On Art & Money

Is it really moral to sell art? To vigorously complain about the takeover of AI stealing art's soul, proclaiming that art is the most important human expression, and yet... being mad that you're losing a job.

I get that you want to live a life of doing what you love, and to succeed in that, you need to earn money somehow. But on the other hand, is it really what you love if it only exists to pay the bills? Aren't you being a little hypocritical?

Plus, a lot of people also support piracy while being pro-artists-having-jobs, which I don't understand, because if everyone pirated then the companies would have to fire all of their staff. Make ya mind up.

Art is, fundamentally, in opposition to the competitive nature of capitalism - squashing others to succeed, thriving on an under-class of the exploited. I don't want to make money as an artist anymore, because I don't want to kill people by succeeding in this world. I'm paralysed by my inability to act here, and yet, I can't stand to act, because I don't want my art to only exist as "a way to buy a fancy car" with no real heart. I don't want to ruin my art by simply creating it for the sake of "well, I have no other talents."

But then again, without art jobs, what good jobs even ARE there for someone like me..? If I have to pick something that actively harms others, then I'd rather not have any job at all. And don't get me wrong - I theoretically do want to "contribute to society" or something (at least on a logical level, perhaps not emotionally)... But it's not "contributing to society" if all you're doing is scrambling to do anything that gets you to the next grocery shopping trip.

Selling art, or anything intangible... Aren't you just restricting your media from poorer people, and oppressing them in the hopes of being just a little above them and not dying too? We fight on the ground for the scraps of money while the billionares say "ha ha ha I sure love investment" (or whatever else billionaires say, idk, I'm not one of them).

I aknowledge that this is a scorching-hot take, and will probably be amending it in the future. This page is basically just my philosophical questions until I can figure something else out. Feel free to debate me on Discord, I guess. Unless you really think I'm that unpleasant. 😢