Hirst. If anyone can be called a non-artist (besides the ones I have already mentioned) is Mr. Hirst. He thought he had invented the circles of colour, he put a shark in formaldehyde (which he did not mix well and the shark began to rot and had to be replaced) and he made a skull with diamonds who no one bought and who was secretly purchased by a group which included himself… He does not know anything about painting, drawing, well, nothing about art at all. Well, if I could put all the «artists» I have mentioned as number one on my list, I would.

CHEERS

Well, about some things that I find I do not understand or know why they are or why they are happening. As an artist continually engaged in the search, I need to know about everything. But these things I will ask you about are a mystery to me, and maybe to some of you too. But you are a wise and knowledgeable group, so do you think you can give me some answers?

1) Why do women open their mouths when they are doing their eye make-up?

2) How does one write «zero» in Roman numerals?

3) When «they» invented the clock, how did they know what time it was to set it?

Let me know if you know the reason/answer to any of these mysteries of humanity.

MORE TO COME SOON…

CHEERS

Here are some more mysteries I would love someone to solve for my peace of mind…

1) If women say that all men are the same, then why do they fuss so much about choosing one?

2) If the moons of other planets all have names, why is ours just called Moon?

3) Why is Tarzan always so well shaved when he lived in a tree in the middle of the jungle?

Well that is enough for now, until I consult with more philosophers to find out more of these enigmas…

CHEERS

I think the following video says just about all I would like to say about these phenomenal works of art that served to influence Picasso, and many other artists, including me…

CHEERS

1) Frida Kahlo. Mediocre, did not know how to draw or paint. At best a naïve artist, but hardly even there. It is hard for me to even call her a bad artist, because I tremble to use the word «artist» when referring to her. However, since her death they have converted her into the «queen of merchandising».

Need I say more about this supposed artist that never added anything to art history? (Sorry if you are a fan. I am hot here to discourage you. This is simply my opinion).

2) Joan Miró. Boring to the extreme. He never experimented, he never searched. He did not even mix colours. What for? Buy the tubes, they already come mixed and then «create» a series of paintings using simply the colours (primary ones) as they come out of the tube. Finish series in ten minutes. If his family had not opened the Joan Miró foundation where would all those canvases be? I suspect collecting dust in some attic or basement. However, I do believe he was a smashing good sort of chap.

3 A + B) (A)Yoko Ono. If she had not married John Lennon (who she did her best to seduce back in the late 1960’s), nobody would have ever heard of her. And that would have been hunky dory. The only thing she does worse than art is singing, composing and performing. Cannot say anything else about this woman, except that she may actually also be Yayoi Kusama, there is a likeness, no? That allows me to segway to #3 (B), Yayoi Kusama. Great curtain designs for the home of a blind man…

Let me be clear on this very important point. I am judging only the art that these artists have brought to the world. I do not know these people personally therefore I make no judgements on their personality, lifestyle or anything like that. It is nothing personal. If you are a fan of any of these or of any of the ones in the forthcoming part 2, I am so sorry, but this is my opinion based upon a lifetime of study in art and art history. And I also base these opinions on common sense and good taste.

CHEERS