EL MANIFIESTO REVOLUCIONARIO DE WICASTA LOVELACE DE LA MANCHA
Artists exist to create art. It's part of their being, as natural as breathing, as essential as food and water. As well, I believe it is the very purpose of an artist to reject convention. It's why artists exist. Artistic expression is, in itself, a revolutionary act. Artists, by their nature, question the status quo and, through their art, challenge it.

Fascist regimes first clamp down upon the free expression of ideas. The world takes not when fascist regimes shut down the presses, stifling the voices of journalists. But the suppression of musicians, writers and painters is somehow less note-worthy, in spite of the fact that it is much more common, and much more diabolical. Fascist regimes understand how dangerous the imagination can be. By controlling journalists they regulate the flow of imformation and misrepresent the common reality of the country. But by controlling artists they gain control over the way people think, the way they feel, the way the conceptualize the world around them. Perhaps through journalists they control the intellect of the people, but through artists they control their souls.

Capitalism is not necessarily the obvious counter to fascist regimes' suppression of artistic expression. Capitalism makes the free exchange of ideas possible in ways that other political structures cannot, but it also undermines that freedom by placing an economic value upon IDEAS. The artists have a choice. Co-operate with their economic masters and willingly enter into a state of economic slavery (in which corporate entities derive the most benefit from their labor), or remain free but obscure (and starving). Sell your soul for profit or keep your soul and never be heard from. This monetary value influences art because artists think most about what might be commercially viable. Artists create commercial works and try to inject their artistry into it, rather than creating art of art's sake.

I am an American. Therefore I live in a capitalist society. As an artist, I've struggled against this my whole life. I've stood at art shows and watched people regard my works with distaste for no other reason than that I've expected compensation. I've created popular portraits on commission, only to have those commissions disappear when I started asking a fair price of people who expected to pay an hour's wage for a day's work. People who would rather cancel the commission of an original work of art, a portrait of a family member, and go to the local mall to purchase a hunk of plastic from China, than give the artist the opportunity to put bread upon his table.

Artists are expected to remain poor. Non-artists consider it a virtue. When defending the illegal downloading of music from the Internet (often stating "music should be free"), people of consdierable means have said that a musician can still earn a living from live performances. This says to me "I will steal the product of your efforts as I see fit, but I will toss you a few coins if you come dance for me".
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