Honest Art is Dead.

As someone who has been creating art since before the iPads and digital art scene took over, it has been difficult to rise with the times, leaving a good paintbrush and pen behind. As time has gone on, the definition of art has been liberated to be overwhelmingly inclusive. Don’t worry, I still stand with creation indeed being art, but there is something so classic about the art of drawing, stringing, painting, with the hand, with the physical creation of it, in real-time, without any help from digital machines. After all, we wouldn't have movies and films without the digital upgrades and I do love a great film.

But something unique is happening under the sun. When the pandemic struck in 2020, I and a few other artists noticed the surge in utilizing creation as an essential aspect of a successful business online. Creating content is now a method of following the algorithm. Captions are not the creators' words anymore, lacking meaning and depth they have become buzz words to the average viewer to enlist a certain reaction out of them, to click, to buy, to follow, to like. 

Today, it feels as though art, your creation, has to go viral or be produced in a certain way to receive proper recognition. We have celebrities or influencers creating businesses that do well off the back of their fame and not their passion or work ethic. Art has become a cash grab readily available to the highest person of influence, no matter what time or effort has gone into the product. And just as fast as the herd comes, it goes. As an influencer or celebrity is exposed for something distasteful in the eyes of the public, down goes their business and popularity. 

So where has the real artist gone? The ones with passion and drive have now been restored to underground scenes where seeing the stroke of a paintbrush is still alive. They still relish in the times of art as quality, investment, passion, and integrity. We have people like Picasso, Michelangelo, Van Gogh, and Da Vinci, to name a few who are our muses and not the number of views we receive on a post. We live with passion, purpose, and reason, one that excludes digital currency. We devote our lives to being good at what we do and respect the possibility of not receiving recognition until after our deaths like some of the greats.  

We are now in an era of views, mass content creation, and overall capitalism of art, scripts, scheduled posts and drama fuel the entertainment of the masses. Honest art is dead. Society has turned to feed the fuel of relevancy. To be known, seen, and respected for your passions is no more. Honest art is dead.