our friend scumsuck created a manifesto of artistic intent and put it on the scumsuck.com website. inspired, here is our own proclamation about art, what it means to us, and how we like to create and consume it.
artistic manifesto
introduction
tenet 1: fucked up art is good.
we believe art does not need to necessarily need to be happy, nice, educational, comforting, uplifting, or instill/uphold moral values. it can be, and it is good when it is, but being nice and wholesome is not the same as being good.
we believe art about taboo, immoral, or illegal subjects is not inherently violent, and it is different than bigoted or hateful art in that the intention is not to cause or encourage harm. art about complicated subjects is important to discuss the full dimensions of experiences.
we believe enjoying art that features the taboo and illicit, steamy or otherwise, created by freaks and people who don't mind being called one is awesome and it rules. sharing and interacting with art is a good way to engage with artists and show appreciation, including sharing, commenting, and following the artist to see more.
we believe pornography and other explicit materials created just for titillation are still art.
we believe technical skill is only necessary in a handful of scenarios. not all good art is "technically" skilled, and not all "technically" skilled art is good.
tenet 2: creating fucked art is good.
we believe the act of creating art for the purpose of self expression is good, even if the art is not "technically" skilled or creatively unique.
we believe fucked up art is not constrained to visual arts, but includes writing, website design, music, games, or anything else.
we believe consuming art we don't like harms us and we would rather spend our time looking at the art we like. judging others' art without any intent to appreciate it serves no purpose.
tenet 3: creating fucked up art responsibly is good.
we believe ai art is not problematic inherently because the art is algorithmically generated by a computer. ai is a tool like a digital camera.
we believe ai art algorithms, however, are based on image sets that are skewed and biased in the same ways that all systemic injustices are perpetuated. they are also based on artists who may not consent to having their art in the pool that trains the algorithm.
we believe making your art accessible only to the people who want to access it is good.
we believe that art should be available to the public and free for all, with a short time after print releases being the only exception.
commissioning artists is good and also supporting artists directly, without a transaction, is good.