“Knowledge strengthens our faith, compassion strengthens our love and a smile clears the mind of useless thoughts that make us stumble.” (Francisco Bravo Cabrera)

Many, either from within or without of the «art world», feel that there aren’t any good artists any more. That there are businessmen of art accumulating huge fortunes, but producing rubbish. And many of us feel that frustration with the art world right now. The high-profile names (Koons, Hirst, Emin, Kusama, etc.) are not even painters! They are mostly about spectacle, branding, and marketability. They thrive in the gallery–auction–collector ecosystem, which rewards shock, gimmicks, and recognisability far more than subtlety, craft, or genuine vision.

But that doesn’t mean that good painters don’t exist anymore. In fact, there are many remarkable contemporary painters working today — they just don’t always dominate headlines because they don’t fit the art-market circus model. Some examples:

• Cecily Brown – British painter whose large, gestural works sit somewhere between abstraction and figuration, with real painterly energy.
• Peter Doig – Scottish-born, Canadian-raised painter, creating atmospheric, dreamlike landscapes and figures.
• Jenny Saville – Known for her monumental, raw depictions of the human body, technically virtuosic. (definitely one of my faves)…
• Kerry James Marshall – American painter who explores Black identity and art history with both narrative depth and painterly brilliance.
• Julie Mehretu – Abstract painter, blending cartography, architecture, and gestural abstraction in vast layered canvases.
• Neo Rauch – German painter, mixing surrealism, socialist realism, and dream imagery in technically masterful ways.
• Dana Schutz – Contemporary American painter, combining grotesque humor, bold color, and real painterly skill.

There’s also a huge wave of lesser-known artists working outside the mega-gallery scene — in local studios, regional galleries, or online — who are pursuing painting with as much rigor and creativity as any “old master.”

The tricky part is that the fame system in contemporary art doesn’t necessarily reflect talent. The business side rewards those who can generate headlines, big installations, or are able to move nuveau riche collectors who are trying to emulate the old rich but cannot have the paintings they already have, usually from the great masters, so they create new masters, (usually talent-less businss-savvy ones) and collect their art and pay exhorbitant prices for them. The «artists» think they are artists and they think they are collectors and it all works out because with a lot of money you can do many things. Meanwhile, many strong painters remain semi-underground or known mainly to curators and serious followers.

So yes — there are still excellent painters, even brilliant ones. But the system makes it seem as if all that’s left are marketers and showmen.

CHEERS

Esta cita se George Orwell lo dice todo. Así manipulan a los tontos útiles que sin pensar dos veces siguen las instrucciones y apoyan los proyectos de gentes que ni siquiera conocen.

Hoy vemos lo fácil que es mal guiar a muchos que se lanzan al mar a defender el terrorismo y a darle un balón de oxígeno al comunismo internacional que sì logra establecerse, los condenaría a ellos primero que a los demás.

¿Por qué no luchan con el mismo fulgor a los atropellados por el comunismo en China, Cuba, Corea del Norte y Venezuela? Se escuchan condenas y ataques contra Israel pero pocos contra Rusia. Y los ucranianos, atropellados y asesinados por Putin, son inocentes, jamás atacaron a Rusia ni tomaron rehenes.

Hay que pensar y no reaccionar…

The opposite of figurative art and one of the most successful of all the great art vanguards of the 20th Century: Abstract Art…

Here are some examples of some good abstractions…

CHEERS

CENTRAL PARK

Who can change the course of history?
Who can stop the wheels of time?
Think you can?
Think they can?
Who is they?
And who are you to presume?

History is a mystery

Questions like these and many more,
bounce off the thin layer of surface water
that fills the depths of the reservoir in Central Park.
While it is quite necessary to investigate the lectionary,
Never should one doubt,
there are absolutes,
there are unchanging laws.

There‘s right and wrong,
there’s Ten Commandments,
miraculously carved in stone.
There’s the way of light and the way of darkness,
and you’re free to choose,
take your pick,
light or dark,
or take from both.

