TL/DR: Welcome back friends! Uh oh! I accidentally typed a manifesto. I will be posting 10 weeks worth of new monsters starting Monday April 3rd! I will also have signed copies of the anniversary edition of Tom Cardamone's Green Thumb available as well as more signed editions of Harboring Monsters. Also I have a new zine ready! I'm also working on another kinda secret project for Lethe Press which I'll talk more about in the coming weeks!
Fuck crypto! Fuck social media!
Hello! If you follow me on Instagram you may have seen that I'll be starting to post 10 weeks worth of new monsters starting on April 3rd. It's been about a half of a year since I posted last, so I thought it was worth making a little statement before I dive back in.
Social media is becoming less and less useful as a tool for artists. Shock and frequency are rewarded in the algorithm while subtlety, context and long form explanations are discouraged or even impossible depending on the ap.
As such, I've decided to take a more adversarial approach to social media.
For one, I make & post art when I want. This isn't to say I'm not constantly working on pieces, it just means I choose when and what to post where. I've come back around to preferring this blog because I can include quotations, inspiration, background on the particular project and even reference photos.
Secondovly, I will not make videos or reels. My work is static. It's a bestiary and as such it's intended to present a creature with no distractions, no background, no clothing (except Gods) and is not conducive to jumpy camera, fast cuts and weird filters.
I will also not be dancing. Many artists, in response to IGs decline, have taken to embracing viral trends or suggesting posting formats. I don't blame them. When our work is devalued and the only platforms squeeze us to the margins of the feed, it makes sense to try to game the algorithm. But it's their game. I feel like art has taken a backseat to a curated profile. That's just not something I care to devote my time to. I'd rather use the time it would take to film, edit and upload many videos a week to draw more monsters.
I have thought for a long time about a Patreon or some other subscription service. This isn't the worst idea and I do subscribe to a few that I enjoy. However, I think it would become more of a job than my actual art; making sure people feel they're getting enough content to justify their subscription, sticking to a rigorous schedule and making other types of content. And it may be a bit utopian of me but a huge part of my work is that I want anyone to be able to access it. Yes the zines and books I release are the ideal way to view my work, but if you can't afford them or live somewhere with unreliable shipping, you can just check in on my blog or follow me on instgram.
Most importantly, you will not see NFTs of my work (unless they're stolen). It goes beyond disinterest. I actively abhor Web3, crypto and NFTs on a moral and political level. I will link to a few good resources that help explain my stance but basically it's hyper-capitalism in its ultimate form.
Charging a ton of money for absolutely nothing and chewing through natural resources in the process. It's a ponzi scheme designed to sucker artists that are finding it all the more difficult to earn a living with their craft. Not to mention it was created by (and is still mainly for) far-right Libertarians that hope to live a feudal lords in some fantasy post-bank apocalypse. And the idea of Web3 is to create a digital world where absolutely everything will be commodified. As I stated above, I want people to be able to access my art for free.
Charging a ton of money for absolutely nothing and chewing through natural resources in the process. It's a ponzi scheme designed to sucker artists that are finding it all the more difficult to earn a living with their craft. Not to mention it was created by (and is still mainly for) far-right Libertarians that hope to live a feudal lords in some fantasy post-bank apocalypse. And the idea of Web3 is to create a digital world where absolutely everything will be commodified. As I stated above, I want people to be able to access my art for free.
I have been asked by multiple strangers and one gallery if I'd be interested in making NFTs and I said no every time. Freelance artists need better healthcare, higher wages and looser turnaround time not a speculative asset with a million hidden fees. The gallery pissed me off the most. I'm already of the opinion that most galleries are hype machines that don't earn the 50% or more they demand. But the steelman argument behind NFTs was to get more money into the hands of creators without a middleman! To then just have those vulturous middlemen swoop in to demand a cut of a digital asset?! Like, you could make the argument that a gallery deserves SOME cut of a sale (def not 50%) because they have a physical space to maintain and employees. But they do NOTHING to deserve a cut of an NFT sale. Not only that but there's the minting fees etc that artists usually aren't aware of.
Anyway, this went way too long and mostly turned into a rant. Hopefully, you'll get a better idea of where I'm coming from and my approach to art.
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