 Welcome to the 21 Report. I'm Frank Pesci, and I'm here with Arthur Kwan Lee, artist of the year 2020, blacklisted by the New York City Circuit, and purveyor of masculine and religious art. Arthur, how are you? Good, bro. Thank you for having me here. What do you think of the event that Anthony put together so far? So this is my second time at the 21 convention, and it's a group of men who come together and recognize that it is a responsibility of men to become better and stronger, and to be examples in their community. So it's a beautiful thing. You know what's interesting? I said 21 convention, but what I should really say is 21 summit, because there are actually three events that are happening under one umbrella. One specifically for women, one specifically for fathers, and one for men who are aspiring to become men of excellence. Have you found value in each of those venues? Yeah, so most of the speakers are my dear friends now. And for me, it's been interesting seeing this evolution of the Manisphere space, because it started as this pickup artist sort of collection, and now it's gone into masculine philosophy, and now it's all these men of God. And for me, that's a progression. So seeing the Patriarch convention is sort of the peak of this Manisphere, because as fathers, you're automatically individuals who care about social cohesion, because you have investment in your progeny. So seeing these men speak up, it's sort of like you're climbing up this mountain. I don't have kids, but I recognize the tremendous value of this sort of summit, so it's awesome. Well said. Well said. Well, you obviously have a lot of fans, and a lot of them are here. Would you like to meet your fans? My collectors in particular and my fans as my type of artists, they're the best men, because what I'm known for in my artistry, as you explained in my introduction, is masculine imagery and religious imagery. So that, by nature, these are very deep people. These are people who appreciate not just color and form, but symbolism. And my collectors are, in particular, they have excavated tradition and religious reverence for social cohesion. So especially my brand and who I am and the place that I produce from in regards to my intention as an artist, it really echoes. So my collectors tend to be deep, strong, and they care about the West. Arthur, your work puts you front and center in the culture war. Was that your intention when you started to put your art out there for the public? You know, so I'll tell you the breakdown here. You know, I grew up under a traditional Christian family, but we were full of artists, so it was very odd in that way. My mother, she's a classical composer, got her dissertation in music theory. She's always playing the cello and piano for the congregation, right? My father, he's a minister. So I grew up in this house where I'm sort of visually excavating these themes. So I often say I'm a fusion of my parents, you know? But what occurred is, as I look into art history, I could not deny that all the greatest works are always undergirded by religious subject matter. And to me, that is not a coincidence. There's a pattern there. You know, I often say that if you're lost in the forest, right, you see the sun going down and you see 10,000 footsteps, right? That build a trail, a path, that's probably your safe way out, right? That's the way patterns work. And I couldn't help but deny the art is produced by men of God is the best. So I went into the art world knowing that in my heart. But the actual art industry today is owned by the radical left. And they want to normalize their own cultural values. So I was basically in social camouflage, and that's where I was in the cultural front. Because I did not want to castigate my source of income by perturbing these people. So I just worked in the industry, you know, quietly, while still producing art that resonated with me. But when I started to speak up about what I believe in and why I became an artist, that's when things got rocky. And that's when I lost six of my art dealers. You know, six months after I was awarded Artist of the Year. So I'm a good case study for that. And that's also why I'm so heavily shadow banned too. So people might say, you know, this guy doesn't have a radio show. He's a painter. He's in a studio all day. Well, that said, I still have enough of a following to influence. You know, so that's the, it's put me in the cultural forefront because life imitates art. You know, yeah. So obviously propaganda is something that's used on us all the time. What role does art play in communicating a message to the public to either drive a narrative, to create a behavior, to communicate an idea? So this is what my speech was about. You know, it's, I spoke about the Nazis and the way they utilize a creative class to normalize values. It's a fascinating study on culture and strategy and how you can curate a civilization's moral hierarchy. And often people don't understand that these were intentional, like these were designed intentionally. The way the German people felt about the Jewish class, it was so curated and it was so nuanced. And when we say Nazis are masters of propaganda, we have to understand it's, they broke the sound to stages. And what they would do is, you know, they put up these posters illustrated by the artist of this one, Art Collective. Okay, I'm not going to spoil too much about my speech, but this Art Collective was basically affiliated with the Nazi Party. We'll