I know a lot of people who do art for a living. They are basically treated like shit by capitalism. Nobody respects how much time, effort and training goes into art. Art is fucking hard. You get paid next to nothing for it.

Unless you sell your soul to work in advertising/marketing. Then you get paid only slightly more than nothing. You are also now expected to churn out a fuckton of art each day if you want to keep your job. Enjoy watching everything unique, creative and special be sucked out of your art by higher-ups that demand safe, soulless corporate art. Enjoy being told you're expendable and easily replaced so you work an extra 5 hours unpaid that night. Working conditions in some advertising agencies are close to resembling sweatshops with how they exploit their junior artists in particular. I knew someone that used to work 7 days a week, even though they weren't paid on weekends. They worked until midnight (unpaid overtime) only to start again at 8am the next day again. That's how 'competitive' the industry is. They eventually had a nervous breakdown and changed careers.

Art being some bourgeoise thing where a beret-wearing snob sells a photo of piss for 5 trillion dollars is not the norm (as funny as that would be). The norm is backbreaking work for very little in return, like every other job title that isn't CEO, Manager, or Landlord.

So yeah, even though I'm fascinated by AI art and don't think it would necessarily be a bad thing if it was being used in a socialist setting, I think artists have every right to be upset that tech bros are finding a way to suck even more life out of art.

In short, creatives get treated like shit. Thinking art isn't real work is chud-level shit.

  • zifnab25 [he/him, any]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Art is fucking hard. You get paid next to nothing for it. Unless you sell your soul to work in advertising/marketing.

    A society that turns all its best artists into merchandisers will produce a public that believes art's value is predicated on its pride of place in advertising. Also, when that art is purely consumerist any kind of messaging will either become deliberately deceptive or purely aesthetic.

    Art being some bourgeoise thing where a beret-wearing snob sells a photo of piss for 5 trillion dollars is not the norm

    Piss Christ wasn't notable for its price tag. It was notable for its presence in media. In some sense, it was worth more because it pissed off so many people, which was the intent of the artist so... yay artist? But also this is absolutely a proletariat style of art. Its expressing a public view and resonating with a public audience. It isn't being held captive in some billionaire's wine cave to be enjoyed by a handful of snobs.

    Meanwhile, I consider Bourgeois Art the purely consumerist style that is meticulously and painstakingly rendered High Fantasy Trope printed on a collectible trading card. And the value of the art is not tied to the quality or expressive character of the image, but the rarity and power-rating of the card to which it is attached.

    In short, creatives get treated like shit. Thinking art isn’t real work is chud-level shit.

    I like to think that the best art imparts emotion in the viewer. Ergo, anything that Triggers The Libs is top tier talent in my books.

    • GuerrillaMindset [none/use name]
      ·
      2 years ago

      arguably, the least bourgeois art form is street art. the voice of the city, written on the walls out of passion—in spite of arrest. if you want to see true working class art divorced from a profit motive then street art is about the purest form of artistic expression in dystopian capitalist hellworld that i can think of.

      • zifnab25 [he/him, any]
        ·
        2 years ago

        This is only true for street art that isn't just somebody's name printed on every available surface.

        • GreenTeaRedFlag [any]
          ·
          2 years ago

          wrong. It's stil art, and is still outside the profit motive. There is no coherent way to exclude it.

          • GuerrillaMindset [none/use name]
            ·
            2 years ago

            it honestly speaks volumes about alienation when your solution to being unheard, unseen and uncared about by the systems around is to just write your name on everything you can find.

            • GreenTeaRedFlag [any]
              ·
              2 years ago

              Step 1: put your name in a stylized way, often enough completely illegibly, wherever you can, at risk or heavy fine or arrest.

              Step 2: ???

              Step 3: profit.

              • zifnab25 [he/him, any]
                ·
                2 years ago

                https://99designs.com/blog/creative-inspiration/guerrilla-marketing/

                Street art as guerrilla marketing —

                Historically, street art has served as a brazen way to draw attention. What began as graffiti rooted in Hip Hop culture has transformed into an unique urban language of artistic expression.

                If a significant portion of your customers are city dwellers and your brand can sustain the edginess associated with (perceived) vandalism, you might want to consider street art guerrilla marketing. The only materials you need are basic art supplies, which means this can be done on a budget, though you will want to contract an artist who specializes in this form.

                Once you establish yourself as someone capable of tagging sites across the city and applying these tags at a professional grade, you've advertised your own services to potential guerrilla marketers looking to advert their own messages.

                How often does some artist like HOYM or YENSO make the jump from recreational to commercial? No idea. But there's definitely a market for street art and people will recognize your name and work simply based on its public prominence.