Month: October 2022

Like myself, Arthur Kwon Lee is a politically conservative visual artist. This brings about an estrangement from most other artists, unless we silence ourselves and hide our true beliefs. This is far easier for me than Kwon Lee.

I personally have no inherent or driving interest to share my political or world views with other artists. But I respect his efforts, especially the art project he is working on now, an effort to show how redeeming and necessary masculine qualities are in the face of a society that ridicules, dishonors, and destroys men who act like men.

This is a reprint of his original post which is here: https://arthurkwonlee.substack.com/p/blood-and-fire-trigger-warning

BLOOD & FIRE *Trigger Warning*

Masculinity will save the world.

We’ve all heard and repeated the mantra ad nauseum, that “politics is downstream from culture.”

Its true, the Right fallaciously defined its investment solely based on the ROI [editor’s note, return on investment] in ones bank account through the lens of a one-dimensional capitalism. In turn leaving all creative industries abandoned where we find faith-based and conservative artists in the middle of the desert with no home. The radicals swarmed in with their patronage and now control the dreamscapes of your progeny through their aesthetic stranglehold of the arts and entertainment. In turn we have widespread liberalism and atheism brainwashing generations ahead of us in all creative spaces. Its time we start becoming active participants as either talent, collector or patron. Every art gallery you visit in New York City, much like every church in the city, has either a Black Lives Matter or LGBTQ rainbow flag for a reason – in other words, “If you ain’t with us, you’re against us.”

And upon deeper introspection… All of this chaos: from the welfare state breaking down the nuclear in-tact family, to the grotesque assaults and property damages displayed during these so-called protests or to the shameless identity oriented hatred of white Americans in a country that is literally 75% Caucasian. All of this is only possible only because masculinity has been silenced in conjunction to the perilous state of the American church. Just think about the last time you’ve seen an unapologetic masculine figure in the dominant narrative who’s taken the culture by storm.

The 45th President Donald Trump, cancelled.
Alex Jones, cancelled.
And even Andrew Tate, cancelled.

I’m not saying I agree with all of these men in a single wholesale write off, that would be flippant, I am however stating that these men are a phenomena in the first place because the West is starving for an honorable and traditional masculinity.
In its absence we have overcompensating and stereotypical bullies or fragile little snowflakes afraid of confrontation.
The matriarchy, or matrix, can only succeed when strong men are quiet.

As Arthur Schlesinger Jr. wrote in Esquire on November 1, 1958 – what we have here is The Crisis of American Masculinity. Even as far back as three generations we reveal the vilification of men embracing their maleness as more of a problem than a natural God given right. While they do not use disparaging terminology we hear today like “toxic masculinity” or the patriarchy, the language of the article exhibits a generation of men who feel self conscious about their own conception of masculinity.

For example I’ve stated on stages across the country a dozen times that the very phenomena of Hip-Hop’s appeal is rooted in the egregious single motherhood rate especially in the black community, the freedom to be hyper-masculine in the absence of a balanced example at home is the allure young men have to the thick gold chains, prostitutes and face tattoos.
Competitive video games, Donald Trump and gangster rap all share the desire to swing the pendulum as far as possible in the other direction in a culture that penalizes any semblance of masculinity is the public square.

Growing up watching Rocky, The Godfather, Indiana Jones, Braveheart and Shawshank Redemption with my father in the evenings were both entertaining and educational. You were being shown that Good ultimately triumphs over evil with bravery and discipline, you were shown that effeminacy in men predisposed their destiny to weakness and failure. Fast forward today where every sitcom dad is depicted as a blathering idiot who consistently trips on his own shoe laces only to be graciously corrected by his all-seeing and compassionate wife.
Look at Homer Simpson or Phil Dunphy, look at our movie titles – She-Hulk, The Woman King and Suffragette. And outside of film we have normalized terminology such as toxic masculinity and the patriarchy on college campuses. The reason Matt Walsh’s documentary “What is a Woman?” went viral in the first place is due to masculinity being shoved so far into the corner and a collective recognition that there is a strategic effort to debase and target all the trappings of classical masculinity here in the West.

What we need, is some masculine art.

THE BLOOD & FIRE PROJECT

The Blood & Fire Project is a mission-oriented art series devoted to spreading the aesthetic appreciation of masculinity. An ongoing painting series depicting the rise and fall of men throughout history rendered in fiery tones to promote awareness on the sacrifice that undergirds the very culture we take advantage of. Masculinity needs to be revitalized both in and out of the arts, with its rise means a stronger church and country. And it starts in your home. The objective of this painting series is to get men all over the country installing an original 11 x 14” art work that represents a wholesome and benevolent representation of masculinity.

The Blood & Fire Project is a reminder to endure all things in the light of God, to protect your values by never being silenced in your masculinity. We have martyrs, chruch fathers, warriors, philosophers and iconic men of the West reminding you that your masculinity is not meant to be hidden, its not mansplaining or “manspreading”.

It is self mastery and the overcoming of adversity, it is catharsis and it is liberation.
Get yourself armed, be an example, collect some art, be masculine.

“Civilizations are built by men, their blood and their fire.”