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KEVORKIAN'S FRIGHTENING FASCINATION WITH BLOOD
World News Daily WND.com
http://www.wnd.com/2012/05/kevorkians-frightening-fascination-with-blood/?cat_orig=us
May 24 2012
Exclusive: Marisa Martin probes morbid world of euthanasia advocate's
artwork
"All that blood and not a paintbrush in sight" - Some such thought
must have drifted through the dark chambers of Dr. Jack Kevorkian's
mind at one point, perhaps shortly before he began incorporating
human blood into his oil paintings.
There couldn't be a more suitable medium for the creations of the man
dubbed "Dr. Death" and "Jack the Dripper" by the press. In the 1990s
Kevorkian became the biggest euthanasia celebrity since Himmler and
Margaret Sanger (see "Croaking with the Stars"). The official oracle
of death was proud of his titles and loved all publicity, although
his medical license was actually yanked decades ago via a murder
charge in Michigan.
Most people familiar with the notorious Kevorkian aren't aware that
he spent 12 years unsuccessfully painting, writing, composing music
and creating a film based on Handel's "Messiah." It wasn't until he
began "helping" people die that his art and music attracted a great
deal of attention.
Now a year after his own demise, a war quietly brews between the
Armenian Library and Museum of America, or ALMA, in Watertown, Mass.,
and Kevorkian's estate. Several paintings were left to the museum as
either loans or gifts, depending on the source. The doctor's sole heir
and niece Ava Janus of Troy, Mich., wants them all returned and even
included the disputed artworks symbolically in a New York auction of
his effects last fall.
The honors bestowed on Kevorkian's paintings stem from a variety of
causes, and none of them are the quality, at least that's my take.
Kevorkian acknowledged as much himself when he critiqued his own work
at the show's opening in 2008: "I think they'd be more affective if
they were done by a real artist."
But the cult of personality swells America's obsession for all things
celebrity, like an actor's motorbike - particularly if he died on it.
Executive Director Mariam Stepanyan said the museum won't be taking
a position on Kevorkian's murder conviction or apparently the whole
death and euthanasia cult thing either. I admit the background of the
man and his gruesome life's work does prejudice me a bit on his art.
Bad art can be so much easier to take if you can make your own
interpretations, but here you already know the whole story and its
unhappy endings.
Kevorkian shows at ALMA because his parents were Armenian survivors.
This could possibly explain the dreariness, violence, fear and the
almost palpable stench of death permeating most paintings, but not
really. His mother's great will to live prevailed over armies of men
trying to murder her in Armenia. Kevorkian's scenario would have her
leaping off the nearest cliff rather than face possible torture or
rape, the pain he would help us all avoid with his poisons and potions.
"1915 Genocide 1945" by Jack Kevorkian When he deals with this theme
in his painting "1915 - Genocide - 1945," Kevorkian hits a sympathetic
nerve for once. This is one of the paintings where he claimed to use a
pint of his own blood mixed into the paints. You'll have to put aside
issues of health, religion and the longevity of blood as a painting
medium for a moment. It depicts a decapitated woman's head clutched
by Nazis and Ottoman soldiers.
Because of Kevorkian's family history, his bizarre choice of
ingredients seems more authentic and almost tender. It feels
historically right even as it is still horrific to view.
The doctor actually sounded quite sane in his remarks over the
"inhuman gall and depravity" inherent in planning campaigns of racial
extermination. Kevorkian also called for the need for a "hereditary
memory" to avoid the recurrence of genocide.
Not all his paintings deal with suicide, death and destruction. The
ALMA exhibition is divided into three categories: medical themes,
political themes and musical themes.
Kevorkian's interest wandered at least slightly into a little
portraiture. A stolid Johan Sebastian Bach, one of his favorite
musicians, fills a canvas. He produced a few other portraits with a
primitive but meticulously detailed and finished look, somewhat like
old colonial portraits.
The outsider feeling expresses his entire life, not just his
paintings. Kevorkian was abrasive and contentious in his beliefs and
with authorities. It was an expression of his contempt for any type
of constraints to personal freedom, including a God with rules.
"Nearer My God to Thee" by Jack Kevorkian
"For He Is Raised" by Jack Kevorkian Christianity and Christ are
openly ridiculed in a few especially vicious pieces such as "For He
is Raised." Here Easter bunnies manipulate a wounded and impotent,
puppet Jesus with strings.
Blatantly offensive, Kevorkian didn't have the nerve to defend his
obvious contempt, but gave a more politically correct rationale:
"'For He Is Raised' depicts how religion has become distorted by pagan
symbols of fertility to further manipulate the meaning of Easter."
