July 30, 2024

Content creation

Content is not art. Content is a category invented by (mostly) social media platforms who would like us to make stuff that engages people long enough on their platform to sell advertising to. Content is about feeding a machine of views, likes, and shares in the hope that, in return, the content creator gets rewarded – with an audience, with some ad revenue, with a sponsorship deal. Content is abstract, generic, unimportant. Content takes from the soul, it doesn’t feed it.

Art is not content. Art is something that no company invented. Art doesn’t have a market-purpose. Art is self-expression – using tools in the physical world to help us understand more about ourselves for no one else’s benefit but our own. Occasionally, that expression and exploration benefits others – mostly people searching for answers to the same questions as the artist. Occassionally, because of that connection, art sometimes generates money. But money is not the point of art. Art feeds the soul, and the souls of others. It doesn’t take, it gives.

Neither is right or wrong, it’s just worth reminding oneself occasionally – which one am I actually creating? Which one do I spend more of my time creating?

Other observations
December 10, 2024

Building muscles

No one expects me to run a marathon if I can’t even run 5km but when it comes to art, do we also need to build muscle?

December 3, 2024

It’s never felt more like work

Should picture book making feel like work? Or should it feel like some utopia where someone pays me for ‘art’?

November 26, 2024

Rendering the invisible

Perhaps the role of an artist is to render the invisible so we become more attentive to the world as it is?

November 19, 2024

The preparation ritual

Can a piece of paper create more connection than a wifi-enabled digital device when it comes to art?

November 12, 2024

The other side of loss is opportunity

Loss is difficult; we often like what we had more than what we may have. But how do we know unless we make space for the new in our lives?

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