Post Post Podcast #7

Featuring Michael Newberry of THE SHREWD ARTIST

Mar 14, 2024

Hello, my Substack friends!

Life/work obligations have taken me away from posting regularly this month. I’m nearing the end of editing a fun audiobook, and have been rehearsing for some upcoming gigs.

However, I will always make the time to meet any one of you who wish to share your Substack story with me on my podcast.

This week I’m so happy to present my recent conversation with the imitable, the talented, the very Shrewd Artist, Michael Newberry.

We talk about art, of course, but also the CIA psy-ops and infiltration into modern art, and what brought him to Substack.

“I've written six or seven books on art, including the art historical work "Evolution through Art." I believe my writing came about because while I paint, I want to understand everything I'm doing in words, from technical scientific problems to very nuanced introspective emotional feelings, to my philosophy of eudaemonia, coined by Aristotle.”

I have enjoyed reading both his instructional posts extracted from his Art Studio Companion on such things as the technique of composition and elements of light.

But there’s more to be learned from this shrewd artist than just painting tips.

I feel a special kinship with Michael. We are both staunchly opposed to the nihilistic Post Modernist assault on the things we hold dear, like the value of truth and the virtue of beauty. In an enlightening post called The Postmodern-CIA-Kant Playbook he describes the agenda to destroy and corrode our humanity in this way:

“By propagating shit is art and every other anti-value, they destroy the public’s ability to clearly assess the heroes and geniuses that walk amongst us. That segment of the public then becomes the unwitting instruments of their own destruction.”

Plus, his paintings make me feeeeeel things, and make my eyes leaky.

My favourite (so far) is The Kiss. It is a radiant reflection of intimacy, her hand on his face, his breath on her nose. May we all be so blessed to have lived this painting.