Celebrating 100 Years of Being Gaslighted by Modern Art.

A urinal which Marcel Duchamp titled Fountain and signed "R. Mutt". It  is regarded by the art establishment as a major landmark in modern art. Replicas commissioned by Duchamp in the 1960s are now on display in a number of different museums around the world.

Karla Blacks suspended paper and plastic sheeting, called What To Ask For Others, was shortlisted to win the 2011 Turner Prize - the world's most prestigious art competition.

The niece of a friend of mine was a brilliant and gifted young artist. She won a scholarship to one of the world's most prestigious art schools - where she presented a portfolio of her stunning drawings and watercolours. By the time she graduated, she had not picked up a brush or pencil in over a year and was stapling bird feathers to an old shipping pallet as her graduation work. She now works as a receptionist at a dental clinic.

The term "Gaslighting" is used to describe how a psychopath in a personal relationship with another person will slowly over time change the reality and perceptions of the individual they are targeting. A proficient psychopath will, in time, have a once perfectly stable and emotionally healthy person literally believing that black is white and up is down. Essentially, the psychology of the target has been altered in a way to accept what they see before their own eyes - is not what they once believed it to be.

One of the most effective forms of public gaslighting has been modern art.  As a rule, I do not like to put down other artists work. But there seems to be almost a secret cabal between public bodies, art colleges, some artists and exhibition spaces/managers to fill these spaces with shock art or art which is as uninspiring as possible. The vast majority of public and corporate funding goes into promoting these forms of art - while gifted talented traditional artists have to beg private galleries to stock their work with commissions up to 50% on the sale price not uncommon.

I came upon one installation recently which was an old telephone on a table with a present day directory beside it. From the telephone there was a wire extending up to a glass box on the wall - which contained a life sized sculpture of the human ear made of the artist's own ear wax. I see this kind of thing is everywhere in public art spaces now - in fact, I can hardly recall a time when this sort of art did not fill public art spaces. Such "modern" art - from around the time of DaDa movement on - still continues to win all the art awards and the artists proclaimed as geniuses right to the present day. No other art movement in history has survived for so long.

The rationale used to defend this degradation of art is; that all expression should be free and unlimited. That the "concept" behind the work is more important than the artwork itself. Highly paid members of art councils, college professors and media will invoke "freedom of expression" and pontificate about the Nazis and the concepts of degenerate arts and "what it led too..." The irony being, that the greatest censorship in the art world today is by these same individuals against more traditional artistic expressions in terms of painting, drawing and sculpture.

As with everything on this face of this planet which makes no sense to most humans, there is always a underlying psychopathic rationale/drive for how this situation has come about. In this case, the degradation of the aesthetic, along with our notions of emotional resonance when viewing artwork - is being used to make corporate advertising more appealing. 

The powers that be are gaslighting the rest of us by changing our perceptions - so corporate advertising looks more beautiful and uplifting than the art inside the galleries. When people visit spaces such as the Tate Modern in London to have their consciousness perverted, twisted and distorted into a mundane cul-de-sac of spiritually and emotionally vapid installations - they will come outside and see colourful advertisements. The psychological impact of the advertisement is then far more powerful on the viewer. Charles Saatchi of the global advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi,  is also known worldwide as an art collector and owner of the Saatchi Gallery, and in particular for his sponsorship of the Young British Artists (YBAs), including Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin.

Thomas Sheridan is an independent alternative artist, author, satirist, musician, public speaker, broadcaster and researcher currently based in the West of Ireland. His illustrations have appeared on the covers of newsstand magazines, books and websites worldwide. 

The Anvil of the Psyche is considered a vital manual for personal and social survival in a world controlled by greed and false hopes. Thomas' writings and interviews have evolutionised people to build a firewall around their own psyche and not to be lured into handing over personal independence to an exterior collective or guru. As a result, his NO CONTACT EVER AGAIN philosophy applied to controlling individuals and groups has made Thomas an enemy of mind-controlled death cults and neo-Nazi fringe groups.  Thomas has also been featured in several films and documentaries.