call it that, okay? And they put up these posters, they start off very genial. You know, little kids in silhouettes like very minimally holding hands with each other and then there's one like Jewish kid and they're kind of looking at them. So it looks like a little picking at a fun. It starts with that, but then it gets a little bit more derogatory. The public imagery gets more and more derogatory. That makes it more normalized. And the way propaganda works, it's always boiling over frog. You always tell it a half lie, because a half lie is more effective than a full lie. And the Nazis understood this, Joseph Grober's understood this, that's why they contacted certain celebrities to also normalize values. So my point is, before they can even approach all this, they have to first make sure values were in line for them to come in so strong. And I've been studying the Nazis for some time, from the perspective of an artist. And there's a lot we can learn in regards to the Cultural War. And the reason why I talked about the Nazis is because the modern parallels I see today in the radical left. But doesn't art pro-generate values? Like in the silhouette picture that you just described, that is communicating messaging to the public. Yes. On a slippery slope towards hatred or whatever values art is seeking to promote. It doesn't even have to be intellectual also. The reality, every single person listening to this conversation right now, they have something aesthetic in their mind, something picturesque that they're walking towards, whether they're conscious of it or not. There's something that they've been inspired by, moved by, that is forcing this impetus that makes them go forward in life. So it's just a matter of being cognizant of that. And the genius of the Nazis were that they understood that when art is presented in front of you, you're in a relaxed state. You don't have a defensive. It's not like a debate or a conversation or data. You're taking it in and you're actually going to be entranced in that way. So they control the aesthetics and they also eliminated all the other creative classes for the potential of a counterculture. So there was even an art collective called Bauhaus. Bauhaus was an institution for these freedom-loving Germans who were against national socialism. And Hitler literally, that was the first thing that he shut them down. Because then there's no possibility of a group of free thinkers to push up against it. So when he did all the burning of the books in 1933, literature, poetry, science, art, philosophy, when he burned all these books down, he was only able to do that because he first got rid of this large institution that would have definitely stood up against him. So these are all so telegraphed. And for me it was such a fascinating study on culture wars and how we can curate our creative class. And it's always when you study history, there's this pendulum between art that is produced by collectivism and oriented towards the soul. Hitler was an artist as well. Yeah, he was a trained artist. He was pretty successful in the commercial realm. I mean people like to say he's a failed painter. He was not successful in the fine art realm. In the commercial realm, like postcards, you know, typical things that make him kind of Formy Lake. He did okay at that as well. Okay, and I guess my question to that, I'm just curious to know, how many evil characters have come out of the gift of art? And how many good characters have come out of the gift of art? Did you study that? Whether it's the poetry of Joseph Stalin or Mao, cinematography of Kim Jong-il, paintings of Francisco Franco, like all these tyrants they understood, utilized creative class to normalize values. Art, the purpose of art is normalizing values because it goes right over your head. See, when you're looking at any, like let's say you're looking at a painting right here, it's harmless. That's why it's seduction. That's why I say if we can have artists utilizing their talents for good and that can be patronized, oh we can do so much good with that. Like a film like Braveheart, I talked to Elliot Hulse about this yesterday. Like a film like Braveheart has done more good for our society's morale than any policy or presidential figures. Think about what it's done for our sense of masculinity, familiar cohesion. Of course it's not accurate historically, but when William Wallace in the film streams freedom, that's unforgettable. That's tattooed on your brain, right? So that's kind of what art has a power to do. And the numbers speak for themselves because the creative class dominates the attention market. But the left literally will fund and patronize certain figures. They literally commingle. The financial and political elite on the left, they hang out with influential talent. We don't do that. And that's why they control the dreamscapes of your progeny. Because we look at an investment solely based on the ROI, right? How it helps the digits in my bank account. Without understanding, if you want to actually control culture, there's an investment in culture. You can't talk about culture. You can't just say politics is down to from culture emptily. If not actually being an active participant as either a patron, an actual creator, or a supporter. Otherwise, you're just echoing this sentiment. Okay. I mean, I can ask you a million questions about this culture war. You're obviously well versed in a general in this fight. I'm drawn, however, at this moment to