Art Fried
darte's oblique take on contemporary art: stories, encounters and visual short circuits.
FeaturedAI isn’t the problem. It’s showing us how predictable we are.
AI isn’t just learning how to make images. It’s learning how easily it can imitate what we call style.
Art is no longer competing only with art
An artwork now has to survive in the same world as fashion campaigns, music videos, memes, cinema, design and images generated in seconds.
Why does everyone want to look like they don’t care?
We turned not caring into a performance. It takes an extraordinary amount of effort.
We stopped buying objects. We buy signals.
A bag, a chair, a painting, a hotel. The real product is often what they say about us.
The world is full of codes. We just don’t call them that.
Clothes, restaurants, neighbourhoods, words, artworks, hotels: we spend all day decoding signals and call it taste.
Instagram killed bad taste. And that might be a problem.
We’ve never been this good at having good taste. Unfortunately, we’re all getting good at it in exactly the same way.
If a child stops and stares, it works.
First comes the look. Everything else comes later.
Everyone wants to be iconic too soon
Before we have anything to say, we already want to be recognisable.
The problem with good taste is that everyone has it now
When everyone learns the same codes, taste stops distinguishing people and starts making them look alike.
Fried is bad for you. That’s why you want more.
This is not a wellness column. It’s art, culture, money, taste and bad ideas served hot enough to be irresistible.
Being selected still matters
In a world where everyone can publish everything, someone saying “this one” starts to matter again.
Another line on your CV does matter
Careers are built this way too: one exhibition, one city, one selection, one line at a time.
Less is less
We turned minimalism into a religion of good taste. Sometimes an empty room is just an empty room.
The commercial artist drives past the conceptual artist in a Bentley
One sold too much. The other understood everything. Guess who’s looking for parking outside Art Basel.
Why do all artists’ studios suddenly look the same?
The studio was supposed to be the artist’s most private space. Then it became a set.
When did ugly become expensive?
Luxury spent decades trying to look beautiful. Then it discovered that looking strange was far more useful.
Waiting to be discovered is a terrible career plan
The romantic myth says you work quietly until someone important knocks on the studio door. Beautiful story. Terrible strategy.
The problem isn’t paying. It’s not knowing what you’re paying for.
The art world loves debating fees. It spends far less time discussing what those fees are actually meant to produce.
Artists don’t need more exposure
Being seen by everyone means very little if nobody knows where to place you.
Do artists still need galleries?
Artists can now sell, communicate and build an audience on their own. Which is exactly why galleries still matter.
The most dangerous moment is when everyone knows exactly what you do
Success has a problem: sooner or later, it starts asking you to look like yourself.