Summer 2010 Mike Art

"Stanless" is a portrait of Stanley McChrystal the American night after his dismissal for a Rolling Stone mag article. Can you see the sadness in his eyes?

Well, I went and did it. I added the subglacial volcano Eyjafjallajökull to Stan's portrait. It is emitting ash that spells out "Astan" which is the official US military abbreviation for Afghanistan.

Michael Hastings was only supposed to be tag along with Stan for two days, but, due to the truth-and-ash-emitting Eyjafjallajökull, 2 ended up 30. LOL. It is hard for a military retinue to repress their salty humor for two minutes, let alone 30 days, so let this be a lesson to editors everywhere. Give your writers more time to fill out their stories. Quality over minute basmati rice!

"Wolfman" is inspired by the inspired performance of Benecio del Toro as a werewolf in a recent Hollywood flick. Great job, Benecio! You rock!

"Crossing The Delaware" is my first, and perhaps last, abstract of the summer. It feels good to do at least one abstract every season. I used to do a whole heap of abstracts on paper. One day, perhaps, I will have an exhibit at MOMA or The Whitney with them, huh? LOL. They say everything that rises must converge, and my art rises. Just ask Clio.

"Awaiting Plutonian" is a tongue-in-cheek title for another Plutonian drawing, since there is a local columnist around me who likes to mock my art. He is too lazy to do any real journalism, even though I told him that the local prosecutor is violating the U. S. Constitution. He could not trouble himself to interview any law professors. He just Googled me.

Anyway, "Awaiting Plutonian" is in honor of the New Horizons probe now being less than 5 years away from a rendezvous with the ninth planet, the tenth if you still count Ceres, which was once also considered a planet by most planetary scientists. The case for Pluto will be coming up again in 2012 and 2015, so don't write off Pluto yet!

I waited over two full years to make "Green Neda," out of respect for her family, but now seemed to be the time to render it so she her death will remembered a little bit better, I hope--at least in the West. I am sure she will never be forgotten in Iran.

"Clint" is a drawing of Clint Eastwood, based on the poster for "Hang 'Em High." I saw him act a few scenes in Highland Park, Michigan when he was here for "Gran Torino" in July of 2008. You could tell he was happy and in his element. It is a healthy thing to be able to express oneself. Try it, you might like it. LOL!

"Long Live The Emperor!" stars a Napoleonic Emperor Penguin with the giant hole in The Ozone Layer beating down upon his beak, along with an eerie orange sun. Need I say more?