A shadow moves behind the scenes, pulling strings we barely notice. It’s like waking up in a James Bond movie, where hidden groups, call them secret societies, elites, or puppet masters, shape our days. They control the flow of money, news, and power, their hands invisible yet heavy. To them, we’re not far from savages, chasing screens and scraps while they commit crimes in plain sight, daring us to see. Take the Epstein files. Names of the powerful, tangled in stories of exploitation, float in whispers but never fully break the surface. These files, locked away or conveniently lost, point to a network that thrives on silence, where wealth shields the guilty. Meanwhile, in Gaza, a genocide unfolds, homes reduced to rubble, lives erased, yet the world’s stagehands call it conflict, not crime. The same system that buries those files fuels this destruction, profiting from chaos while we’re told to look away. Billionaires multiply, their wealth a tower casting shadows over the rest of us. The gap between them and everyone else widens, a chasm we navigate daily rising rents, stagnant wages, dreams deferred. They live above the rules, untouchable, while voices like Alex Jones or smaller platforms crying out against this script are muted. Deplatformed, demonized, or drowned out, they’re silenced not for lies but for daring to point at the stagehands behind the curtain. I see this play unfold. My work on canvas, raw truth fights to cut through the fog. But the daily grind, the news cycle, the endless distractions pull me to conform, to accept the script. The irony stings: we’re cast as savages in their story, yet they’re the ones writing atrocities, acting as if we won’t notice. Some reject this script. They speak, create, or simply refuse to play along, choosing to see the truth over the lies. In my studio, I fight to paint outside their lines, to make art that wakes us up. This world, scripted by hidden hands, thrives on our blindness. I ask: will we keep playing their savages, or will we rewrite the ending?

A web of code, invisible yet omnipresent, threads through the lives of 95% of the world’s connected souls. Social media algorithms, designed to serve up tailored snippets of joy, news, and distraction, have become the unseen architects of our days. At first glance, they’re tools sorting posts, curating feeds, painting our digital lives with effortless precision. But beneath their surface, they wield a darker palette, shaping thoughts with a subtlety that rivals any drug. These algorithms, fed by our clicks and swipes, learn us intimately. They dangle dopamine in bursts majority of users check their feeds within minutes of waking, chasing the high of a like, a share, a moment of relevance. The mind, caught in this cycle, grows restless, tethered to the next notification. Over time, tolerance builds: we need more posts, more outrage, more validation to feel the same spark. Abruptly stepping away brings its own withdrawal loneliness, unease, the gnawing fear of missing out. Studies reveal the toll: heavy users report heightened anxiety, depression creeping like rust through their thoughts, their sense of self eroded by endless comparison. As an artist, I see this canvas for what it is. My paintbrush demands slowness, intention, the raw pulse of creation but the algorithm pulls me toward its rhythm, urging me to post, to perform, to reduce my art to a thumbnail for likes. The human connections I once sketched in bold, messy strokes conversations, laughter, shared silence fade, replaced by a feed that dictates who I am. The architects of this epidemic? Tech giants, pocketing billions while their algorithms sculpt our minds. Investigations exposed their designs crafted not just to engage but to addict, prioritizing profit over sanity. Yet, glimmers of resistance emerge. Communities are turning offline, trading curated feeds for unfiltered moments. Some, like me, are reclaiming the canvas, using art to disrupt the algorithm’s grip, to remind us what it means to feel without a screen’s permission. This invisible web, spun from lines of code, holds the power to repaint our souls, to trade our humanity for a scroll’s fleeting thrill. As an artist, I stand at the easel and ask: will we let these algorithms define our masterpiece, or will we dare to wield the brush ourselves? The choice, for now, remains ours.

The Elusive Alchemy of Russell Brxwn

By Becky Jensen for Pigment & Prose

In the frenetic ecosystem of contemporary art, where canvases are snapped up by collectors with the fervor of stock traders, Russell Brxwn stands as an enigmatic outlier, a painter whose work is as impossible to purchase as it is unforgettable to behold. At 41, this Austin-based artist has crafted a body of paintings that vibrate with the raw energy of pop culture and the serene discipline of meditative abstraction. Yet Brxwn’s true singularity lies not in his aesthetic but in his defiance of the market’s gravitational pull: he does not sell his original works. Not to billionaire patrons, not to blue-chip galleries, not to the most silver-tongued dealer. Instead, he donates his paintings to auctions for causes he holds dear—climate advocacy, youth arts programs, community resilience and gifts them to friends, fellow artists, and those who share his love for the arts. To own a Brxwn is to be anointed, not by wealth, but by proximity to his vision, a privilege that has made his work the art world’s most exquisite white whale.

Brxwn’s paintings are visual symphonies, built on what he calls “patterning lines” spontaneous, sinuous marks that cascade across his canvases like calligraphy unbound. These lines are both method and mantra, a way, he says, to “silence the overthinking mind and let the hand breathe.” In their fluidity, they evoke the gestural abandon of Cy Twombly or the rhythmic precision of Agnes Martin, yet their context is unmistakably contemporary. Brxwn weaves these lines through fragmented pop culture motifs abstract logos, graffiti scrawls, and the pixelated detritus of digital life, creating compositions that feel like snapshots of a city’s pulse.