But human souls need human comforting,
We’ve all wandered far from home…

On a rotting bench, close to Central Park West,
sitting proper is Rosemary a retired secretary.
Her mind races from through to thought,
used to precision, speed and so forth.
But now quite old she’s not as bold and not as fast,
so when Augusts’ nights shine bright with Augusts’ lightning,
she still sits alone under the rain and
through her ears travels the rhythm and the cadence
of an old, old song, always the same.

I stood one clear January morning
near The Castle in Central Park,
and snow covered the ground,
I thought of summer
and not a question crossed my mind.

C.2021, Francisco Bravo Cabrera, 20 NOV 2021/30 AUG 2025, València, Spain/Izmir, Türkiye

CENTRAL PARK

Who can change the course of history?
Who can stop the wheels of time?
Think you can?
Think they can?
Who is they?
And who are you to presume?

History is a mystery

Questions like these and many more,
bounce off the thin layer of surface water
that fills the depths of the reservoir in Central Park.
While it is quite necessary to investigate the lectionary,
Never should one doubt,
there are absolutes,
there are unchanging laws.

There‘s right and wrong,
there’s Ten Commandments,
miraculously carved in stone.
There’s the way of light and the way of darkness,
and you’re free to choose,
take your pick,
light or dark,
or take from both.

But human souls need human comforting,
We’ve all wandered far from home…

On a rotting bench, close to Central Park West,
sitting proper is Rosemary a retired secretary.
Her mind races from through to thought,
used to precision, speed and so forth.
But now quite old she’s not as bold and not as fast,
so when Augusts’ nights shine bright with Augusts’ lightning,
she still sits alone under the rain and
through her ears travels the rhythm and the cadence
of an old, old song, always the same.

I stood one clear January morning
near The Castle in Central Park,
and snow covered the ground,
I thought of summer
and not a question crossed my mind.

C.2021, Francisco Bravo Cabrera, 20 NOV 2021/30 AUG 2025, València, Spain/Izmir, Türkiye

I sustain that cats are superior animals, meaning they are superior to dogs. And I am sorry if I upset/anger those who think dogs are the ultimate pets. But a dog just cannot compare with the intelligence, agility, usefulness and absolute brilliance of a cat. Most artists have loved cats and have had cats. Mark Twain even rented cats when he travelled then he sent money to the owners to ensure the wellbeing of his feline friends. When cats purr they send healing vibrations. They can sense danger. They can jump more than six times their height, they can see in the dark. And, as opposed to their canine friends (or enemies), they never lost the instinct to hunt and to be wild, although they repress those instincts willingly around their adopted humans…

I do not know why all those people in Europe and in America who, supposedly, hate war, only think of the war in Gaza. They complain about genocide and have been even committing crimes against Israelis in such places like Spain and the US. Yet, there are many armed conflicts going on around the world that they seem to ignore. The most important one is the war in Ukraine. I do not see huge manifestations of these peace-seeking people against the government of Putin. I do not see them manifesting against Kim Jung Un and the fact that he uses Koreans as slave labour to build his fabulous structures, especially the new beach resort. And who exactly is that beach resort in North Korea for? These lovers of Palestinians don’t seem to care for Venezuelans being driven out of their country by dictator Maduro, or Cubans, whose civil and human rights have been denied for decades by the Castro-communist regime on the island. I think these are the children of hypocrisy and I am sick and tired of having to hear the propaganda that they have manged to place in just about every news entity in the Western World.

And Picasso? Leave him alone. Now apparently some crazed out, irrational and bellicose feminists have started to label Pablo as a misogynist and an abuser, even a macho man who used women without proper respect. Well, I say that you do not judge people from other times with the standards of yours. And if he was so bad then why didn’t any of these supposed victims accuse him? On the contrary, they all loved him and he was quite generous with all of them. So piss off…

+++

Sostengo que los gatos son animales superiores, lo que significa que son superiores a los perros. Y lamento si molesto/enfado a aquellos que piensan que los perros son las mascotas definitivas. Pero un perro simplemente no puede compararse con la inteligencia, agilidad, utilidad y absoluta brillantez de un gato. La mayoría de los artistas han amado a los gatos y han tenido gatos. Mark Twain incluso alquilaba gatos cuando viajaba y luego les enviaba dinero a los dueños para asegurar el bienestar de sus amigos felinos. Cuando los gatos ronronean, envían vibraciones curativas. Pueden sentir el peligro. Pueden saltar más de seis veces su altura, pueden ver en la oscuridad. Y, a diferencia de sus amigos (o enemigos) caninos, nunca han perdido el instinto de cazar y ser salvajes, aunque reprimen esos instintos voluntariamente alrededor de sus humanos adoptados…

