Aesthetics 301: Self-Expression is Overrated

Part of the "Crypto/Web3 Aesthetics Series"

Aesthetics 201 for Art Collectors in Crypto/Web3

Aesthetics 101 for Art Collectors in Crypto/Web3

As someone who identifies strongly as a musician and artist, people might find it odd that I generally don't aim for self-expression in my works. It's not that I don't have feelings but that's something I deal with IRL, not in my art. I see the time I spend on my creative projects as a refuge from my own existence, in a way. (And we all need that from time to time, let's face it.)

Over time I've found that this mentality is actually fairly unusual in today's environment where people think self-expression is the only way to make art; but it is actually something that used to be a lot more common. Using paintings as an example, there's a difference between artists who paint pure landscapes (the subject matter is about that environment over there) vs those who paint about how they're feeling or an expression of their experiences/history - the latter is the dominant style now, but historically speaking it's actually a fairly recent phenomenon to happen to society as a whole. (Starts around the Romantic eras in the 19th centuries - then popularized later during the modern eras in the 20th).

In the past, artists were only allowed to paint about things other than themselves - pictures, portraits of powerful people, religious symbolism (for the glory of the gods) - they were seen more as "crafts workers" - akin to a camera or audio recorder of sorts - of things that were already there or happening. Most of them (even the ones we would remember as the "greats") were basically employees of certain institutions that happened to stay around...which allowed for their works to get preserved over time.

The modern artist basically said "screw that" and attempted to "make it" on their own - which began the trend of the public starting to think of artist and creatives as entrepreneurs - something that still continues to this day. And is, by far, the much more popular "take" on what it means to be a creative in today's day and age. But the "employee" artists are still around - working for big companies and bigger projects (films, video games, TV, etc.), that tends to be a much more "stable" existence than the self-employed approach that celebrity types tend to do. (And you do have to achieve that status of a celebrity if you want any sort of chances of long-term survival.)

It's not that one way is better than the other (one side gets less attention but has a much more stable source of income and visa versa), but that it's important for artists to understand all possible options - not just in terms of careers, but also aesthetically, also. The more awareness and control you have over your artistic intent the more powerful your works will be, after all.

Self-Expression in Web3/NFTs

Some people think the above might be a "OK Boomer" take (I'm onto you, Gen Z 🤣) but it's actually not. As a Xennial (Gen X-Millennial hybrid) my issue with Boomers is that they are too emotionally-driven - probably because most of them grew up during a time where self-expression was just starting to get popularized; as they started aging and assumed positions of power they also started promoting that nostalgia onto the younger generations as a whole. The result of that is that we have attention hungry, personality driven Millennials running everything now - or the perception that they are, anyway.

Do the Boomers hate Millennials? As individuals? In most cases, probably no. As a group? Probably yes - especially politically speaking. But "hate" is a complex word - despite the disdain both generations have of each other (that shows up in the media all the time), the Boomers seem perfectly willing to let the Millennials run things, at least when it comes to startups and tech. Combined with a decade long 0 interest rate of EZ loans and short-term thinking, we basically have a neo-Gilded age of sorts - where startup funding is akin to the Boomers throwing more money at their trust fund kids and being perpetually disappointed. (That fine line between love and hate, really.)

Does it make any sense? No. But it is a perfectly dysfunctional way to run a society and explains a lot of the bizarre behaviors from institutional organizations in the last few years - especially one that claims its "progressiveness" in its advanced forms of technology. We can't solve all of society's ills here, but we might be able to make some sense of what's happening in Web3 and NFTs right now, since its smaller size actually makes it easier to sway the impact and outcomes in the long-term.

With this lens in mind, where does Web3 fall into this spectrum? It's sort of interesting to look at NFTs in this light because the realization is that there is an internal tension inside of the ecosystem itself that is just begging for a resolution right now. To the point: the "promises" of Web3 tends to be in favor of more stability (accountability, transparency, product-driven), but the self-expression culture of Web2 still persists (unilateral decision-making, celeb culture, personality-driven) and has yet to catch up. It will - eventually - though.

You have to keep in mind that Satoshi created Bitcoin out of a reaction to what was happening during the 2008 crisis - it is a direct counter to everything talked about above. As we head into a recession and more Boomers start to retire during their self-proclaimed "Great Resignation" (they really do love their drama) -- we're likely to see a shift in leadership style - which will also shift the types of aesthetics that the people themselves value. It's not that self-expression is inherently a bad thing - but that the pendulum has swung too far in one direction and it is about to "correct" itself, at the same time the markets will "correct" itself, as well. These things tend to happen all at once rather than one at a time for our convenience, unfortunately.

I'd like to avoid talking about specific projects here, but instead I ask the reader to take a closer look at the NFTs being sold, promoted, and talked about right now. Which works are attempting to create order? Which are trying to create chaos? Which are trying to express an idea? Which are trying to express an emotion? That, combined with the upcoming changes above (which are inevitable, btw), might give an idea of how much the work might be "worth" over the next generations to come.