Where Have I Been?

Where have I been? Good question, probably deerves a good answer, but I don't think you have the time right now. God willing, I will be posting more frequuently, and in the meantime, check out one of my projects I am working on. Peace.

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Working on my Love and War series. #art #artist #picoftheday #love #heart #me #painting #paint #green

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Fish and Chips Pt. 1

peace all, been a long time since blogging about things going on, but felt this one had to land on my blog. This year's been very interesting for me and my art. What looked like a great first half of the year came to a halt, beginning with being laid off from a contract because of complaints. What were the complaints? Wasn't told to me nor the agency, but one look at me and my beard and what I represent, and there is no need for more questions. Discrimination is rearing it's ugly head, or should I say becoming more obvious is this colorblind, multicultural society of different beliefs, ethnicities, and other walks of life...I can't believe I actually said such a thing without getting sick.

 I took a long hiatus from a lot of things, especially art, until I decided to come back stronger than before, I created a couple of pieces and submitted them to a juried art exhibit that I felt was liberal and open to ideas and subjects, especially since they feigned interest in showing my last work, Portrait of My Hood, which depicted the marginalization of inner city residents, neglecting their needs for a decent quaility of life, and setting them up for gentrification, among other heinous crimes of humanity, but I guess being Black or people of color in general is still not a real concern for America, huh? This gallery, which moved to another location in North Dallas, held another exhibit in which they entitled CONTAINED, and claimed that they didn't mind loose interpretations of containment. Well, seeing that they seemed to love my work, I hit 'em with two blows to the head, entitled Complex I and Ghetto Ingredients, the latter can be seen on my website as a featured piece by clicking HERE.

Complex I deals with inferiority complexes among African Americans, and it's manifestations of self-hatred , which is a by product of institutionalized racism from all aspects of American society, and to cap it off, in the background is the symbol from the controversial bestseller The Bell Curve, which I won't go into it's own critique at this momemt. Recently I have discovered that some people have attempted to give it the name Colorism, because it deals within the African American race. However when one fully researches the issue, it appears to be a misnomer, placing the blame solely on African Americans, omitting the root cause of the problem, which is racism, supplying misleading information by mentioning slavery as the root cause, and giving a false impression that slavery is over, and therefore the lingering "colorism" that is displayed in African Americans is another form of proof of Blacks' supposed "intellectual inferiority" and lack of reasoning. I wanna take this time out to thank Oprah Winfrey and others who propogate this nonsense in an effort to stay away from truly holding those person/s/entities responsible for the pathological brainwashing of people of color.

Well any, back to the subject at hand...I received a letter of rejection from the gallery, which put it so lovely that while they enjoyed my work, it just didn't make the cut...oh ducky... I kinda figured that since this gallery was moving to another area inside of a mall which renovated it's second floor and rented many floors to artists as "studios" the subject matter would be mainly escapism, which is the word of the day in the art world. Unfortunately this would be the same word for African American artists too, as I have also discovered in my travails this year into the art world. But I take it all in stride...God(Allah) is still in control....Part 2 later...

You Only Have One.....

Peace ya'll

It's 9:06am, and I am at work.

WAIT A MINUTE, YOU'RE AT WORK AND YOU'RE WRITING A BLOG?
Well, yeah sorta.

YOU MUST HAVE A LOT OF TIME ON YOUR HANDS
Kinda, but this is a different blog.

IS IT THAT IMPORTANT THAT YOU HAVE TO BLOG RIGHT NOW AT WORK?
Yeah, kinda. I have to get it off my chest.

WHAT HAPPENED?
Somebody at my job died....Came back to work from the weekend and someone showed an email announcing his death.

HOW YOU FEEL?
Sad.

WERE YOU TWO GOOD FRIENDS?
We were cool, we joked around when I was in his area at work, but not the palsy-walsy type. But it's becoming so common now. This makes approximately 10 deaths I've experienced in the course of a year.

THAT MUCH HUH?
Yeah, that much.

Actually someone in my family died last week, but I didn't want to tell anyone about it. It's been happening so much now I become sad even if I don't know or even like the person.

WELL YOU ARE HUMAN AND YOU HAVE FEELINGS.

But does it mean that I've become very touchy when it comes to death?
COULD BE, BUT IT COULD ALSO BE AN INDICATION OF YOUR LOVE FOR HUMAN KIND THAT ALLOWS
YOUR FEELINGS TO SHOW. NOT MANY PEOPLE DO THAT NOWADAYS, THEY HIDE, PLAY TOUGH AND ACT THICK-SKINNED, BUT WE ALL KNOW IT'S FAKE.

Is it wrong to feel this way?
NOT AT ALL. AS WEIRD AS IT SOUNDS, DEATH IS A PART OF LIFE.

