Art Under Empire: Io Asunder
The Art Under Empire series explores the importance of staying engaged with our artistic/creative endeavors in these precarious times, and why art matters now more than ever! Each featured radical creative answers the same ten questions about the intersection of art, politics and the personal, sharing insights on how and why they stick with it...and why you should, too.
1. Name, pronouns, location, creative medium
Io Asunder
them///they
east of the middle west USA
visual
2. Why is art important during times of political upheaval/community in crisis?
I’m not actually sure it is? The pen and the sword are of equal might, but timing is everything and now is not a time where we necessarily need more pens, y’know? Propaganda is absolutely a big part of struggle and it’s not UNimportant, but art is a vague thing. “Art” can mean dancing or comics or porn or gallery-based money laundering schemes for millionaire cannibals. If by “art” we literally mean arts and crafts with your friends type shit, that IS important. Making something, even (especially) if you’re not very good at it just to feel human is more important than ever.
I don’t think it’s news to anyone we are spinning our wheels on the American “left” and more creative, artistic approaches could be the way to new modes of thinking and attack. If the artist’s job is to make revolution irresistible, we’ve come to a point of diminishing returns with our current toolset. We’re pacified by deluge, not censorship. So, when I put yet another picture on the internet even if it says “FUCK ICE” or “be gay do crime” I don’t feel very powerful. When I go ruin a public place with my little pictures, I do. When I’m making an effigy or painting a banner with my friends, I do. When I hear of people dressing as Santa, throwing out beautifully designed leaflets and looting a grocery store for their local food banks I say “dat’s art baby!”
I don’t think we are gonna art our way out of this, but I hope people make way more art and think creatively here at the collapse of another empire.
3. What are you currently working on?
Feeding the free use propaganda dissemination monster. I’ve also been doing oil painting. Hopefully another comic and zine soon? Doing funny little stories, travel diaries and poems that’ll wind up going into zines or up on the Patreon.
4. What do you want to see more of from the art/creative world?
If you’re making good $ off political art, give some of the profit back to the struggle. Tithing. I want more tithing.
