How to effect change

Protest is good. Particularly if you are unhappy with a particular issue. Protest can achieve short term and single issue results. Sometimes protest can even bring down governments. But it can never change the underlying injustices of life. Protest is a very blunt instrument. It can be the catalyst for change and so it should never be dismissed or underestimated. The only problem with protest is that nature abhors a vacuum; if you topple something you need a replacement. If you start a revolution you need to be organised to see it through. If you are not organised and don’t have a coherent strategy you are doomed to fail. The oppressors always have one. That’s why they are successful. You can call being organised what you like but at the end of the day what it really is and what you always need is politics. You need a political will.

When people say that they are not interested in politics what they don’t understand is that uttering those words is in fact a political act. Doing nothing has consequences. Doing nothing is an act of either anarchy* or fascism. Doing nothing is saying fuck you all. If you are not interested in politics you are not interested in life. Breathing is a political act. Turning on the telly or surfing the interweb are also political acts. Making a choice is politics.

If you allow others to govern they will govern for themselves. It’s pointless bleating on about not being listened to. No one will hear you if you sit on your sofa scratching your arse and swearing at the television. If you don’t engage with the political process how is anyone going to listen?

If you think life is shit don’t moan, organise. It’s only through collective action that you can effect change. It’s not about leaders. It’s about coherent policies. A clear sense of direction. As John Lennon said, “It’s no good carrying pictures of Chairman Mao, you ain’t gonna make it with anyone anyhow”.

Those that oppress us are in a minority. There’s many more of us than there are them. We have the power to get rid of them. We just need to wake up.

*As a pacifist I have to say that I have a lot of sympathy for the true anarchist. Anarchy is freedom in its pure form

We are artists you and I

Art is not exclusively a rich man's sport. I realise that it might be perceived as such, particularly in the media, but it is not so. The British Critical Establishment try to tell us what is and isn't art, but in no way do we have to accept that. Based on the narrow-minded opinions of the critical elite, the education system churns out clones of what are defined as talented artists; giving them a certificate to back this up. You can legitimately teach craft, but in no way can you teach anyone to be an artist. Art is subjective; it is in the eye of the beholder, there are no rules defining what art should or should not be. There is no good art and there is no bad art, just art.

High prices at art auctions reinforce the myth that artists are good or bad, winners or losers. The elite use the language of competition and false quality standards to bolster the artistic myths. There is no competition in art. Art is beyond competition. In the South Sea bubble of the elitist art world a value system is applied that is meaningless in the extreme. Art critics give the thumbs up to what they see as good art based on their fictitious criteria. These art critics, these self-styled experts on art are charlatans. Unfortunately as with the Emperor's new clothes most believe what the charlatans say. The fashionistas dictate what's in and what's not and so that gallery content and major exhibitions are influenced by just a few. And thus a commodity is born.

What is art anyway?

Art is whatever you want it to be.

There is one artist above all others who has been so influential in the way that I look at art and in particular how I creatively operate. His name was Ken Sprague. I first became aware of him in the 1970s through his posters and flyers for a number of left wing political campaigns. I liked his bold, sometimes neo-brutalist, lino prints. It was a style that got the message across. Ken was direct in his message. Then in the 1980s he presented a television series called 'Everyone a Special Kind of Artist' where he highlighted 'ordinary' folk who practised their art for the pure love, enjoyment and fulfilment it brought them. Since then 'Everyone a Special Kind of Artist' has been my mantra.

'Everyone a Special Kind of Artist' is derived from a quote often used by Eric Gill, an artist and designer of some rather pleasing typefaces, and unfortunately a practitioner, allegedly, of some rather dubious moral behaviour. That quote is 'An artist is not a special kind of man, but every man is a special kind of artist' and as I understand it originally comes from the philosopher Ananda Coomaraswamy.

The idea that only a chosen few can be artists is yet another piece of pernicious propaganda perpetrated by the elite who continue to oppress us. The elitist concept of art is a downright lie. If you want to be an artist then you can be.

We need to liberate art. We need a mass movement of art participants. Anyone can be an artist if they want to be. Seize that notion and own it. Go forth and create.

Perhaps we need some of this?

#anarchy #punk

Music that inspired a generation!

For more of my art please visit paulgarrard.com

Be careful what you wish for

I hate this particular saying, but like so many wordy irritations it’s found its way into popular usage. Having said that I have realised that it could well be relevant to our current PM “Oi! David Cameron, this ‘Big Society’, be careful what you wish for”.

Tory economics have sown the seeds of a ‘Big Society’. Quite intentionally I’m sure. But if that ‘Big Society’ does come to fruition and flourish it could well manifest itself in a way that no narrow-minded self-centred Tory could have ever imagined.

I think we in the West witnessed the ‘Arab spring’ uprisings and thought that it was something that couldn’t possibly happen here. But I’m now starting to think that it could easily happen here. Yes, it could well take a slightly different form to that of our Arab brethren, but I think it is coming.

In this country so many people are fed up with the lies, cheating, embezzling and double-standards practised by many politicians. Whilst, at the same time they see their own incomes and standard of living plummeting. Unfortunately there are still too many Neanderthals that believe what they are fed by the Tory media about it being all the fault of scroungers and immigrants, which it clearly isn’t. Why do the simple minded always want to assign blame downwards? But a growing number of us with a smattering of intelligence know that it is bonus bulging bankers and assorted other feral financiers that have raped and pillaged the Western world and left so many of its people hungry and destitute. The ‘Occupy’ movement is a shining example of the way to go. Non-violent direct action along with a great big dollop of community-self-help is the recipe that will enable the 99% to succeed. Today’s take-over of the empty UBS building to form The Bank of Ideas is such a wonderful initiative. We can control our destiny. We can break free of these chains that bind us. All it requires is a little imagination.