Unquiet
Things

I am both an appreciator of the arts as well as a patron of the arts when possible, and I realize it takes no small amount of privilege to say this, but when I am able, I do put my money where my mouth is. To me, there are few things more important than supporting the creators who toil to create the work I love.

(Of course, this is up there with making donations to the organizations that do work toward the causes that are important to you, and paying your bills. This is where I am preemptively qualifying my statement for people who might want to yell at me for suggesting that in the face of the injustices and outrages that we are dealing with, the purchase of art is a frivolity at best, or somehow a slap in the face of things that actually need our dollars …and this is a lengthy aside but I live in perpetual fear of people hollering at me and shaming me, publicly. I harbor a lot of trauma related to these feelings. Real-life, meatsuit childhood and young adult trauma, as opposed to internet stuff. Which can also be scary. Both things are true. But you know how it is when you’re triggered and time stops and you can’t breathe and your face feels like a boiling hot Hot HOT tomato that might explode. But OK.)

ANYWAY. Art is NOT frivolous. I console myself with art lately, nearly drowning myself in it. A funny way to say that its beauty buoys me, it’s the life vessel that saves me from going under. I can always breathe easier and hope for better things when I look at something beautiful. It keeps me safe. And sane. Or at least the illusion of these things. And I’ll take that. Sometimes it’s the best we’ve got.

So yes, I do spring for original pieces when I can! When I can’t, prints are awesome too. So are postcards and stickers and bookmarks! In working within your means and meeting artists where they are at, you can curate a mind-blowing collection that knocks your buns all wobbly whenever you look at it. And sometimes, if you’re lucky, the artists will permit you to use the pieces on your wall in the book that you have just written.

Many thanks to David Seidman, Becky Munich, and Adam Burke. The Art of Darkness is available for preorder now and will be released into this world on September 6, 2022.