… tools of cultural defiance

The point is that the creative artist does not work in a cultural vacuum, nor usually in a culturally benign space. The creative artist works in opposition to the given environment; we live in conflict, in open warfare, with the tangible world we must live in. How we accommodate, how we buckle under or openly revolt or quietly subvert … these are the various guiles and styles we use. But the essential point is: We live in opposition to the given.

On page 48 in our book Finishing School: … Danelle Morton and I make the point that, at least in the wealthy, consumer-oriented West, one mammoth evil we must fight, elude, or accommodate, is the omnipresent marketing machine.