A WELL REGULATED MILITIA
“This series is a mirror of the double standard and anachronistic fairytale many Americans tell themselves. I don't condone or glorify violence. I loathe it. I don't own a gun and would never use one to kill another human being. Yet it cannot be reconciled that some men with guns are considered "good guys", modern-day cowboy vigilantes, while others are "bad guy" criminals. One can't applaud Dr. King's nonviolence while fondling the pistol on their hip. The series is meant to examine the distance between the "inalienable right" of the 2nd and the nearly 75 years it took to get to the 13th. It is meant to ask what does a “Well Regulated Militia” look like? It is meant to punctuate the fact that African Americans, Native Americans, and women weren't afforded the rights of “men” in the founding of the United States. It’s meant to ask what things might have looked like if they were.”
- J.J. Weinberg -
The Climax of All Misnomers - These Don’t Run (NFT ORIGINAL GIF/VID TBA)
“Climax of All Misnomers“ 30x40 - acrylic on canvas
This 30x 40 acrylic painting is 3 years in the making and remains a work in progress. The “Climax of all Misnomers” is a series unto itself. “The Fire”,“The Storm”, “The Whirlwind”, “The Earthquake”, and “Pink is the New Black” are all finished versions of the “Climax of All Misnomers”. While painting this great American hero Frederick Douglass, Weinberg listened to his words come to life in "Life and Times of Frederick Douglass" and through Blight's biography "Prophet of Freedom". The first phase of this piece is titled “The Fire” and was finished Juneteenth of 2020. Though Douglass is known as the most photographed person of the 19th Century, Weinberg’s work captures his intelligence and his pain, his fire, and his kindness, unlike any image that presently exists.
“I therefore hate the corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of the land... I look upon it as the climax of all misnomers, the boldest of all frauds, and the grossest of all libels.”
“EARTH Q WOKE” NFT MAKES HISTORY
The digital derivative of Weinberg’s “Climax of All Misnomers” painting made art history being the first NFT with an audio/visual component to be sold in a premier NYC auction house - Phi Auctions. The collaboration with Hip Hop musician ARTZ sold in a lot with an Andy Warhol Soup Can, a Salvador Dali, and a piece by renowned street artist Banksy. Only the Banksy didn’t sell… The edition of 19 was released on Known Origins in honor of Juneteenth 2021.
J.J. says the Frederick Douglass legacy has gone “from broken chains to the blockchain. I’m honored to be a small part of his lasting impact on our living history.”
“Earth Q Woke” NFT - is a digital derivative of “The Climax of All Misnomers”. J.J. Weinberg says the Frederick Douglass legacy has gone “from broken chains to the blockchain. I’m honored to be a small part of his lasting impact on our living history.”
Dr. StrangeLove Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love My Slave
The STRANGELOVE NFT SOLD for 3TH, approximately $6K at the time of purchase. The NFT is a “phygital” part of the “Well Regulated Militia” collection and the collector also retains the original physical painting that was the basis for the digital NFT.
““No FREE man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.””
The title of this work in progress points directly at the fallibility of the “Founding Fathers”. Thomas Jefferson’s hypocrisy in statements like “No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.” and "I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery.", while “falling in love” with his slave Sally Hemings is yet another despicable blemish on the supposed wisdom of these deeply flawed men. Sitting on the H-Bomb with his iPad and Nikes, purposefully creates an incongruity and contrast where anachronistic thinking fails in understanding the 2nd amendment in its original context. Why can’t we all have an H-Bomb? Why are we adamant that we disarm other countries from having nuclear weapons? These are among the questions and thoughts these images are meant to provoke.
“Liberty or Death” 22x28 - acrylic on canvas
Born into slavery, Tubman escaped and subsequently made some thirteen missions to rescue approximately seventy enslaved people. The painting remains a work in progress as of 2021.
““I had reasoned this out in my mind; there was one of two things I had a right to, liberty, or death; if I could not have one, I would have the other; for no man should take me alive .””
“Unbroken Arrow” - 22x28 acrylic on canvas
Sitting Bull takes aim Madison, Monroe, Adams and George Mason. A work in progress painting as of 2021, this image reminds us that these men couldn’t possibly have any comprehension of the excessive firepower our technology offers. These “Founders” were writing about weapons and affairs relevant to their time. Namely slavery and stealing the land from the First Nation’s People. “Unbroken Arrow” also underscores the debate of the southern “border” and questions of national identity.
Unbroken Arrow (work in progress)
John Brown
Work in progress
“Here, before God, in the presence of these witnesses, from this time, I consecrate my life to the destruction of slavery! I am quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood.”
~ John Brown
Iconoclastic Fury
Weinberg is like Mark Twain with a paintbrush, thrusting it into the spokes of a whitewashed wheel of circular reasoning. While the contrast of his historic figures posed in modern anarchistic postures is satirical, Weinberg never dishonors or misappropriates their memories. The dissonance of the images instead sparks questions of meaning, evokes the power of symbols, and challenges long-held prejudices while spotlighting the distinction of the achievements of a marginalized band of heroes. Below are Weinberg’s sketches for future militiamen and women. All of the following will be 22x28 paintings with digital editions available as NFT’s in March of 21.
Weinberg’s original song demo - “Which Side Are You On?” debuted on Juneteenth 2020. Fully produced recording coming soon.
The work is meant to hold a mirror up to the viewer that asks them if they view a black man or woman, a First Nation's man or woman, or a white abolitionist with a gun the same way they view a white man deep in the heart of Texas. If it makes you uncomfortable, that's good. It's a signpost. It's meant as a question. Why is it ok for a white man to "bear arms" to protect what is his, but when a black man has a gun he is seen as a violent threat and potentially a criminal? Why is it ever ok to reach for a firearm as a solution? The guns themselves are symbols. I’ve heard "guns don't kill people, people kill people" parroted to exhaustion. If that's true, then why do these men and women with guns automatically signifiy violence? If MLK is to be celebrated for nonviolence, then why do we have military bases the world over?Why are some of “us” losing our heads about being able to be armed to the teeth? Why did they call Dr. King a Communist? Why did Hoover see him as a threat and have the FBI try to discredit the movement and why did they assasinate Fred Hampton? Why did the U.S. not lay down arms in Vietnam as King charged them to do? Why did the NRA work hand in hand to establish the Mulford Act while the Black Panthers open carried firearms for self protection as an expression of their rights? This is the importance of Black History. You don't know it because it isn't part of the curriculum of "good American students".
~ J.J.Weinberg