Directional Forces

by
George A. Magalios

Nicole Kidman has been taken over by space aliens. It appears that she really did fall victim to possession in “The Invasion” her universally-panned and underrated 2007 film co-starring Daniel Craig. In the film she plays a mother and psychologist trying to elude the pursuit of humans possessed by alien beings devoid of emotion. Her role as super-mom and super-achieving career woman are models based on the appearance of this enigmatic actress whose facial features and physique (more…)

by
George A. Magalios

The viewing public is seduced and repelled simultaneously. Critics have a hypocritical attitude towards celebrity breast enhancement. The viewing public is asked to see actresses, musicians, and news celebrities who get breast implants as somehow degrading themselves or lowering themselves to vanity and resorting to self-mutilation. Breast augmentation is supposed to be bad, unnatural, unholy, unattractive. But for men, there is no getting around the simple fact that bigger breasts seducer us better than smaller ones do! (more…)

by
George A. Magalios

Walking in my neighborhood on a recent sunny Sunday morning I noticed a young and attractive family out for a brisk walk. The father, mother, and newborn stroller-bound baby appeared to be soaking in the breezes and sunshine that made the morning of November 8, 2009 exceptionally beautiful in Lake Worth, Florida. (more…)

by
George A. Magalios
September 29, 2009

Dear Mr. Tebow:

I am writing to wish you a speedy recovery from your recent concussion and to thank you for your awe-inspiring character and sportsmanship. (more…)

by
George A. Magalios
February 2009

Dear Mr. President:

Congratulations on your historic victory in a remarkable campaign. I am writing you to thank you for your courage and leadership. (more…)

by
George A. Magalios
February 2008

It is a rare event when an artist fuses disparate media into one cohesive concept and exhibition. It is rarer still when that exhibition engages the politics and history of a people without being ironic, pseudo-clever, or pedantic. (more…)

by
George A. Magalios

First Presented at the College Art Association Conference, New York, 2007

A Cynic is a spy who aims to discover what things are friendly or hostile to man; after making accurate observations, he then comes back and reports the truth.
-Epictetus (55 – 135 C.E.)

The Surface: Warhol’s Victory
Ladies, Gentlemen. Artists and Academics:

Let me begin by speaking about the wound…
Or, more precisely: the social/aesthetic disease from which the creative wound today originates: Cynical Irony. (more…)

by
George A. Magalios

If the enemy masses his forces he Loses ground, if he scatters he loses strength.
-Mario Merz quoting Vietcong General Vo Nguyen Giap, 1968

Everything has always been about space, about our relationship to movement in space, possession of space, and power over others (nature, animals, and humans) to acquire and protect space. No matter how sophisticated we may think painting has become pictorially, semiotically, as a practice, or as a discourse, we are always painting as dwellers of both geopolitical and psychic space. (more…)

by
George A. Magalios
July 8, 2008

In the heat and deathly humidity of Florida after seemingly interminable practices (for my 12 year-old body) my little league baseball coach used to say that people only remember who finishes first, and nobody ever remembers who finishes second. (more…)

by
George A. Magalios
July 14, 2008

Cynical irony is a social disease born of cowardice, arrogance, and a derisive sense of humor based on negativity and schadenfreude. In the contemporary political realm of cartoons, sit-coms, talk shows and the relatively recent phenomena of mock news shows such as “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and “The Colbert Report”, one sees the development and seepage of irony into the popular cultural mainstream at an unparalleled level. (more…)