ask you how important is it to be discerning about the art that you have in your home? Yeah, very important. First thing is that I think our country's morale is so low right now that they don't even understand the utilization of how art is the function of art in the first place now. So we have a long way to go. That's the first thing. But an investment of art into your home. You know, I often say empty walls are such a waste because when you put art into your own home, hanging that up on your wall. That permeates to your entire house. Art is magic, man. So you have to really be intentional about what you put up. But let me say this is a men's conference. In particular, men. It's not a coincidence that when women contact me and they want art, they often want something decorative. They want something like, like they're trying to just be interior designers basically. I'm thinking about blue leaves because and that's fine. They're thinking about color. I appreciate that. When men contact me for art, they want something symbolic. They want something that represents their values. And they recognize that art is a distillation of a person's values through color symbol and form. And so it's incredibly important that you put up art that represents who you are because that will permeate to your family and those who visit your space. And that's powerful. That's powerful. Yeah, as we walk about in our daily lives, we're constantly bombarded with art, whether in the form of entertainment, music, imagery. And I view the art that I have in my home as a contributor to the sanctuary that my home is. And I'm at a point in my life now where I do collect art. I'm no worldwide collector or anything like that, but I have art that means things to me. And oftentimes I'll pass by a piece of art and just spend a minute there and let my art speak to me for lack of a better word. Let it create inside of me the feelings that I had when I laid sight on that piece of art in the first place. So I would agree that it is super important. And as men in pursuit of excellence, I would have to say that I absolutely agree with everything that you just said. And it's important that we have the right art in our homes. Yeah, it's funny because I believe that while we're talking about men in the arts, there is a successful stereotype that was placated to the West, which is that, you know, artists for girls. The typical government school mantra when it comes to art classes. And that's a grave mistake that was maliciously put onto us. Art is for men. You know, masculinity has always produced the greatest art. Your capacity to endure suffering, your ability to see it through. All these triumphs that you wanted to denote, that is produced by your objective standard and boundaries. Like that tug of war, that tension, that's where good art is built. You know, it's forged in the fire. So masculinity is an incredibly important characteristic in regards to making masterpieces as well. So I think men need to recognize that, you know, things like style, things like aesthetics, things like art. Beauty is a masculine responsibility. And I think that we have lost touch with that. And it's a shame because we're missing out in like half of life. Because we think we just have to be these, you know, robots that just say, well, this is the value I bring. So this is all I have. No, you're supposed to also appreciate the arts and you're supposed to be comfortable with that. You're pretentious, don't worry. Like you have a place to talk about art. Art is for everyone, man. Just openly be willing to converse about these deep things and fight for the art that represents your morale. Yeah. How do you feel about the rise of AI in the arts? You've probably heard of sites like Dolly 2. I can go to Dolly 2 and say, give me a dolphin wearing an astronaut suit landing on the moon. Within seconds it's going to spread out an image for me that is worthy to hang on your wall if that's what you're looking for. Yeah, yeah, yeah. How do you feel about that? Well, I'm not, I mean, look, I've been, I'm an agent who gave me all this art technology at one point and this isn't going to relate to it. I just stuck with my brush because I love, I'm old school in that way. Now, as this accelerates, as of now, the stage where AI is, it's, they're all very stylistically similar. And of course that might evolve beyond us. But I think all that's going to happen is it's going to cause difference of a market. And this happened when there's a professor, art professor by the name of Laszlo Maholognaki. And he wrote about how when the Industrial Revolution came into the picture with that photography was also born, right, this advent of technology. And before photography was born, painters were basically the photographers because they're capturing portraits. And this is how they made their living, doing commissions of people who can afford it. And I guess what I'm saying is that once there's this new medium, it didn't negate painting. Painting just became about a different language. Like if you're a photographer and I'm a painter and we have to capture a portrait of, I don't know, Cardinal Smith, okay? Who's going to win? Who's going to capture more accurately? The photographer. My point is so painting became about a different language. It became more about interpretation based on rendering abilities. So I guess what I'm saying is there's no medium superiority, but there is medium specificity. So there is superiority in specificity. So