Dr Great Art! Short, Fun Art History Artecdotes!

Mongrel Art! Democratic Art! This Dr great Art Artecdote is a description of and plaidoyer for a (Post-Postmodernist) art that is anti-purist, syncretistic, and creolized, unifying a variety of artforms, disciplines, tendencies and philosophies. Artworks involving popular or democratic and street artforms outside the "standard" fine art ones, yet also not eschewing either so-called time-honored, nor technologically "new" disciplines, as it seeks to revitalize and transform them all, while opening the art system and deliberately involving people outside the field of art in artistic processes.

This Dr Great Art Artecdote concerns supposed rules in art, especially painting. It describes how there are really no rules in art, and it decries the obsequiousness of those who believe there are rules and who seek to follow them.

The meaning of every artwork lies in the object itself, not in any commentary concerning it.

Times have changed drastically. Now, what provinciality is has been turned completely around. It is a state of mind, not geography.

This Dr Great Art artecdote concerns the beginning of the period, or transitional subperiod, of art in which we now exist: Postmodernism. It cannot be talked away or ignored, nor should it be worshipped. But we are in it since 1979.

This Dr Great Art artecdote is about a form of definitional conceptualization, paradigms and fuzzy categories, and how that is important to understanding art.

An artecdote about a person: Dr Professor Th. Emil Homerin, an important, inspiring scholar of religion, especially mysticism, especially the Sufis, with significant thoughts concerning art.

There are traditionally Nine Muses and Nine Arts, frequently linked to one another. This is my attempt to concoct a fresh, contemporary version of this system for no darn reason other than pure, cultural fun.

A very short 4 minute episode concerning how this podcast, the accompanying performance-lectures in painting-installations, and indeed the art historian and artist Mark Staff Brandl himself came to be called 'Dr Great Art.'

Syncretism is the blending, layering and uniting of different beliefs of various schools of thought. Easter is the holiday most evidencing syncretistic thought. Mongrel Art is a syncretistic form or art. Democratic Art syncretistically involves people outside the field of art in artistic processes.

The lessons of art history are that they are lessons. That is a tautology, but an illuminating one worth elaborating upon. It is necessary to know history as personal empowerment for artists: to test the present with the often surprising facts of the past, to note how and why "official" history has often changed; second, to discover one's own personal, vital ancestry; and finally, in order to criticize and change art history.

A short Artecdote about how our time, Postmodernism, resembles and indeed IS a form of Mannerism.

A short Artecdote concerning the difficulty in teaching an overview, or intro survey to Sub-Saharan African art, plus a free art image bank to download. Image bank link: http://brandl-art-articles.blogspot.ch/2016/10/african-art-course.html

A short artecdote discussing how criticism and complaint about the moribund artworld is important, but what positive things we can do to improve the situation.

A short Artecdote illustrating how important innovation often arises in apparently unpretentious discoveries. This is exemplified by chiaroscuro, the technique in paintings of using radical light-and-dark.

Christmas time! A podcast about how Santa Claus LOOKS --- the history of his visual appearance. St. Nicholas, Thomas Nast, Fred Mizen, myths like Coca-Cola, Luther, the Orthodox Santa, "Twas the night before Christmas," and more including the Swiss Samichlaus and Schmutzli!

The question: What is the problem with Performance Art and Video Art? Are they really, as can seem, so often so bad?

Re-historicizing Pluralism in art. It is claimed to be a unique change and to reign right now, yet it is not so new and has a past. Pluralisms have occurred at least 7 times before.

The slogan of Modernism was Ezra Pound's "Make it new. " Postmodernism (supposedly) rejects this. What is its motto and what could come after that?

There were of course female artists at all times. Most simply have been ignored, or even later removed from mainstream art history. Worst of all, for most of history in the West and the East, it was illegal to instruct or train women to become professional artists at all!