Isolationist Manifesto

1    Visual art has been commodified. It is time to reclaim its integrity.

2    Worth is equivalised as monetary cost. It is determined by agents, dealers, investors, galleries and banks: (wo)men in suits blind to, or divorced from, their own personal creativity.

3    When ‘artists’ collude to support the markets, purchasing their own artworks or forming consortia to artificially shore up already artificially inflated prices, we must re-evaluate the state of art.

4    No-one can offer a definitive answer to the question, “What is art?”    Be your own answer.

5    Create this art in isolation. Your aim is to please no-one; not even, necessarily, yourself.

6    The art is in the thinking, the creativity, the imagination, the process. The art flows from you, into the product. A satisfactory end product, whilst pleasing, is not essential. Sometimes it is impossible.

7    The product can take any form that you choose. It may be paint, fabric, sand, water, cloud, void. Static or kinetic. Traditional or visionary. Ephemeral or enduring. Recorded, remembered or forgotten. The choice is yours, and if it is your choice, it is not for anyone else to say that you are wrong. If it manifests what you intended, or some element of that intention, it is right. If you enjoyed or were enriched by the creation process, it is right.

8     Isolationist art cannot be collected, or exhibited, or exchange hands for money, because the very intention of display or commerce introduces the observer effect, negating the purity of isolation.

9     Any product of isolationism later exhibited necessarily becomes overlap art.

10   Art intended from the outset for exhibition, sale or public display cannot be termed isolationist, because it is created in the expectation of external evaluation.

11   Isolationist art can provide the inspiration for further artworks. These artworks cannot be considered isolationist; they may or may not be termed ‘overlap’.

12   By creating isolationist art, you are returning to fundamental principles of creativity. A child given crayons does not ask, ‘Am I good enough?” or “What is my picture worth?”   Similarly, create for the thrill of creation, for your own enrichment, and for the art itself. Sometimes you will create simply because you must.

Gilly Collinson   10/02/10

Useful links: Who am I?  It doesn't matter: what matters is who you are.  But if you do want to know more about me, click here.  What makes art isolationist?  Can I collect isolationist art?  Can I be an isolationist artist?  See the FAQs here.