Why would he possibly care about the distortion of a religion with
(as he claimed) a made-up God?
Kevorkian's "god" was J.S. Bach, his favorite composer/genius whom
he admired above all beings. Ironically Bach was a devout Christian,
dedicating all his works to the glory of God. For that matter, so was
Handel and his "Messiah," another of Kevorkian's muses. I wonder how
Kevorkian rationalized this disconnect.
Medical subjects, injury and disease make up other series in his work
such as "Paralysis," trying to depict a chained spinal cord and brain.
The image of this fractured man holding his arm and turning to
"stone" lies somewhere between cubism and a bad acid trip. As in
all of Kevorkian's work there is only raw agony, with no comfort or
answers implied.
"Paralysis" by Jack Kevorkian His graphic interpretations of mutilation
and pain aren't for the squeamish or weak-stomached. In fact I can't
think of a reason anyone would want art that almost hurts their eyes,
but there is a market.
Ariana Gallery (Detroit) sells signed and numbered lithographs of
his work at $500 apiece and feels the demand will go up.
A spokesman is estimating the collection of Kevorkian paintings at
$2.5-$3.5 million if they can get their hands on them. That will
be up to the courts, as it is still being disputed and neither side
appears to be willing to budge.
Kevorkian's famed "Thanatron" (Greek for "death-machine") was also
offered up at auction - unfortunately, used. Before his trial for a
publicly filmed suicide that Kevorkian administered, it was redubbed
the "Mercitron" by his clever lawyer. That's what they pay them for.
To help buyers feel more inclined, part of the auction proceeds goes
to "Kicking Cancer for Kids," where they are presumably treated and
not euthanized.
The witty slogan resulting from Kevorkian's campaign "right to die"
makes perfect sense if your address is Mount Olympus, otherwise it's
a bit of a redundancy. Unfortunately Kevorkian's intent to affect
public policy on euthanasia has been wildly successful with Oregon
and other states now legalizing physician-assisted suicide.
The eventual effects of Kevorkian's ghastly art and philosophy may
yet be seen. What he deemed the "realm of pure human reason" seems
to be reflected in parts of the Obama health bill. Hopefully talk of
"death panels" and restricted care is just speculation and will remain
as unacceptable now as it was 20 years ago.
But if the Obama bill is to health care what Kevorkian is to art,
it wouldn't surprise me to find "Paralysis" hanging in the White House.
World News Daily WND.com
http://www.wnd.com/2012/05/kevorkians-frightening-fascination-with-blood/?cat_orig=us
May 24 2012
Exclusive: Marisa Martin probes morbid world of euthanasia advocate's
artwork
"All that blood and not a paintbrush in sight" - Some such thought
must have drifted through the dark chambers of Dr. Jack Kevorkian's
mind at one point, perhaps shortly before he began incorporating
human blood into his oil paintings.
There couldn't be a more suitable medium for the creations of the man
dubbed "Dr. Death" and "Jack the Dripper" by the press. In the 1990s
Kevorkian became the biggest euthanasia celebrity since Himmler and
Margaret Sanger (see "Croaking with the Stars"). The official oracle
of death was proud of his titles and loved all publicity, although
his medical license was actually yanked decades ago via a murder
charge in Michigan.
Most people familiar with the notorious Kevorkian aren't aware that
he spent 12 years unsuccessfully painting, writing, composing music
and creating a film based on Handel's "Messiah." It wasn't until he
began "helping" people die that his art and music attracted a great
deal of attention.
Now a year after his own demise, a war quietly brews between the
Armenian Library and Museum of America, or ALMA, in Watertown, Mass.,
and Kevorkian's estate. Several paintings were left to the museum as
either loans or gifts, depending on the source. The doctor's sole heir
and niece Ava Janus of Troy, Mich., wants them all returned and even
included the disputed artworks symbolically in a New York auction of
his effects last fall.
The honors bestowed on Kevorkian's paintings stem from a variety of
causes, and none of them are the quality, at least that's my take.
Kevorkian acknowledged as much himself when he critiqued his own work
at the show's opening in 2008: "I think they'd be more affective if
they were done by a real artist."
But the cult of personality swells America's obsession for all things
celebrity, like an actor's motorbike - particularly if he died on it.
Executive Director Mariam Stepanyan said the museum won't be taking
a position on Kevorkian's murder conviction or apparently the whole
death and euthanasia cult thing either. I admit the background of the
man and his gruesome life's work does prejudice me a bit on his art.
Bad art can be so much easier to take if you can make your own
interpretations, but here you already know the whole story and its
unhappy endings.
Kevorkian shows at ALMA because his parents were Armenian survivors.
