My site has been on line for approximately six weeks. Thanks in part to its designers, it has received almost four thousand hits. I would like to thank both them and the visitors who have liked what they have seen. Showing my work at a gallery is less convenient, more expensive, and generates less interest.
Regular viewers will notice that I have resized my images. If there are any other ways you feel this site could be improved, feel free to let me know. I would also be interested to hear what pictures/themes you like the best (and for that matter, hate the most). If you have any work on line, please feel free to send me links. Likewise, if you know of any other artists I may like, send their site details my way.
Here are some of my personal favourites. In some cases they have influenced me; in others I simply appreciate them for their imagination, technical ability, and thematic brilliance.
Hieronymous Bosh, Pieter Breugel, Francisco Goya, Salvador Dali, Max Ernst, Ernst Fuchs, H.R. Giger, Mark Ryden, Keith Thompson, Michael Hussar, and R.S. Connet are well worth a look. Check their work out if you haven’t already.
Good luck with your own projects, and thanks again for you time!
Sincerely,
JF
“Misanthropist Camera” is a new gallery of black and white cartoons. It has been added due to popular demand. I want to rework most of the pictures to make them fit for public display, so fans of the series may have to wait before their favourite ones appear. Whether you are young or old, black or white, rich or poor, liberal or conservative, you’re likely to find yourself somewhere here. If you feel I’ve been a bit harsh, too bad; you probably offended me first.
My site was bound to offend some viewers, and recently one of them lodged a complaint. While I expected hate mail from religious fundamentalists, my first detractor was a DJ who took offence at my “ecstasy” picture after it appeared on reddit. I dislike drugs for many of the reasons I dislike religion: both offer us a false escape from life’s innate challenges, and both give the morally suspect a way to profit from our weaknesses. I could pursue this theme further, discussing the pros and cons of each or lamenting our need for such diversions, but my friends want me to post the letter and my subsequent reply.
Most gallery owners are reluctant to put my work on display. I was therefore grateful when a friend directed me to one he knew. She naturally wanted to see my pictures before she exhibited them, and I showed her a carefully censored selection. This did not help; my remaining works were rejected for being too disturbing. While I am used to this sort of treatment, I was somewhat bemused by her statement that “we display art in our gallery, and what you do is… something else.” Forgive my ignorance, but I thought that art was about self-expression, and I make no apologies for expressing myself as I see fit. I also believed the relativist views that hold such currency these days had broadened our definitions of art. Perhaps I was wrong on both counts. So what is art and who defines it? Some of my heretical thoughts on this issue are discussed below. Read the rest of this entry »
To my surprise, the good folks in Pyrmont sent me a reply by mail. It consisted of more propaganda - several A4 pages, in fact - with the following message scrawled across it (prose style their own): “The Oxford dictionary defines ‘empirical’ as based or acted on observation and experiment. NOT ON THEORY. Evolution is still a theory and NOT OBSERVABLE. You believe IT by Blind FAITH. coupled with a deep hatred of GOD. Have a read of this IF YOU DARE. And please explain!”
No love or forgiveness, to be sure! Though fully aware I was wasting my time, I wrote a far more civil reply, which is reproduced below. It elaborates on the themes I mentioned in my first letter, such as my rejection of the Bible on ethical and spiritual grounds. I believe this is the stance we must take when debating with such people. I also believe that civil discourse is preferable to name-calling, threats of violence and the like. If we indulge in the latter, we are guilty of the very excesses we are supposed to be fighting against.
Read the rest of this entry »
This is a short story I wrote while working the night shift at Mobil. Its meaning is ambiguous, but the misery expressed throughout is entirely authentic. Thankfully, my life has never been as bad as the protagonist’s.
For a long time I have followed the debate between science and religion. I never took part in it until mid 2007, when I picked up an anti-evolutionary tract on George St, Sydney. Although it was being distributed by an Australian group based in Pyrmont, it was published in the USA. The arguments in it were puerile, as you will be able to deduce from the following reply. However, my main problem with it stemmed less from its attacks on science than its insistence that the Bible was entirely free from mistakes. I have always believed that the best ammunition against any religion is to be found in its teachings. Sit back, read on and enjoy!
Thank you for visiting my site. It would not exist at all without the team that helped to build it. You can see more of their handiwork on Infectious Videos. I am grateful for the dedication they have shown in promoting my work and wish them all the best with theirs.
-JF, 2007