in·do·lence
noun
avoidance of activity or exertion; laziness.
You might have noticed I skipped my weekly Friday article last week. It was intentional, I needed to step away from things for a few days and focus on myself. Doing anything outside of paid client work has been incredibly detrimental to my mental health lately, which is pretty ironic if you think about it. It’s supposed to be the other way around.
Social media is impossible to keep up with. Creating good art, both physical and digital, is time consuming and very taxing when there is no objective return sometimes. It’s all a good reminder to keep creating for yourself, first and foremost. It’s also a good reminder to take a break from creating altogether to avoid fatigue, if you need to.
But what does it mean if you can’t afford to keep making good art?
One of the problems with making good art (by my own standards) for me personally, has always been that I can’t just commit a few minutes here, an hour there, and so on. Dispersing time spent on a piece across days, weeks, months, is not something that ever turns out well for me. I can make plans for a long time, but I need to execute while the idea resonates and occupies a lot of mental real estate. I despise chasing ghosts, and I hate letting a good idea expire.
And recently, I found myself choosing to squash and bury my ideas, because the reality of being unable to bring them to completion absolutely wrecks my mental well being. I’d rather just not force something than try to make something work till I resent it immensely. As always, I can compare this to relationships: if you are not finding an organic connection with somebody else (including yourself), and are just constantly tired from trying to make things work, maybe you shouldn’t be pushing so hard against the flow. It’s often the case that you’re trying to fix something that isn’t broken.
It’s not all bad
Iterative has been an exception. The art is done, and it pulled me out of really dark mental states. We’re working on development cycles for the website, the token metadata particulars, and being really fucking smart about the contracts we’re going to be deploying. Basically, we’re building everything so it can be modular in the long term. It’s a perfect reflection of having a good relationship with one’s self, and one’s art; you commit to something that doesn’t feel forced, and it keeps giving back.
Reminder that you can pick up an Iterative Minting Pass, and receive airdrops just by holding one! Pick yours up by clicking here.
It’s not all good
This is the opposite of what body suspension started to feel like for me almost 2 years ago now. The reason was people. Abusive assholes, egotistical behavior, and a general burnout on my end from trying to present its positive and holistic qualities to a society that is not interested. I don’t blame people; folks have largely been engaged with avoiding facing discomfort and personal truths, after a run of financial stress, a pandemic, and a digital culture that encourages folks to turn off introspection. Conceptual art with loaded narratives is not exactly “in fashion.”
Disappointment
It is also the opposite of what digital art, the blockchain, and Twitter have turned into for me these last few months. Folks fall for scams short and long, like famous personalities falling for months-long “I have cancer” narratives. Grifters ask people to send them crypto for nothing in return, and people do it. Thousands of people send fucktons of money to strangers directly, in hopes that they will receive some 10x rewards free of regulation. Even marketplaces like SuperRare have resorted to pumping their own coin, with convoluted mechanisms that promise visibility for struggling artists. It’s all pretty wacky, both on and off the blockchain. Everybody is desperate to either get rich quick, or get their egos fed by the masses.
It’s gotten to the point where some artists have even started offering physical commodities like brand new laptops as part of raffles for selling their art; “buy one of my things, and win a chance to receive a thing!” I interviewed Gael a while ago, and appreciated his pragmatism. But his recent behavior with this tweet leaves a sense of despair for artists that are actually struggling out there. To many, it feels like he sold out or something. Maybe it’s more a case of, “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.” Whatever the case, it’s really disappointing to see somebody so talented have to resort to this kind of bullshit. Signs of the times maybe…
All of this behavior leaves a really negative impact on artists that join new creative spaces with hope. Watching their collectors ape in on shitcoins, fellow artists start putting out low quality work, curators organize shows with zero integrity; these are just a few types of recent behavior that dim positivity. It becomes difficult to see why we should stick around cultures that are supposed to be disruptive at their core.
Bright lights in the darkness
But there are glimmers of hope, as artists with integrity do see some success here and there. Seeing artists show in amazing galleries in NYC recently has been really motivational for me. Watching artists like Roberta have successful drops brings me joy (check out our podcast episode below!). And disconnecting from the digital regularly has been so good in clearing out some of this detritus that keeps creeping up every few weeks.
The reality of the matter is, unless we are all boosting each other regularly, we are not going to make it in the face of algorithms that reward hype, fomo, and clout. We will stop growing as a community, and realize that we’ve hit a ceiling as a group, unless we change the ways we are engaging with social media in general.
Maybe we need to swallow our pride a bit, sure, and just say fuck it, let’s just share all our shit across FB, IG, TW, etc etc etc. And maybe, sometimes, we just need to admit that this shit is not serving us, and move on. I don’t judge anybody that’s quit being an artist, or left digital art communities to go do something else at this stage. In the face of low visibility, censorship, and the success of a new class of low effort content creators and immoral grifters, what can one do?
What do you suggest? How do you feel about sharing other people’s work? How often to you share articles or podcasts? I’m not trying to guilt trip anybody; on the contrary, I am asking you to think about what it is that that you are doing with your time spent online, and in your respective communities. Are you elevating others? What are you doing to elevate yourself?
I’ll be here sharing my thoughts, podcast interviews, and my personal work for a long time to come. I might be less regular about it, but that just means I’m working on projects I believe in and enjoy, without letting the toxic bullshit weigh me down. I’ll also be riding my bike to the beach more often, as opposed to checking in on what’s going on with the latest asshole that’s trending on social media.
Do what makes you happy, especially if it means sacrificing your comfort. Maybe you can find some zen if you can see past the visceral, like I do. I can promise you one thing though: If you buy art you genuinely like, you will feel good about supporting the artist, as well as your decision to treat yourself to something that will outlast hype cycles. As applicable, go for the long term, and avoid the fatigue that comes with immediacy.
Embrace occasional indolence.
Please let me know what you are doing to maintain your energy levels!