Women as Tools of War

The article by Mr. Goldberg is excellent. The response is frightening and yet totally predictable. I have done enormous research re atrocities committed against women, especially in Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe. The statistics are horrific and quite accurate. Rape and the enslavement of women are being used as a tools of war throughout the world. Women are being treated like road kill. Unfortunately this has been true throughout history and the problem has gotten progressively worse. For those sceptics, I invite them to check out what's happening now in The Republic Of the Congo and then research the practice of honor killings and the murder of female babys and genital mutilation of women and the enormous slave trade in women (which by the way would never survive without all the customers from the so-called civilized countries like the U.S. Japan, England, France, etc.) Check out what the Japanese did to the Chinese women in Nanking and what the Serbs did in Bosnia and what the Russians did to the German women near the end of World War 11. In Bosnia and herzegovina over 70000 women and girls were raped by the Serbs, often in front of their parents, many as young as 12 or 13. Scores of them were killed, their bodies dumped like garbage. In Africa as in most other third world countries men reign supreme. Women are not committing any of these atrocities: Men are. Cross posted to the Chigago Tribune.

New trailer for The Eyes of Van Gogh

Please take a look at the trailer for my film The Eyes of Van Gogh here.

Exploring King Lear

King Lear is Shakespeare's greatest play and very likely the greatest work in all of English literature: Its themes are of the most profound nature -- self realization; the myth of universal justice; fortuitousness in the battle between good and evil; the nature of evil. First and foremost Lear is a fighter and never gives in to adversity. In any production of King Lear we must see the lion in Lear and his raging battle between his age and failing mind. What makes him so fascinating and exciting are his tremendous extremes of temperment. He fights an epic and and magnificent struggle against overwhelming physical and emotional turmoil and his implacable refusal to surrender make him one of the greatest, most towering and passionate tragic characters ever created. This is why Lear is both a tragic and yet an uplifting experience.

Cross-posted to E-Notes

An End to the Myth of the Tortured Soul??

Overall a well written and intelligent article. However there are several errors. "His best paintings were produced in the last 15 months of his life which he spent in Arles where he went to live in 1888...and at nearby St. Remy where he spent a year at a mental institution." He spent 15 months in Arles (2/88 to 5/89) where he did indeed produce most of his best paintings, but the last 15 months of his life was spent at St.Remy (12 months) and Auvers sur Oise, (2 1/2 months.) Vincent did some excellent work at St. Remy and nothing exceptional at Auvers, so he did not produce his best work in his final 15 months. "Italian art didn't get a look-in." Not true. He referred several times to Raphael and several others whom he didn't care for, primarily because he found their work rather cold and because they were totally unable to depict workers who really worked. However, he absolutely adored Michaelangelo, because his figures depicted, not reality, but hyper reality.

Regarding Theo's support of Vincent, I agree that Vincent would never have been able to achieve what he did without his support. However, Vincent and Theo came to an agreement in 1882 whereby Theo would send Vincent money and in return he would get to keep all of Vincent's work and and do with it what he pleased. Certainly this was not a handout but reasonable recompense. Finally, the title of this article is totally misleading since there is nothing in it that indicates that Van Gogh was not a tortured soul.

Getting Away with Torture

David Cole does a superb job documenting the horror the United States government perpetrated upon an entirely innocent civilian in the name of the "war of terror."

Robert Barnete Studio

If you are not already familiar with his artistry, then I am very proud and honored to introduce you to my late brother's work.











Robert Barnete was most of all a painter of passionate motion, which found its greatest expression in the equestrian arts and within the culture of Spain.
During his mid-career he fell under the enchantment of the Bedouin and the Blue People.



Although born in New York, his work took him from Mexico to Paris to Madrid to Tangiers and finally to London.

Van Gogh in Taiwan

I'm very pleased to note that my last film, The Eyes of Van Gogh, has been picked up for distribution in Taiwan by International Productions Association Asia. The film will also be seen at the Taipei exhibition "Van Gogh: the Flaming Soul" for its three-month run. This exhibition will display an overall of 98 pieces of artworks by Van Gogh, including 77 sketches and 21 oil paintings. Most of the exhibits are from the Kroller Muller Museum of Netherlands, famed for its collections of Van Gogh's paintings. In particular, "Flower Vase with Thistles," Van Gogh's later period creation, is borrowed from Pola Museum of Art in Japan this time.