But most people don't feel this way. They may speak on it for a second, and then back to business.
MOST HUMANS ARE PRONE TO FORGET THINGS UNTIL IT HAPPENS TO THEM. COMMON TRAIT.

I don't know, maybe it's just me, or does it seems like people are taking this death thing lightly?
THEY ARE TAKING IT LIGHTLY.

I think so too, I think people are forgetting that they really have no control over this issue, and now it's so bad that people do not believe people die of natural causes anymore, it has to be something wrong. Take Michael Jackson for instance. No
drugs in his system at the time of death, but people want to make it seem as if something else was the cause of his death. They are not satisfied that he died in this fashion. He was supposed to have died tragically. People need to get over it. The man laid down and did not get back up. Period. But they play it as if there is some written rule that a person can only die in their sleep as an old person. Total disbelief that the One who gives life will take it anyway and ANY MOMENT.

THAT'S THE MEDIA FOR YOU. ANYTHING TO KEEP A STORY RUNNING.

Or another example, I remember a few years ago an ex-coworker told me his 5 year old niece went into the restroom, had an asthma attack and died. Within minutes of their arrival at the hospital, Child Protective Services were there investigating, claiming they are just there to make sure there were no signs of abuse....Couldn't they've just waited until an autopsy was performed before calling Child Protective Services? Have we deluded ourselves that much?

APPARENTLY WE HAVE MY FRIEND. SO MUCH ARTIFICIAL HAS OVERTAKEN THE REAL THAT THE HUMAN NOW SEES THE REAL AS AN ALTERNATIVE.

It seems everything natural has become "alternative". Natural medicines are "alternative medicines", natural foods are given other names, and now natural death is "Abnormal".

THE HUMAN BEING HAS TAKEN THE MORSELS OF KNOWLEDGE AND ABUSED THEM SO THAT HE IS WORSHIPPED INSTEAD OF HIS CREATOR. HE WANTS THAT WHICH HE CAN'T HAVE, OR THAT WHICH WILL DESTROY HIM IF HE OBTAINED IT IN THIS LIFE. WEALTH, POWER, SUBJECTS, IMMORTALITY. HE HAS FORGOTTEN HE IS ONLY HERE FOR A SHORT PERIOD.




GOD HELP US ALL. AMEEN.

Special Dedication....

Peace everyone,

It's 5:53pm and although it is about 99 degrees outside, the heat has somehow become bearable(if you can really believe that!)

Anyway, I had planned a break away from the internet next week for the most part, except for checking on email and comments, but things do get a little more hectic than usual, and I can feel the load is weighing in on me, so although I took some days off for next week, I am starting my break today. But while I was at work, I wrote a poem conveying my feelings over the past few months. I send this out as a dedication to those who wish to take on the mission of helping mankind return to their noble state, but continue to fall on deaf ears or wishy-washy hearts. Some people of conscious can feel something is in the midst and are trying to warn the masses which seems to be either in a state of fear, or simply don't care and are trying to distract themselves with consuming material items or partaking in pleasures that really never satisfy, but leave the empty soul looking for more extreme ways to satisfy themselves.

Others are finding fault in everything from conservatives to liberals, to religion to immorality. All of this is false. The problem is that the human being has taken matters into his/her own hands without any guidance from the Creator of this Universe.

Regardless of the circumstances, you must press on, no matter how tired you may be, but it never hurts to express feelings of discontent or dispair, you are after all human. Thank you for reading this blog, I will respond to comments, so please if you have something to say, say it. I'm here. Hope to hear from you on July 16, when I reveal the winner of the Safe and Sound Giveaway on BlogTalkRadio. In the meantime, keep going....Quwwa.





WEARY...

I feel like I can't go on
I'm tired
My heart hurts
My body is tired
Mind is tired
Soul is tired

From living in a world where the make believe is reality
And reality is relative
And relative is the truth
And truth is confusing
And confusion is loved
And true love is hated
And pure hatred is loved
And desires are adored
And the intellect is abhorred

Makes me want to sit down and quit because I'm tired

Using every means of communication from paper, pencil, paint, brush
canvas, telephone, microphone, internet, audio, video
Hoping someone will understand
Speaking to many knowing only few if any will reply
Hearing people tell you they love you when you know they lie

Makes me want to sit down and quit because I'm tired

Of speaking to deaf ears
Of exposing to blind eyes
Of touching bodies that are numb
Of emoting to sealed hearts

Makes me want to sit down and quit because I'm tired

Tired of fighting, arguing, bickering
Hearing that your truth is only opinion
And their opinion is the truth

Heart is closing up
Trust is lost
Pain for the people is getting numb

Feeling is almost gone
Don't wanna do it anymore

But I gotta remember what I am doing this for

Gotta remember...Gotta remember..

Gotta rejuvenate...I can't give up....I can't give up

'Cause life is a test see...And I have no plans of failing.

Quwwa.....© 2009 All Rights Reserved