“Artists” Piss Me Off and Tsubaki Appears in Newspapers. at Riuva : Research Institute for Unicultural Visual Arts

“Artists” Piss Me Off and Tsubaki Appears in Newspapers.

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Popularity: 17% [?] Published by tj_han May 2nd, 2008 in Anime Bloggers, Culture

I’m sure I’m not alone here when I say, "Fuck artists." Or more accurately, "Fuck people who introduce themselves as ‘artists’, especially on internet forums."

I once knew a guy who introduced himself in real life, with a "I’m an artist" in the most pompous and arrogant manner imaginable, obviously with the intent of making known all the others present were mere uncouth barbarians who do not appreciate true art. Or his art for that matter. Oh, by "once knew", I obviously mean "turn around straight away and ignored".

There is a strange fascination with "art" that allows people to get away with the weirdest and most unproductive shit in society. Look at useless sculptures taking up space along the road. Look at people wasting their lives away doing nothing but thinking they are oh so superior to others who actually work, all because they are "artists" and "you wouldn’t understand what we do anyway".

Btw, this post is in totally no relation to Tsubaki, proud owner of Anime Desho Desho, who was featured in a newspaper article today in the New Paper. That makes him the 3rd anime blogger from Singapore to feature prominently in a national newspaper for their sterling achievements. Of course, the first was me for being a key step in the promotion of Singapore-Japan diplomatic and cultural ties (lol) and the 2nd was Impz’ success at academics combined with watching rape hentai. Tsubaki, however, is in the newspaper for good reason, non-Japan related.

Tsubaki, aka Nicholas Anthony Lim (lol), at the age of 20, is the assistant director and associate producer for the new local 75 minute feature film, My Magic, which is about an alcoholic magician and his brave son. This sort of explains why his blog is dead but yeah, the director of the show, Eric Khoo, is quite famous here. According to Eric Khoo, Tsubaki "besides being creative, also has the technical skills which will get him far."

He has since been offered a permanent job in Eric’s own firm, Zhao Wei Productions. Haha, but too bad the guy needs to serve two years of the army now.

The above story highlights what is wrong with most self-proclaimed "artists". They refuse to work hard and still have some sort of elitist mentality, and delude themselves into thinking they are imbued with massive artistic talent, even though the only reason they are into that shit is because they were too lazy/stupid to have done decent in school and get a proper degree.

These are the same people who’ll insist a Mac is far better than a PC except they don’t know the differences besides the Apple logo. The same people who’ll circle jerk one another on websites like deviant art. The same people who’ll snidely ask for money from friends and relatives and then be all ungrateful when confronted with the question of why they aren’t bringing in the bacon. Oh, they’ll say "You don’t understand anything!"

So, well done Tsubaki, for breaking out of the "artist" stereotype and showing the wannabes what it takes to be a true artist. It’s a shame way too many sully the reputation of the "aspiring artist" brand.

Popularity: 17% [?]

32 Responses to ““Artists” Piss Me Off and Tsubaki Appears in Newspapers.”

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1 Owen S 144 comments May 2nd, 2008 at 3:14 am

I can’t help but get the impression that one of those aspiring artists punched you in the face today (with a forearm larger than your two thighs put together). RAAAAAAAAAAAAAGE.
2 The Sojourner 112 comments May 2nd, 2008 at 8:57 am

Nooooo!!! That is so wrooonnggg!!! Youuu dooo nnooot undeerstaaand theemm!!!
3 brandon 7 comments May 2nd, 2008 at 11:05 am

wow i did not know u spoke japanese well. lets chat in japanese~

how the heck did u end up talking to the minister of education anyway. what programme was that.
4 tj_han 1436 comments May 2nd, 2008 at 1:34 pm

Man, those were the days. Like 7 years ago. It was the MOE 3rd language Japan exchange programme to Hamamatsu actually. The first week we had to go around all these official places and make visits/speeches.

I wouldn’t say I spoke well, more like memorised the speech completely. In any case, due to lack of practice, my spoken Jap is pretty terrible though my listening is awesome no thanks to anime and music.
5 Hexlord 29 comments May 2nd, 2008 at 1:47 pm

Congrats to Tsubaki for his achievements ^^
6 MistaYoH 41 comments May 2nd, 2008 at 2:19 pm

I wouldn’t call myself an artist yet. Rather a amateur artist. =)
7 double 115 comments May 2nd, 2008 at 3:48 pm

I think such idiots exist in all fields, not just among artists. It might so happen that the population of such people who are artists is higher than those in other fields.
8 bj0rN 153 comments May 2nd, 2008 at 4:34 pm

This is a common thing because the people who are doing things that most do not, thinks that they are superior.
9 Zakarum 3 comments May 2nd, 2008 at 8:10 pm

What’s wrong with introducing oneself as an artist? Being an artist doesn’t mean your not doing anything. And it’s true, most people don’t get the concepts of Contemporary Art, that’s a fact.
10 tj_han 1436 comments May 2nd, 2008 at 8:25 pm

Ah, finally we have one who bites.