my point is the thing with AI is that it's going to be generated by an artificial technology and that is powerful. But that is going to be a totally different thing than actual painting. Do you not see it related to the culture war? You talked a moment ago about how... It is related to the culture war. You talked a moment ago about how men have been pushed out of the circle of being dissuaded, being artists. Now, AI is pushing all humans out of the circle. Do you see that as part of the trajectory of an outcome made to, I don't know, depopulate, dehumanize, take away our ability to produce art internally? Yeah, I mean, look, I know that with what it is that I do and the artist in the Genesis Council, what it is that we do is we're trying to make people go within and sort of recognize what undergrids are society. And it's a deeper thing that we're doing. So whatever it is, whether it's NFT or AR, all the technological acceleration, we will never be a slave to it. So I'm already attracting people who are against the dominant woke narrative anyways. So it's just another thing that adds to this pot of, I don't know, transhumanism, whatever you want to call it. It just adds to that pot. It's a great tool. I know artists, good men who utilize this as well as to accelerate their platform. But I don't even see them as competition, because even if they make more vivid imagery than mine, it's still not the same thing. Because unless they start 3D printing paintings, I guess, you're never going to get the best of a quality. You're never going to get the pure intentionality of a human being who's painting. And maybe we will. The time isn't there yet, but I just see them on two separate lanes altogether. I appreciate what you're coming for. Yeah, it's not the same thing. It's like going to watch a live concert or listen to music on your headphones. It's not the same thing. One is real. What's next for Arthur Quan Lee? So there's a couple of things I'm working on. The first thing is inspired by this art collective I mentioned. And I want you guys to watch this speech. I'm not going to even mention their name. They're like the boogeyman. I can't say their name. But inspired by this art collective, I created my own art collective called the Genesis Council. And we are all artists who are producing art that is in the preservation of tradition, the West masculinity. Quite a bit of Christians in there as well. You don't have to be a Christian. But we're inclusive. So it's kind of like the rubble alliance for creative people. We have filmmakers. We have filmmakers, comedians, actors, you name it. We have all this different type of creative talent. And we're kind of supporting each other. Is that going to become like a screen actors guild? Comparable? It's more so that many of these people here have also dealt with council culture. And one way or another. So we're kind of like coming together. And it's funny because we're all really good. Like technically, we're very good as well. Because if you believe in the West, if you believe in God, if you believe in these values, you're de facto pedagogical. Because you appreciate tradition. And so that also means you appreciate building your technique and skill and tribute to the tradition. So people are automatically very competent in their skill when their artists in the right side will call it. They just naturally are kind of better than the talent that's out there. They're not really like, they're not hurling paint around and saying I'm just an abstract artist. They're actually rendering abilities and they have skill. So we have this so far. That's one part of it. The other part is I'm working currently on a series called The Blood and Fire Project. And it's mission oriented to spread masculinity in a benevolent wholesome light. Because what I'm seeing is that masculinity is basically the most vilified quality in human nature right now. So I'm trying to make men appreciate this form of masculinity and also create these badass compositions and these fiery red tones. And I specifically chose Blood and Fire because as an artist, I'm always excavating symbolism. And the symbolism of blood, it's your bloodline, sacrifice and family. And fire is creation, destruction, but also the fire you pass to the next generation, the torch. That's how you judge a generation. That's why I tell The Blood and Fire because there's a synergy of masculine qualities there. So I'm working on those two. And finally, my personal project is I want to embark on a biblical series as we talked about. But this takes quite a bit of time. So with a great ministry like this, it requires great patronage. So that's something I got to delve into. So would you be interested in having partners come alongside of you to help you complete a project like that? Absolutely. Yeah, because I care about culture above all else. And if I can proliferate this imagery and show people, you can convince people. Everything we're talking about guys, you can convince them with beauty. Beauty is a great tool that we have. So if I can show them with beauty and with art, I feel like I'm doing a great service. Arthur, where can people find you? ArthurQuanley.com, Substack ArthurQuanley, Twitter ArthurQuanley, Instagram ArthurQuanley, GenesisCouncil.com and what else am I missing here? You threw out your Instagram? That's it. Yeah, Instagram is ArthurQuanley as well. Thanks for watching the 21 Report. I'm Frank Pesci with ArthurQuanley. Thank you, brother. Boom.