On Conservative Aesthetics - Index
This is the index page for a series of articles exploring the conservative aesthetic, in reverse chronological order.
About this series
The premise of the series is that the left owns culture, and the right, if it hopes to actually govern the whole of the people and to grow its base of supporters, needs to find its way into the discourses of culture. Because I am an artist, I am looking at the visual arts, so “the way in for conservatives” means art theory, criticism and art but I am also, of course, looking at the general field of creativity.
Episodes
David Mamet's Long Journey
…but being right is not the point. The point is aligning your beliefs with how you feel, think, and behave.
The Brutalist - Not a Review
This is not a review of the film The Brutalist. It is some stills from the movie with my comments. I’m not sure what to think about the film.
Object Lesson
Sophie Gunnol has posted over 6000 pictures of artworks on Instagram. (at)sophiegunnol
Cowboys and Conservatism
Today, we return to the subject of conservatism. This has come about in a very circuitous way. I follow Kent Peterson here on Substack and he has recently been on a jag about Westerns; he posted some notes about Louis L’Amour, who wrote pulp fiction Western novels. (114 of them! ) Fantastic.
Funny Business: part 4 of a series On Conservative Aesthetics
Donald Trump disarms the media, including the comedy establishment, with his buffoonery. In the run-up to the 2024 election, the media, comedians and late-night talk show hosts doubled down on their mockery to try to keep him out of office and failed miserably.
The above post is a review of the book Comedic Nightmare: The Trump Effect on American Comedy by Marcel Danesi (2022)
Beyoncé über alles
Everybody’s talking about art and culture these days, Ted Gioia, Liza Libes to name only two that I follow here on Substack. It’s not exactly like there is a culture war going on, not overtly, not yet at least, but that’s because the right doesn’t take culture seriously.
Part 3 B - Contemporary Conservative Artists
Last time, I promised to examine a few examples of contemporary conservative art. Since our mission in this series is to discover whether there is such a thing as a conservative aesthetic, today we will explore a few living artists.
Part 3A - Conservative Artists
If you type “conservative art” into Google, you get a dismal selection of stereotypically traditional paintings. It’s realism from top to bottom; there’s a limited range of styles, some more modernistic or more illustrative, but generally, everything is predictable, sentimental, and technically without distinction. How can conservatives like such terrible art? Or perhaps the question is, Are conservatives doing something with art other than “liking” it?
Part 2 - Conservative Eye for the Woke Guy
I began this series with this post about how the right gets culture wrong because that’s an obstacle to people like me, disenchanted lefties, getting fully on board with conservatism. Figuring out what conservatism is missing when it comes to culture is important because the left owns culture. From Hollywood to hand me downs, the heart is always on the sleeve. And they’ve gone nuts.
Part 1 - What's wrong with the right?
To be clear from the outset, I believe that movement to the right in politics and social mores, is both legitimate and necessary. The left has lost its way and is condemned to wander the desert for 40 years if it ever hopes to find its way back to a reasonable version of the Promised Land.
Work in Progress - Future Posts
Part 5 - The Power of Form - What is aesthetic “form,” and what kinds of form does conservative art tend toward? Are there special forms that convey the idea of power separate from political ideology?
Part 6 - Venues, Values and Virtues - Are conservatives only interested in real estate or do they have values or virtues that constitute culture?
Part 7 - Ways of Seeing Right - How to critically appreciate art from a conservative perspective. (A de/reconstruction of John Berger’s Ways of Seeing)