By Michael M Clements
Open your mind and take this journey with me for a minute. I believe, like many artists, that when an artist creates, especially extemporaneously, they are channeling into an unknown place and time and connecting with a part of the time space continuum that we, as humans, have yet to fully understand.
It’s a place where time is not linear; where clues, frequencies and vibrations from present, past and future exist as one in a nebulous caldron of ideas, thoughts and happenings which have all been released from our linear concept of time and thus exist as one, at the same point in non-time, like a living dream.
I know this from experience. About 20-25 years ago, I had a stretch where I did a lot of extemporaneous drawings mostly on paper with pen, marker, oil crayon, highlighter and whatever else I had laying around. I had no training. This wasn’t for any reason or exhibition. In fact, I didn’t even know I was an artist them. I would just draw because I felt like I had to. It was before I worked in canvas and paints.
Today it’s considered Outsider art. What it lacked in technicality it made up for in proficient prophecy. Over the years, the works have revealed themselves to be rather prophetic foretelling and producing images and scenarios that eventually came to pass, and many still to come I believe. In a Nostradamian way, they are cryptic and open for interpretation; but the connection to current events can not be denied. I knew none of this when I created them; at the time, I was merely channeling and tapping into this intangible cosmic universal mind (our better yet, “cloud”) to cull references and elusions from the ether.
Finally, after (a few) decades, I’ve curated the images for an exhibition entitled “Knot 4 Prophet.” These are six of set of 50 …. now, if I could just decide on a time in the future …?
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| SWAN SONG, circ. 1996; Artist, Michael M. Clements; Mixed media on paper, 8.5×11. Image by Genki Media® LLC. All rights reserved, 2018. |
Then… A blonde haired man, large—a centerpiece—looks solemnly on. His swan song is silenced by a vagina. A bee, i.e., “a sting,” next to a web (of deception?). And a lot of disparate lines and images create a frenetic and disjointed information pattern. Wait, is that a … cheese grater?
What’s come to pass… Well, hello Donald Trump. This tells your future when you are inevitably silenced after your final swan song.
Today’s themes… #trump #metoo #timesup #sting #web #swansong
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| HE TALKS ABOUT NOTHING, 4 IN A ROW, 1994; Artist, Michael M. Clements; Mixed media on paper, 8.5×11. Image by Genki Media® LLC. All rights reserved, 2018. |
2. HE TALKS ABOUT NOTHING, 4 IN A ROW, 1994
Then… A political themed piece. Voters line up to a ballot box but a monkey pulls the strings. Meanwhile an authoritarian clad figure emerges from a dump truck called “friend” devouring all he can in an endless buffet called “Eat for Free.” A bullet pierces the US flag emblazoned with the word “Vote.” Words like “He talks about nothing,” “That’s questionable,” “Mansion,” “Hawaii,” “Its’ too old and difficult to maintain,” “Spacious and elegant.”
What’s come to pass… The monkey is Putin. He pulls the strings to the election resulting in an authoritarian leader that is devouring our state’s riches. Its all about the vote.
Today’s themes… #russianbots #electionmeddling #nra #gunculture #authoritarianism #trumpism #corporategreed #votersuppression #democracy #uselections #fairelections
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| THE GREAT FLOOD, 2003, Artist, Michael M. Clements; Mixed media on paper, 8.5×11. Image by Genki Media® LLC. All rights reserved, 2018. |
Then… This is the new China: government control and economic growth in a constant struggle against environmental breakdown and the great flood of information. A damn breaks and water floods the countryside. A man with a wall around his head stands with a keyboard in his hand; a PLA soldier stands next to him outwardly firm, yet inwardly conflicted. Forcing his weapon down is a women dressed in a Buddhist robe; she rips though the painting to remind us all that the ecological clock is ticking. The lush mountains of the idyllic China countryside are just a façade; behind them reality – strings of gray industrial centers covered in toxic air and POAD signs.
What’s come to pass… Remember this image was before the great internet wall of China was in full effect. I’d say, this represents China today— the battle between gov to censor its people. The fight for Tibet / spiritualism. One interesting note is that its the female embodiment of Buddhism that is pushing the central figure’s—representing the Chinese Communist party—gun down. Effectively disarming it. That, has yet to come to pass.