To stand before a Brxwn painting is to feel caught in a paradox: the work is both a mirror of the viewer’s world and a window into the artist’s soul. His larger pieces, often stretching 10 feet or more, seem to pulse with life, their lines dancing in hypnotic rhythms that invite prolonged looking. Smaller works, no less potent, carry the intensity of a whispered confession. Yet for all their visual power, these paintings are not commodities. Brxwn’s refusal to sell is not a stunt but a philosophy, rooted in a conviction that art’s value lies in its ability to connect and uplift, not in its market price. “Paintings aren’t trophies,” he’s been quoted as saying, with the kind of disarming candor that makes you want to buy him a coffee and debate aesthetics till dawn. “They’re for sharing, for moving people, for changing things.”

“Cadillac Drive, 2024”

This ethos manifests most vividly in the auctions where Brxwn’s works occasionally surface, always tethered to causes that reflect his social and environmental commitments. Picture a bustling charity gala, the room abuzz with philanthropists and art-world insiders, when a Brxwn canvas is unveiled—a riot of cobalt lines swirling around a fractured, almost recognizable pop icon. The bidding erupts, not just for the painting’s beauty but for what it represents: a chance to support a youth arts initiative in Austin, a conservation effort in the Texas Hill Country, or a community center rebuilding after a storm. The sums fetched are staggering, yet Brxwn remains aloof from the frenzy, his focus fixed on the impact rather than the dollars. These moments are less transactions than rituals, cementing his paintings as objects of both desire and purpose.

Equally compelling are the stories of those who receive Brxwn’s gifts. A fellow artist might find a small canvas left unceremoniously at their studio, wrapped in butcher paper with a scrawled note: “Thought you’d get this.” A curator who championed his early work might open their door to a painting that captures the exact hue of a shared memory. An art lover who struck up a conversation at a dive bar might, months later, receive a work that feels like a continuation of that fleeting encounter. These gifts are not random but deliberate, bestowed on those who, in Brxwn’s estimation, understand art’s deeper currency. To be gifted a Brxwn is to be seen, to be invited into a quiet conspiracy of meaning-making. One recipient, a poet who met Brxwn at a late-night Austin open mic, described the experience as “like being handed a piece of his heartbeat, no strings attached.”

This refusal to commodify his work, places Brxwn in a rare lineage of artists who challenge the art world’s capitalist underpinnings—think of Marcel Duchamp’s subversive readymades or Banksy’s shredded auction stunt, though Brxwn’s approach is less confrontational than communal. His paintings, scattered across auction halls and the private walls of his chosen kin, are like rare manuscripts, their value amplified by their scarcity and the stories they carry. In an age when NFTs and seven-figure sales dominate headlines, Brxwn’s practice feels like a quiet revolution, a reminder that art can still be a gift, a gesture, and a catalyst for change.

"Adventures of Slaveman. 2024”

Yet there’s no sanctimony in Brxwn’s stance, no trace of the ascetic martyr. He’s as likely to be found sketching in an Austin taqueria, trading quips with strangers, as he is to be pondering the metaphysics of line in his studio. His work draws heavily on the city’s eclectic energy—its street art, its music scene, its blend of grit and idealism—infusing his paintings with a warmth that tempers their cerebral edge. He’s a magpie of pop culture, plucking references from vintage album covers, comic book panels, and the glitchy aesthetics of early internet memes, then reweaving them into something that feels both nostalgic and prophetic. A Brxwn painting might remind you of the first time you saw a Keith Haring mural or the last time you scrolled through a feed at 2 a.m., yet it never feels derivative. It’s as if he’s distilled the noise of the world into a single, resonant note.

The art world, of course, is not immune to the irony of Brxwn’s inaccessibility. Collectors whisper about him in the hushed tones reserved for urban legends, trading rumors of who might have snagged one of his works at a recent auction or through a stroke of personal luck. Gallerists, ever hopeful, float proposals for shows that might coax him into the market, only to be met with a polite but firm demurral. Critics, meanwhile, grapple with how to evaluate an artist whose output resists traditional metrics of success. Is Brxwn a visionary or a provocateur? A saint or a strategist? The truth, as always, lies in the work itself—paintings that demand to be experienced, not owned, and that linger in the mind like a melody you can’t quite place.

For now, Brxwn remains in Austin, painting with the same restless curiosity that has defined his career. His studio, by all accounts, is a chaos of half-finished canvases, vinyl records, and dog-eared books on everything from Buddhist philosophy to streetwear history. He’s at work on a new series, though he’s characteristically coy about its details, hinting only that it involves “lines that move like water.” Whether these paintings will end up in a charity auction, a friend’s living room, or some other unexpected corner of the world is anyone’s guess. What’s certain is that they’ll carry the same alchemy that defines all of Brxwn’s work: a blend of heart, hustle, and a stubborn belief that art can still change the rules of the game.

