Art is the embodiment of the spirit of man, for good or evil. And the simplest way to know the spirit of your culture is to go look at what your city’s or nation’s contemporary art museums are showing. What you will see there is the spokesperson representing you, your culture, and most significantly, the direction in which your culture is headed–consequently taking you along with it, whether you want to go along or not.

That spirit is the result of ethical and intellectual choices, but also, and not unimportantly so, of a sense of life.

America opted to replace the ruins of the Twin Towers with a gaping hole, choosing to show that it neither had the spirit, the will, or the wisdom to immediately rebuild a tribute to the best of man. That fucking hole anticipates the hole we are in 7 years later.

Last month, September 2008, Damien Hirst, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damien_Hirst  had tremendous financial success selling glass incased dead meat, and drip paintings that he signed but didn’t paint. Sales were over $198 million dollars. Of course, he couldn’t do this all alone, and it didn’t happen overnight. Hirst had help from a huge network of art dealers, promoters, critics, curators, art directors, and super wealthy collectors. You would think with all this money, intelligence, art historical knowledge, and international savvy that at least some of them would understand that dead meat and a flimflam represent who they are and where they are headed.

Some of you here, while many of you do not, understand that art is the guiding force in the spirit of man in both the private and public spheres. All the technology and money in the world will not lead to a flourishing culture without a vital, benevolent art. To the contrary, a culture of malevolent art will take you and everyone else down with it.

If art is a negligible part of your mind set, I suggest you reevaluate its role in your life, and your country, and perhaps you will begin to grasp that benevolent art is one of the essential ingredients that will save your ass, your loved ones, and your hope for a promising future.

There is a host of artists that are actively doing more for your spiritual well-being and future than the whole of Congress and Wall Street combined.

Mark my words, their successes or failures will represent your own.

Michael Newberry

New York, October 30, 2008