Today’s themes… #china #statecensorship #digitalprivacy #riseofchina #chinesepollution
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| VOTE FREEDOM / THE FLAG IS BURNING, 1993; Artist, Michael M. Clements; Mixed media on paper, 8.5×11. Image by Genki Media® LLC. All rights reserved, 2018. |
4. VOTE FREEDOM / THE FLAG IS BURNING, 1993
Then…A comment on America’s use of force to solve international issues. The flag is burning – the flag of freedom, the flag of culture, the flag of our global community. Between a stylized U.S. & Chinese flag and the outline of Africa lies a highway, representing the technological divide between the have and have-nots. In the centre, a warship and jet cascade carry bombs and freedom. To the right, a characterized Middle-eastern man has shot himself in the hand; he sits on top of the pillars of “oil,” “wood” and “food.”
What’s come to pass… This is more tied to Obama and the foreshadowing America’s first African American president. Words like “culture,” “society” and the use of a highway dividing the art work. I also, now see that the flag looks like a combination of US, Chinese and Confederate flag. There is a hand grabbing a pipe. Legalization? All the military references are as poignant 25 years later as they were then.
Today’s themes… #obama #usmilitary #suburbia #middleeastturmoil #naturalresources
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| TECHNOLOGY TOO BIG, 1998; Artist, Michael M. Clements; Mixed media on paper, 8.5×11. Image by Genki Media® LLC. All rights reserved, 2018. |
5.TECHNOLOGY TOO BIG, 1998
Then… An eerie premonition of both the events of 9/11 as well as the ongoing rise of AI. This was before smartphones. Before AI. Before google, facebook, etc; before the concept of the singularity. Originally meant to be a comment on the pace of technology and it affect on culture. A train barrels through a tunnel. In its headlights, two humans that look like germs. There is a piano with music being uploaded to a human brian. A human head on a computer chip. In the top right, a helicopter over a burning metropolitan sky line of New York and a man holding a gun in one hand and a bird of peace in the other…
What’s come to pass…with the burning sky line of New York and a man holding a gun in one hand and a bird of peace in the other… the piece has taken on a new dimension following 911, essentially its a prediction of 911 14 years early. But, this piece reverberates today. Technology continues to barrel forward. And AI is taking over. Eventually our brains and the computer chip as one—indeed this piece sees “the singularity.” This piece sees it all and more.
Today’s themes… #911 #AI #computertakeover #thesingularity #technology #futurism #brainchips
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| BOY IN THE BALLOON, 2002; Artist, Michael M. Clements; Mixed media on paper, 8.5×11. Image by Genki Media® LLC. All rights reserved, 2018. |
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6. BOY IN THE BALLOON, 2002
Then… A man reads a book, it resembles a bible, he holds a large peach balloon. Within that, a boy holds a red balloon, beside him, a cuckoo clock. Around them, hectic scenes of movement and modernity: An apartment building blasts to the sky, dinner falls from an upside down table, sharks circle an electric plug connected to a mouse. The man holds a needle – does he intend to pop his balloon or dive into the modern world? The man about to pop it all is reading a religious textbook.
What’s come to pass… A couple things. First the upside down table has a stock chart on it. This foreshadowed the stock market meltdown on 2008. Sharks in the water. Electricity in the water. All dangerous. Lethal. The peach, the ballon, they are both bubbles about to be burst. The biggest future shout out is the rocket. Humanity taking to space to live. The man about to pop it all is reading a religious textbook. How about the religious counteraction to all of this? The entire bubble bursting is being influenced while the man read scripture.
Today’s themes… #stockcrash #stockmarketbubble #spaceexploration #humansinspace #religionandtechnology
AND A FEW MORE YOU CAN TRY AND FIGURE OUT ….
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| Athlete Painter Ghostly Figure,1995; Artist, Michael M. Clements; Mixed media on paper, 8.5×11. Image by Genki Media® LLC. All rights reserved, 2018. |
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| Hong Kong Dive, 2002; Artist, Michael M. Clements; Mixed media on paper, 8.5×11. Image by Genki Media® LLC. All rights reserved, 2018. |
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| First USA – the Liberal Conservative Divide,, 2000; Artist, Michael M. Clements; Mixed media on paper, 8.5×11. Image by Genki Media® LLC. All rights reserved, 2018. |
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| Pole Position (The Sexual Politics of America), 1993; Artist, Michael M. Clements; Mixed media on paper, 8.5×11. Image by Genki Media® LLC. All rights reserved, 2018. |
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| Popa-pakadermis-smokes,1995; Artist, Michael M. Clements; Mixed media on paper, 8.5×11. Image by Genki Media® LLC. All rights reserved, 2018. |
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| The Human Race, 1994; Artist, Michael M. Clements; Mixed media on paper, 8.5×11. Image by Genki Media® LLC. All rights reserved, 2018. |
