Tell me why just because I am an artist I have to be punk. I have to shock, I have to scream. I have to rebel, even if I don’t know what to rebel against. I have to throw a causeless tantrum just for you to see me.
Tell me why I have to keep painting self-explanatory pictures. You know, the ones in college art portfolios made accessible for admission committees with only 5 minutes to decipher you. The ones about “identity”, with a realistically rendered portrait surrounded by a bunch of cultural symbols. The ones that could have said the same thing with a line of bio instead of some floating chopsticks and dumplings. The ones that claim “surrealism” and “symbolism” without grasping what Dali and Frida Kahlo were really about. The ones that are so damn legible it makes me cringe.
Tell me why you talk about music so much more than you talk about art. Why you cram your head with a million nonsensical song lyrics but can barely say the names of 5 living artists. Why a concert-goer pays $400 to enter a packed screaming match but free galleries remain so empty you can hear the echos of a whisper. Why there isn’t an art equivalent of the Grammys.
Tell me why my art education is all about how to paint and never why paint. All about making cool-looking images and never drafting thought-provoking ideas. All about how can I get people to understand this and never this is what I feel like and I don’t care if you get me or not.
Tell me why your judgement of my intelligence drops when I say I’m an art major. Why you leave me out of sophisticated and technical conversations you think I can’t follow. Why you reward software engineers with large sums and throw artists to the slums.
Dear society, since you won’t answer, I’LL TELL YOU WHY.
YOU SURRENDERED. YOU SURRENDERED TO THE HUSTLE BEFORE KNOWING WHY YOU ARE HUSTLING. YOU RUSHED. YOU DASHED. YOU HOPPED ON A RACECAR AND THRUST DOWN THE ACCELERATOR UNTIL EVERYTHING AROUND YOU BECAME A BLUR. THEN YOU SURRENDERED THE BREAKS TOO. YOU SURRENDERED YOUR ABILITY TO SEE. TO REALLY SEE. AND I MEAN NOT JUST THE SURFACE BUT THROUGH THE PAINT OF THE CANVAS THROUGH THE EPIDERMIS OF THE SKIN AND THROUGH THE SOFT CLOUDY MESS WHERE HIDES A HUMAN SOUL. WHICH MEANS YOU SURRENDERED SYMPATHY AS WELL. WHICH MEANS YOU SURRENDERED LOVE CURIOSITY COMPASSION AND ALL THAT HUMANITY WE HAD BUILT UP SINCE OUR PALEOLITHIC ANCESTORS TO DISTINGUISH OURSELVES FROM ANIMALS AND HUMANOIDS. BUT WHY
DO YOU
SURRENDER???
Tell me why I should keep defending art when you won’t see anymore.