This could possibly explain the dreariness, violence, fear and the
almost palpable stench of death permeating most paintings, but not
really. His mother's great will to live prevailed over armies of men
trying to murder her in Armenia. Kevorkian's scenario would have her
leaping off the nearest cliff rather than face possible torture or
rape, the pain he would help us all avoid with his poisons and potions.
"1915 Genocide 1945" by Jack Kevorkian When he deals with this theme
in his painting "1915 - Genocide - 1945," Kevorkian hits a sympathetic
nerve for once. This is one of the paintings where he claimed to use a
pint of his own blood mixed into the paints. You'll have to put aside
issues of health, religion and the longevity of blood as a painting
medium for a moment. It depicts a decapitated woman's head clutched
by Nazis and Ottoman soldiers.
Because of Kevorkian's family history, his bizarre choice of
ingredients seems more authentic and almost tender. It feels
historically right even as it is still horrific to view.
The doctor actually sounded quite sane in his remarks over the
"inhuman gall and depravity" inherent in planning campaigns of racial
extermination. Kevorkian also called for the need for a "hereditary
memory" to avoid the recurrence of genocide.
Not all his paintings deal with suicide, death and destruction. The
ALMA exhibition is divided into three categories: medical themes,
political themes and musical themes.
Kevorkian's interest wandered at least slightly into a little
portraiture. A stolid Johan Sebastian Bach, one of his favorite
musicians, fills a canvas. He produced a few other portraits with a
primitive but meticulously detailed and finished look, somewhat like
old colonial portraits.
The outsider feeling expresses his entire life, not just his
paintings. Kevorkian was abrasive and contentious in his beliefs and
with authorities. It was an expression of his contempt for any type
of constraints to personal freedom, including a God with rules.
"Nearer My God to Thee" by Jack Kevorkian
"For He Is Raised" by Jack Kevorkian Christianity and Christ are
openly ridiculed in a few especially vicious pieces such as "For He
is Raised." Here Easter bunnies manipulate a wounded and impotent,
puppet Jesus with strings.
Blatantly offensive, Kevorkian didn't have the nerve to defend his
obvious contempt, but gave a more politically correct rationale:
"'For He Is Raised' depicts how religion has become distorted by pagan
symbols of fertility to further manipulate the meaning of Easter."
Why would he possibly care about the distortion of a religion with
(as he claimed) a made-up God?
Kevorkian's "god" was J.S. Bach, his favorite composer/genius whom
he admired above all beings. Ironically Bach was a devout Christian,
dedicating all his works to the glory of God. For that matter, so was
Handel and his "Messiah," another of Kevorkian's muses. I wonder how
Kevorkian rationalized this disconnect.
Medical subjects, injury and disease make up other series in his work
such as "Paralysis," trying to depict a chained spinal cord and brain.
The image of this fractured man holding his arm and turning to
"stone" lies somewhere between cubism and a bad acid trip. As in
all of Kevorkian's work there is only raw agony, with no comfort or
answers implied.
"Paralysis" by Jack Kevorkian His graphic interpretations of mutilation
and pain aren't for the squeamish or weak-stomached. In fact I can't
think of a reason anyone would want art that almost hurts their eyes,
but there is a market.
Ariana Gallery (Detroit) sells signed and numbered lithographs of
his work at $500 apiece and feels the demand will go up.
A spokesman is estimating the collection of Kevorkian paintings at
$2.5-$3.5 million if they can get their hands on them. That will
be up to the courts, as it is still being disputed and neither side
appears to be willing to budge.
Kevorkian's famed "Thanatron" (Greek for "death-machine") was also
offered up at auction - unfortunately, used. Before his trial for a
publicly filmed suicide that Kevorkian administered, it was redubbed
the "Mercitron" by his clever lawyer. That's what they pay them for.
To help buyers feel more inclined, part of the auction proceeds goes
to "Kicking Cancer for Kids," where they are presumably treated and
not euthanized.
The witty slogan resulting from Kevorkian's campaign "right to die"
makes perfect sense if your address is Mount Olympus, otherwise it's
a bit of a redundancy. Unfortunately Kevorkian's intent to affect
public policy on euthanasia has been wildly successful with Oregon
and other states now legalizing physician-assisted suicide.
The eventual effects of Kevorkian's ghastly art and philosophy may
yet be seen. What he deemed the "realm of pure human reason" seems
to be reflected in parts of the Obama health bill. Hopefully talk of
"death panels" and restricted care is just speculation and will remain
as unacceptable now as it was 20 years ago.
But if the Obama bill is to health care what Kevorkian is to art,
it wouldn't surprise me to find "Paralysis" hanging in the White House.