No sé por qué todas esas personas en Europa y América que, supuestamente, odian la guerra, solo piensan en la guerra en Gaza. Se quejan de genocidio e incluso han cometido crímenes contra israelíes en lugares como España y Estados Unidos. Sin embargo, hay muchos conflictos armados en todo el mundo que parecen ignorar. El más importante es la guerra en Ucrania. No veo grandes manifestaciones, de estas personas que buscan la paz, en contra del gobierno de Putin. No los veo manifestándose contra Kim Jong Un y el hecho de que utiliza a los coreanos como mano de obra esclava para construir sus fabulosas estructuras, especialmente el nuevo complejo turístico. ¿Y para quién exactamente es ese complejo turístico en Corea del Norte? Estos amantes de los palestinos parecen no preocuparse por los venezolanos que son desplazados de su país por el dictador Maduro, o por los cubanos, cuyos derechos civiles y humanos han sido negados durante décadas por el régimen comunista de Castro en la isla. Creo que estos son los hijos de la hipocresía y estoy cansado de tener que escuchar la propaganda que han logrado colocar en prácticamente todas las entidades informativas del mundo occidental.

Y Picasso? Mejor dejadlo tranquilo pues resulta que ahora un grupúsculo de loquillas, irracionales, o sea feministas belicosas, quiere condenar al genio del Siglo 20 y tacharlo de misógino, de machista y de abusador. Escuchad bien antes de contar por ahí esas chorradas y dejad de juzgar a la gente de otra época por los estándares de esta. Además, Pablito no pudo haber sido tan malo porque ninguna de sus mujeres lo acuso y él, en cambio, era muy generoso con ellas todas. Asi que no vengáis aqui a cortar el bacalao y mejor iros a freír espárragos…

Well, Lao Tzu might not have said it exactly as in the translation above, but he did say that an excellent soldier is not a furious man. This could also mean that the «accomplished person is not an aggressive person». In any event it means that one must not confuse anger and violent tendencies from the work that one does, even if that work is the work and the duty of the soldier. I was glad to have learned that (as I did study the Tao) early in life before joining the military…

So I thought we could talk a bit about Lao Tzu and the Tao Te Ching…

Lao Tzu, although I believe he was real, is thought of as a semi-legendary Chinese philosopher believed to have lived in the 6th century B.C. (of course some «experts» place him later). He is traditionally regarded as the founder of Taoism (Daoism) and the author of its foundational text, the Tao Te Ching. His name is also a title which means «Old Master,» and much of his life remains shrouded in myth. Legend says he was an archivist in the imperial court and when he retired and left China a border guard asked him to to write down his wisdom. His wisdom became the Tao Te Ching.

Tao Te Ching means The Book of the Way and Its Virtue which is composed of short, poetic texts that explore the nature of the Tao, which is The Way, the fundamental, and ineffable force that underlies all existence. It emphasizes themes such as:

Non-action (wu wei): acting in harmony with the natural flow rather than through force or struggle

Simplicity and humility: embracing a quiet, modest life

Balance and duality: recognizing the interplay of opposites (yin and yang)

Inner wisdom: valuing intuitive understanding over rigid logic or ambition

The Tao Te Ching has had a profound influence on Chinese philosophy, religion, politics, and art. It is a cornerstone of philosophical Taoism, and its teachings also shaped Chinese Buddhism, Confucianism, and various martial and meditative traditions.

Both Lao Tzu and the Tao Te Ching continue to inspire people around the world seeking a life of balance, peace, and alignment with nature.

CHEERS

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“Time is not lineal, it spirals, twists and turns, that’s why we dream and talk to ourselves because inside we are still what we’ve always been.” (Francisco Bravo Cabrera)