time to talk a about what the kind of performance that took place when http://gov.sg  responded the way they did regarding the vanguard

firstly, here are some original artworks by Band of Doodlers & they are infinitely better compared to what was published

on their ig i cant exactly find backstories of these characters but through their drawings i read them as artists really wanting to connect with a mainstream audience seeing how they modelled their characters after more prominent, existing ones

whats worth noting is that Band of Doodlers ascribed #drawtogether as part of their endeavour of which i found out (and correct me if im wrong) relates to this recent gesture initiated by illustrator Wendy MacNaughton

https://www.axios.com/wendy-macnaughton-instagram-coronavirus-034b398f-9bdc-49f1-afa1-f966bb9d7019.html

i read this as something isolated from state-led initiatives, of artists genuinely reaching out, after which attracted the attention of folks from http://gov.sg  and they probably received a commission

i can only imagine the horrors the artists went thru from here on

am not suggesting that all working relationships with state bodies are horrors, but come on, the output between what they did & whats published via http://gov.sg ..?

kinda speaks for itself

the sterility is uncanny, much like the kind of rap music the state enjoys

what @gweezilla pointed out here is important, for public to discern & be informed of where / how the (ha ha) lines are drawn

its curious why artists werent identified when work was published, not to mention who wrote the stories that came with it

https://twitter.com/gweezilla/status/1252406258553851905?s=21 https://twitter.com/gweezilla/status/1252406258553851905

there’re invisible hands at play but what i felt was fascinating is that the actual superheroes existed on another parallel universe, not the one conceived / designed by http://gov.sg 

this is where things got quite exciting for me, how multidimensional realities exist

look at the detail given to Buster’s mallet, the design of an anti-Pinocchio is weathered off in this Deadpool-esque rendering of Buster

this fuzzying of detail is what makes the work of artists in a state-dimension weak, the voice has a cutoff filter that weakens a reality

which is perhaps unsurprising that maybe Band of Doodlers wanted to distance themselves from this campaign and content, its quite detached from the world they were building and i dont blame them, i rather Alan Smithee a work that i’m not proud of and have no control over

artists have a long history of being attached to power and control, canons exist because authorities decide what gets remembered and what is forgotten / left out

this incident is interesting because even when the state decides on its legitimacy, a public decries and condemns it

the worlds / realities built by Band of Doodlers is void of backstories, weaknesses and powers, the’re characters which we draw our own readings / imaginings onto, and i feel a lot of what #drawtogether is is to be able to connect multiple realities thru this virtual dimension

when artists get co-opted like this, important elements and values of what artists strive for gets lost and muddied, what we’ve witnessed is the joy, energy and dynamism of artists getting watered down to a crappy mess of, wait for it, clean fun

i think that the if state is serious about working with artists, TRUST YOUR ARTISTS

our works & lives may occupy & reside on another dimension / reality, but it does not mean we need to be violently tugged to an arbitrary, sterile world to connect to an audience

omg sorry for the massive amount of typos and grammar blunders

but i know you know what i mean