You must be one of them. Do you see people who understand quantum mechanics going around claiming they are scientists and boasting that others don’t get it? No.

The majority of the so-called art concepts out there are easily accessible to anyone who bothers to go read through it. But most people don’t because they either have no interest or have better things to do, like work. So feeling smug about knowing subjective stuff just because others don’t care about it is pathetic to sad the least.
11 EdZ 10 comments May 2nd, 2008 at 8:45 pm

“Do you see people who understand quantum mechanics going around claiming they are scientists and boasting that others don’t get it? No.”
What if they actually are quantum physicists? If a guy who drives down to the LHC every day to peer into a cloud chamber can call himself a quantum physicist, why can’t a guy who drives down to the office every day to ink a manga/cartoon strip not call himself an artist. It’s still his job.

Of course, the little gits who post terrible fan-art on the internet and somehow expect people to throw praise and money at them are a different matter entirely.
12 tj_han 1436 comments May 2nd, 2008 at 8:59 pm

EdZ: You see the point well. Someone who can call himself an artist is someone who you just described. But chances are, they will not. Probably something more specific as the word has been tainted.

Those I have issues with are the latter group you also mentioned.
13 Tiny Red Man 149 comments May 2nd, 2008 at 9:20 pm

those artists that u described are most probably gay. they act gayishly, speak like they are of higher standards, speak in a language only fellow artists can understand…

Personally, I appreciate art as it makes me think about what the artist is trying to convey. after that, i feel like a manly artist, talking to fellow manly artist about the works that we just saw and exchange our ideas. And manly artists like us do not act like gay artists as i mentioned above..

oh..any idea when our army guy is getting enlisted?
14 Soshi 93 comments May 2nd, 2008 at 11:38 pm

Is it me or does Tiny Red Man seem homophobic?

One of my friend’s classmates wanted to do a photography exhibition on anuses. Now that’s art.
15 kokanaden 336 comments May 3rd, 2008 at 12:19 am

Well I am an aspiring political scientist.

So fuck all of you and the political views you all hold.
16 G.K. Sil Kamina 2 comments May 3rd, 2008 at 12:35 am

I can doodle, but I don’t really consider myself an “artist”. I was going to become one. I had big plans to go to one of the nice local art schools, but then I took high school portfolio class. It had a few of those high and mighty artsy types. The way the teacher obsessed over them only gave them more reason to act that way.

I could barely last a semester with a handful of those guys. There was no way I was going to make it through a two-to-four year school with an army of them. I guess I’m not really cut out for the art world.
17 G-Man 52 comments May 3rd, 2008 at 2:32 am

As an Artist, I have to staunchly disagree. Superiority complexes are not the reserve of artist alone, they are the hallmark of all humans who have something to brag about- musicians, actors, anime fans, artist, scientist, theologians, etc. And concerning time wasting and being lazy, how does one actually quantify that? Who establishes what a real job or work is? I believe the most laborious task in the world is that of thinking, and much of what we recognize as real work, doesn’t require any real thinking. How can I say this? I used to work in wall street and I can say with confidence that if you think finance, investments or the corporate world is real work, then you’ve only scratch the surfaced to what’s really going on and have no real idea how the finance world works. Sure a lot of artist are flakes and bums, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t really truly attempting to accomplish something. In history do you know how many artist were basically bums? Renoir, Monet, Frédéric Bazille, Vincent Van Gogh, Mozart, etc.. That’s nothing, even Socartes and Albert Einstein were bums! Truly talented people really shouldn’t be bothered by the mundane redundancy of a “real” job and be left to use their gifted minds. The only problem is when those with no talent falsify their claims to creativity in order to simply be slothful and lazy. How do you separate those who are truly creative and are bums because they are distracted by mental pursuits, from those who are just making it up and don’t want to do any work..mental or otherwise.

Thus saith G-man!
18 The Sojourner 112 comments May 3rd, 2008 at 3:03 am

The peeps are Riuva are exceptionally anGARy this week. lol

I think this air of superiority that these people give, which I think we all are guilty of as well, is normally the result of them (and us) retorting at challenges directed towards the roles and responsibilities which are expected from them in society. Unable to comprehend the circumstances that constitute the views of others, we tend to resort to such easy way-outs to justify our existence like ‘you suck since you do not get it’. Personally it seems like a lack of understanding or empathy from both sides that is in the root of this issue. The artist for example does not understand why would society perceive them in such a while and vice versa.

