The Fire of Righteousness and Goodness

No takers on my print sale.  Not one.  Fuck it.  Hard times.  I guess my critic was correct.  I am just a hobbyist after all.  But there was a time when I was thought to be Balthus.  At least that is what my friend C.C. tells me is true if his French is correct (link).  And that is no small accomplishment.

But times change and values shift and everybody plays turtle.  I'll write about the works of Jock Sturges and his coterie of followers at another time.  I have much to say about that.  But I'll write about me and what I've been doing instead right now.  That's why I have a blog.  One of the reasons, anyway.

I've been watching old documentaries on YouTube.  There is a treasure of old stuff there if you can find it.  I watched a long documentary on Helmut Newton a few nights ago.  Old Helmut changed the way people shot fashion photography.  He was bold.  I mean, he just didn't give a shit.  And he was good.  But he knew what he wanted--tall women with big breasts.  They needn't be beautiful.  He knew what he wanted.  And there he was in the 1970s, an icon of sorts, and watching it now was oh-so painful.  You just can't say what he said any longer.  You can't do what he did.  The past was wrong, so very, very wrong.

Since I'm pretty sure you won't watch it, I'll tell you how it ends.  He finds a twelve year old girl who, the narrator says, will one day be his next supermodel.

I shit you not.  Ili fell off the couch.

The next night, we watched a documentary on Peter Beard.  Same thing.  It is obvious that he should have spent his life in prison.  Most people alive back then should have.  He was a bad man living in bad times.

How do we fix the past?  Perhaps we can just delete it.

I might.  I might just delete my past.  Everything into the fire.  My god, yes.  The glorious and righteous fire.  The book burners were right, of course.  Better books than people, right?  Books, pictures, paintings. . . .

The Fire of Righteousness and Goodness shall set you free.