 A few days ago, I shared some art. People asked me to put it behind a content warning. This bothered me because there was nothing untoward about that art. No nudity, violence, or anything untoward. Nonetheless, people found it to be “disturbing”. I deleted it because I had to ask myself, “What am I trying to accomplish? Do I want to talk about social media or art?” Yet I do want to talk about art. It’s an important part of my life. Also, separating art from technology is a big mistake. 42 comments
@atomicpoet Did anyone express what exactly they thought was disturbing? (I know there are some phobias that get triggered by certain images).  @atomicpoet well, what about pixelfed? I only just signed up & haven’t made any sense of it yet, but would that work?  @atomicpoet do you think it might be a consequence of your high follower numbers increasing the odds of a post being seen by someone who might be disturbed by it?  @atomicpoet sometimes it's impossible to predict what's going to trigger a traumatic response. And often it's not possible to put content warnings on everything, especially if you're struggling to tell what is disturbing about the art. Still, if people would ask me to put a warning, I'd try to accommodate the request. All art is disturbing. Even art that’s designed not to be disturbing is disturbing. You might not find this Thomas Kinkade painting to be disturbing, but I do. I’m not joking here. Not only does this painting offend me, it oppresses me. And yet, it was designed for mass appeal.  @atomicpoet Nice painting, but a little overdone in my opinion. Not something I'd hang on my wall.   @atomicpoet I like that kinkade was a Tortured Artist with a life only a few steps up from van Gogh's but his art was just shit Over the past 10 years, the tech world has been dominated by a specific aesthetic called Corporate Memphis. See image as an example. It’s a result of a marketing committees saying, “What’s the most inclusive art we can make that doesn’t offend anyone?” It’s fine to be inclusive unless that inclusion hides exploitation. Which is what most of the tech world is about. They want to present fancifulness while hiding their true motivations. @atomicpoet I've read somewhere that the point with these joyful dancing humans was to hide the harm they're doing to people and to the planet. For example we're talking a lot about greenwashing, privacy washing, rainbow capitalism, etc. and at some point we can start to wonder how many concepts we're going to have to learn. It's much more simple. The problem with modern art is that we’ve allowed homogeneity to take over. Despite having the entire world’s knowledge at our fingertips, we’ve resigned ourselves to a flat and drab monotony. We disguise this behind “best practices”. But in reality, we’ve put our creative impulses inside a cage. Frankly, I’m bored. Years ago, I embarked on a quest to create a whole new aesthetic that I called “Sizz”. People found it disturbing. Even now. But slowly a community formed around it. I don’t regret offending people with high contrast black and white. At least, this art is imbued with a piece of me.  @atomicpoet I like it. It's a slice of life. High-contrast photography is usually harsh. It evokes a reaction. It's hard to ignore. It's even harder to say, "That's nice, don't forget the milk on the way home."  @atomicpoet I LOVE high-contrast black and white. Definitely more interesting than the pablum that goes for corporate messaging illustration these days.  @atomicpoet @atomicpoet I don't find it disturbing. I keep trying to squint 😆 enough to see what the light is hiding.  @atomicpoet The high contrast reminds me of WW2-era recon photography. Except those were mostly aerial shots and a few side profiles of military and industrial things. The way some details disappear and emphasis shifts from the expected to other objects makes your images interesting to look at. Like, I know what I'm looking at, but I never looked at it like that. @atomicpoet Homogenized is less likely to offend. Take a risk. No matter what anyone does some will object, some will worship the ground they walk on, most will take it in stride. @atomicpoet while I encourage people to talk and engage in the conversation of art, all I hear about "corporate art for the internet" is I think unwarranted. I can see why people get their assumptions, but it also shows that art education also has some utillity to the average person. 😅 @atomicpoet ...and once people pick up on that gimmick they become jaded, possibly cynical. I'm in the miniority, but 'most anything created by committee is less than it could. @atomicpoet   @atomicpoet dude, same. For me, it’s the weird greasy light and the void of internal logic (like in this painting: why are there so many chimneys in such a small cottage, and located as they are? What is the source and nature of the bizarre light limning the door?) @atomicpoet https://www.backofthecerealbox.com/2005/12/the-painter-of-blight.html?m=1   @atomicpoet @atomicpoet @atomicpoet some folks also need to figure out that the world doesn't come with a big CW over everything.. If it didn't contain explicit violence, nudity, etc. of a level that the common person would find disturbing, then too bad.  @atomicpoet @atomicpoet Everyone is multi-dimensional with varied likes/dislikes, interests, etc. To pigeonhole anyone is a mistake and limits what can be obsorbed/learned from others. When we broaden our horizons - even a little bit we are the better for it.  @atomicpoet Art should draw certain reactions with itself. But I don't find the painting by Thomas Kinkade disturbing...what do you find disturbing? @atomicpoet I consider myself one of the most inclusive & least prejudiced people out there but I don’t believe in sheltering people either. Something about everyone triggers someone. If the biggest thing we’re worried about on this platform is offending others, most of us wouldn’t be able to say anything at all. I agree with you. @atomicpoet  There are two levels: 1. There are a lot of dicks and tits on art. Some of them supposedly biblical. Art's like that |
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@atomicpoet post it