Nathan Janes has been chosen as a contributor to the newly published book Art is Dead — A Manifesto for Revolution in the Visual Arts. The book, written by abstract artist and professor Ted Mikulski, explores the status of visual arts in American culture today while including the thoughts of sixteen American artists. In his contribution, Janes argues that multinational corporations in conjunction with the mass media have used their enormous power and influence to mold a mainstream consumerist culture, which uses visual arts to promote consumption through advertising art. Janes addresses the influence of the consumerist culture on the fine art scene as many well known artists now employ factory-style production lines of assistants to create their original artwork while creative and effective marketing is used to sell these works for upwards of six figures each. Rather than see the emergence of modern day artists as celebrities, Janes hopes to see more artists break free of mainstream consumerist culture to express independent thought and create work outside of the collective.… Read the rest
by Aaron Franz of Transalchemy.com Visual symbols represent a language of their own. The most powerful symbols are ironically the most common things in our daily lives, those things that we all too often take for granted. All of the basic things that we see on an everyday basis have the most influence over our lives, both physically and mentally. Images of the sun, moon, food, and water have always been potent symbols within the “ancient mysteries.” Anyone who is wise enough to understand the importance of the basic elements of life can use them as symbols to influence the minds of other people. Life can be interpreted in any number of ways, and the most popular interpretation on any given day has everything to do with the deliberate use of symbols by an “intellectual elite.” Throughout the ages this has been the case. Within “civilized” society there has always been a priest class who understands the power of symbols, and has used that power to guide the minds of the masses.… 
Nathan Janes, PUPAGANDA.com: Many people may not realize that when they turn on the television in their home, what they see as a constant flow of images is actually flickering. Although we do not see this consciously, the repetitive pattern of flickering images creates a state that is similar to hypnosis in the television viewer.
Aaron Franz, Transalchemy.com: This brief article focuses on television as a tool. We must understand that the television is far more than a modern luxury created simply to entertain us.
The painting, “Tragedy and Hope,” marks the bloody history of Tibet as it culture and people have been eradicated by the Chinese since 1950 but it also marks the artist and other activists’ hope that people will continue to cry out until justice is brought to the Tibetan people.