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Kill Them With Paint
The AnarchArtist Manifesto
first draft, 29 October 1995
First off: these are not laws. Or rules. Merely guidelines, and even more merely, they're my guidelines. The truth of the matter is, anyone can call themselves an AnarchArtist, and anyone can define AnarchArtist principles if they care to.
In fact, if you think you might be an AnarchArtist, then define your own principles. The only thing all AnarchArtists share is the name, although I'd like to think that the first two principles, at least, are common to all.
- Creation is the main thing. Create something out of nothing today.
- Entertainment is the next thing. Don't worry about whether or not you are entertaining others; if you're having fun, chances are they will be as well. If they're not, then too bad. (sheer unexpected creativity is usually inherently entertaining, simply because there's suddenly something there where there was nothing before).
- Don't fall into the trap of creating things designed to appeal to the masses; the smaller the audience, the better. Microtheatre - plays involving anything up to thirty people, performed for the benefit of one random stranger on the street - is ideal. Rather than creating one thing that appeals to one thousand people, create two hundred separate things that appeal to groups of about five people. See Samuel R Delany's Triton for more details on this.
- Try not to damage anything else in the process of creation. Unless it's unavoidable, in which case jump in with both feet.
"I am become death, the destroyer of marriages."
- J Robert Oppenheimer, discovered in bed with someone else's wife.
- If writing music is what you like doing, then do it. If you carve polystyrene, then carve; however, working in a medium you aren't familiar with can bring interesting results.
- Obscurity can be fun, but treat it like seasoning; too much can make your work unpalatable.
"Who's a pretty omen then? Aaaaaaark."
- the four budgies of the apocalypse
- The same thing applies for seriousness.
- Try not to differentiate or discriminate between accepted concepts such as 'decent', 'cute', 'safe', 'politically correct, 'high-brow' and 'low-brow'.
"There is no highbrow. There is no lowbrow. All artforms are valid. 'The Simpsons' is as appropriate a form of critique as 'Three Colours Blue'. Live. Love. Fuck. Die."
- Richard Watts
"Always... always remember. Less is Less. More is More. More is better, and twice as much is good too... not enough is bad and too much is never enough except when it's just about right."
- The Tick
- Never explain your work unless it seems that doing so will obscure your motives even further.
- The Starving Artist In the Garret pose may seem like a cool image, but if you have more resources, you can make more mistakes and therefore progress faster. Take as much money as you can get. The ideal pattern is to create something new, let the commercial concerns exploit it long enough to finance your next project, then move on. Antonio Gaudi had the right idea.
Prolog
by Einstuerzende Neubauten
from the album Haus Der Luege
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Meint ihr nicht:
wir koennten unterschreiben auf dass uns ein bis zwei prozent gehoeren und tausende uns hoerig sind
Meint ihr nicht:
wir koennten uns in aether braten lassen und bis zum letzten tropfen im verpackungshandel fronen
Wir koennten, aber -
Meint ihr nicht:
wir koennten unsere zuege zigtausendfach, in falschen farben - weltbewegend scheinen lassen
Meint ihr nicht:
wir koennten uns vergolden auf vierzig sprossen fuer unters volk gebrachte massen - viele monde thronen
Wir koennten, aber-
Meint ihr nicht:
wir koennten es signieren veilleicht sogar auch resignieren und dieses land gleich eintagsfliegen- nur noch auf und ab und ab und auf bespielen um spaeter dann zurueckzukehren ganz aufgedunsen laengst vergessen nur noch kleine kreise ziehen
Wir koennten, aber -
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Don't you think:
that we could sign so to us just one to two percent belong and thousands will throng around us
Don't you think:
we could bast ourselves in ether and to the last drops of our beings by the packaging be cloned
We could, but -
Don't you think:
that we could make our images appear a thousand-fold, in false colours -
earth-shattering
Don't you think:
we could gild ourselves on forty rungs for the unsung common folk en masse - be many moons enthroned
We could, but -
Don't you think:
we could sign even resign our minds and in this land like nine day wonders - play up and down and back and forth to return later on completely stewed long forgotten just turning in ever-decreasing circles
We could, but -
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Reference works you may care to try and find:
- The Lowbrow Art of Robert Williams Rip Off Press PO Box 4686 Auburn, California 95604
- Contains much on the dichotomy between Artificer, Artisan and Artist, as well as detailed and pains-taking artwork in pen and oils.
See also:
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