As I write this, I can’t help but imagine stumbling across a Brxwn painting someday, perhaps in a community center or on the wall of a friend who earned his trust over late-night tacos. It would be a moment of recognition, a reminder that the best art isn’t the kind you buy but the kind that finds you. In a world obsessed with possession, Russell Brxwn is painting a different kind of legacy one line, one gift, one cause at a time.

Resources

www.brxwnsville.com

instagram.com/brxwnsville

Tools of the Trade

Intro to portrait paintings:

Canvas boards/panels/canvas paper.

  • (5) 9"x12"s or 12"x16"s

  • Palette

  • Steel palette knife (3" trowel)

  • Odorless mineral spirits (no smelly solvents). Gamsol and Turpenoid Natural are good less toxic solvents

  • Container for your mineral spirits

  • Paper towels (Viva brand is good) or rags

  • Small container of linseed or walnut oil

  • Brushes – assorted. Try hog and synthetic blend

    • Filbert 2, 4, 6, 8

    • Flat 2, 4, 6, 8

    • Round 2, 4, 6

  • Oil colors (please use professional grade)

    • Titanium white

    • Naples Yellow

    • Alizarin Crimson

    • Cadmium Red Light

    • Manganese Blue

    • Ultramarine blue

    • Transparent oxide red (sometimes called Transparent Earth Red)

    • Payne’s Grey

Visiting the National Gallery in London is a life-changing experience that stimulates the senses and sparks creativity. Surrounded by famous artworks, visitors can appreciate artistic expression and learn classic techniques. The detailed brushwork of the Old Masters and the bright colors of the Impressionists provide inspiration, encouraging artists to connect with their craft. Practicing these traditional methods links art history to modern creativity. In this inspiring setting, the flow of creativity invites artists to explore, experiment, and enhance their own artistic journey.

Finding the motivation to draw every day doesn’t come from waiting for inspiration to strike; it comes from the act of drawing itself. Embrace the process as a discipline rather than a fleeting moment of creativity. Set aside a specific time each day, and commit to putting pen to paper or brush to canvas, regardless of how you feel. Each stroke, each line is a step forward, leading to growth and discovery. By focusing on the action rather than the outcome, you will cultivate a habit that nurtures your creativity and strengthens your skills. Just draw—allow the rhythm of your work to become the motivation, and let the joy of creation fill your every day.

An Artist’s Guide to Embracing Creative Procrastination

Procrastination is a struggle many artists face, often accompanied by feelings of guilt and self-doubt. But what if procrastination isn’t just a hurdle—it’s part of the creative process? For me, periods of inaction sometimes lead to breakthroughs I didn’t expect. In this post, I’m sharing how I’ve learned to embrace creative procrastination and use it as fuel.

Understanding Boredom as a Creative Tool

Boredom might seem counterproductive, but it can be an artist’s secret weapon. When I find myself putting off a project, I ask myself what my boredom might be trying to tell me. Often, it’s a cue to explore new ideas, step away from routine, or even approach my art from a different perspective. Sometimes, the mind just needs space to wander and find new inspiration.

Breaking Down “Procrastination” Moments

Rather than thinking of procrastination as a problem, I break it down. Am I avoiding the work because I’m uninspired, uncertain, or afraid of failure? When I take a moment to understand what’s holding me back, I can find ways to reframe it as part of my process rather than a roadblock.

Embracing the Space Between Ideas

Art isn’t just about the time we spend actively creating—it’s about the pauses between strokes, the spaces in which ideas grow. Creative procrastination often gives me the room to imagine without restrictions, daydream without goals, and make connections I wouldn’t have seen otherwise. Those “wasted” moments are sometimes the ones that fuel my next project.

Tips for Productive Procrastination

For artists who struggle with procrastination, here are a few techniques I use to harness it creatively:

1. Mindful Distractions: Sometimes, engaging in a different task—reading, walking, listening to music—helps refresh my creative mind.

2. Tiny Goals: When I’m stuck, setting small, achievable tasks (even unrelated to art) can build momentum.

3. Reflection: Journaling during procrastination helps me identify what’s holding me back and may spark unexpected ideas.

A Final Note on Embracing the Journey

Procrastination doesn’t have to be a roadblock. When we view it as part of our creative journey, it becomes a time to recharge, reframe, and renew. If you’re an artist struggling with procrastination, I encourage you to embrace it as a necessary, even fruitful, part of your creative process.

Ask Amy

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Dear Amy,

My husband has been acting strange lately. He was dull before but now he's really dull and he keeps going on about brains. Just recently he tried to bite the neighbor for no reason. My husband doesn’t have a violent bone in his body. I think the stress is getting to him. He’s falling apart. The other day his ear fell off right in the sink.

Please, Amy, help me understand my husband better.

Sincerely,

Barbara

Dear Barbara,

Sorry to hear about your husband…LOL… get it? Hear? Bad Joke but anyway, I wouldn’t be too concerned. If he’s into biting it might spice up your love life. Remember he may be dull but at least he’s not dead.

Best regards,

Amy