WHAT RELEASING ART MEANS What exactly am I releasing when I release art work? The things I’ve made as a person who makes art. I am interested in art, and as part of that interest, I make art. I have ideas for art I want to see, art I haven’t seen anywhere before, and so I make the art I want to see. And then I release that art so others can see it too. It’s interesting regarding confidence in ones art - I make things I want to see, right? Why would someone ever tell me that anything I’ve made is “bad”. Are they saying that they don’t want to see what I’ve made? Okay, so don’t look! Or are they saying that what I made shouldn’t exist in the world? When someone discourages someone from making something, what is the motivation behind the discouraging? Is it to limit people’s exposure to it? The person discouraging is promoting their own taste, and as part of this promoting, they are limiting the spread of art they don’t like. So what, so there is more room for art they do like? And if the person discouraging also makes art, are they then making more room for their own work? This is a terrible approach to art. Everything should be made because the making of art is people’s manifesting what they want to see. Whether something they make has been done before or not, whether we, the audience, like it or not, is irrelevant - for them. We have a choice to look at this person’s art or not, to be friends with them or not. It’s that simple. People who want to get paid for people seeing their art, well that’s a commodification of art making, that’s casting an art object or performance as a product. That’s fine too. But making your art a product and putting a price tag on it is not at all necessary to start making or keep making art. Yes, there are people who will want the filter of commodification in order to pay attention to your art, and that’s fine. They want to only be around art that is worth money because there is glamour in sought after, expensive things (not to mention profit!). But that entire world, the world of art as commodity, is wholly unnecessary, and a person who makes art can share it any way they like, including for free. Promoting ones art, getting more people to see it, more eyes on the art, is a thing people can wish for and work towards. If ultimately it makes you happier to have more people rather than fewer people experience your art, that’s great. It’s simply a matter of how much time you wish to spend promoting yourself versus exploring your taste and making new art. Of course if your art becomes monetarily valuable then people will come running to do the job of promoting your art for you. Your art becomes a business, a money pie which others will want a piece of. I make and share my art not because “the world needs to see this”, but because I want to see this and here you go world, you can see it too. I find it most liberating and fun to follow the thread of my artistic taste development wherever it takes me. I don’t care if other people don’t love the stuff I love. I love the stuff I love. I love my movies, I love my photos, I love my lofi jams. I feel happy when I make things to my particular taste, and I feel confident in sharing my work because I don’t mind if people don’t like it. Some people like it. My work inspires some people. What else is there? 2021 take me home!