Of course, real bums *w00ts for my judgement!* simply make the matter worse.
19 Tsubaki 517 comments May 3rd, 2008 at 3:17 am

Eh wow, I’m featured on RIUVA!

Thanks, but I don’t consider myself an artist.
20 The P-Meister 5 comments May 3rd, 2008 at 8:57 am

Hmm… nobody understands me…. (am i waiting to get bashed?) just kidding… haha..

some people can’t understand why otakus spend a lot of money on anime merchandises… you get my point…
21 Nano 79 comments May 3rd, 2008 at 1:02 pm

When I first saw this post, I thought I saw ” Piss me off and Tsubaki appears in the newspaper”
22 Zakarum 3 comments May 3rd, 2008 at 7:42 pm

tj_han, I think you didn’t get my post:
Picasso for sure would tell you that he’s an artist, so would Renoir, Monet. Andy Warhol and many others. Saying “I’m an artist” doesn’t mean one is boasting. Sure, there are many people who call themselves artist who aren’t, but there are those who actually are and don’t feel ashamed to admit it.

As I was still in design-school I hated Contemporary Art, because it wasn’t pleasing to the eye, it was more of a intellectual thing, there was no “feeling” to it. So, if someone who isn’t in art school sees a artwork like this, he won’t get it. To get it, he has to read lots uf stuff beforehand to truly understand the concept. One can see the beauty in a Van Gogh painting without understanding the contexts, but one can’t really understand Malevitch’s Black square on white grounf without knowing something about his approach to art.
23 kokanaden 336 comments May 4th, 2008 at 12:40 pm

@Zakarum Which means you didn’t get his drift. He wasn’t just plainly referring to those who call themselves “artists”, he was referring to those who claimed they were “artists” in a certain way.

What the fuck is wrong with people and their comprehension these days?
24 Zakarum 3 comments May 4th, 2008 at 8:52 pm

So you’ll excuse my lacking skills in the english language, which isn’t my mother tongue. As I was reading his post, I was like “wtf is his problem?!” and I felt like giving my opinion on the matter.
25 exaltdragon 162 comments May 11th, 2008 at 6:19 pm

Saying “I am an Artist!” is about as valid as saying “I am a Lawyer!” or “I am a Baron!” or something like that. There’s really nothing wrong unless you are trying to one-up yourself.
26 The Overlord 1 comment May 20th, 2008 at 9:47 pm

So you don’t like artists, what do you want me to do, break out my violin and play you a tune? I agree, there’s pompous artists out there, but as an artist, I don’t happen to like them either.

When you say art ‘allows people to get away with the weirdest and most unproductive shit in society’, you perfectly describe most of society, not art. You describe politics too, and general life and politics are full of pompous assholes, what’s your point? Most people are unproductive cattle, if you say seeing sculptures along the road piss you off, you’ve just made the case that you don’t understand, and painfully so.

So you want to define that standards of art simply by things that happen to agree or disagree with you? Progressive artists do often piss people off, but not in the matter that you’re thinking, but you can be damn sure that your ’standards’ mean nothing to them. Want to be pissed off by them? Fine, feel free, and likewise feel free to piss off.
27 Fychan 1 comment Nov 2nd, 2008 at 1:14 am

Well, truth is, I don’t know how is the situation like in Singapore, but I can speak for my country and I think it might be quite similar.

Thing is, since Duchamp said “anything can be art” or Joseph Beuys said “anyone can be an artist”, “artists” like that began to appear. They misunderstood the message. While they where trying to say “anything can be beautuful, anyone can see the true beauty in anything”(well, for Beuys, anyway) people really thought they could call anything art.

But if society buys this bullshit, it’s not their fault. There will always be Todd Goldmans or Romero Brittos, but if they will be famous and rich is society who chooses.
28 inwakeshani 1 comment Dec 19th, 2008 at 1:13 pm

Hi all!

As newly registered user i just want to say hi to everyone else who uses this bbs
29 TidsTwers 1 comment Jan 7th, 2009 at 7:02 am

What is bumburbia?
30 nuratursirm 1 comment Apr 19th, 2009 at 5:30 am

Hey, just i just wanted to remind, tha global I4oTuFskPCc4 is near.
31 francois 1 comment May 16th, 2009 at 11:01 am

not all artists are pretentious, it depends on the person ect. There are however alot of artists who think they are better than others because they have a fine arts degree , and thats bullshit

1 I’m on teh newspapers! « Anime Desho Desho? Pingback on May 3rd, 2008 at 3:39 am

Do not use any < and > for your own sake. It will end the comment there and then. Also, there is an automatic IQ filter which weeds out comments made by those who accidentally got transported from the stone age.

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