#“modern art isnt art” “abstract art isnt art” “what is art?” ill tell you what its not

[taw-k]

High-key sick of seeing ai Loki "art"

[maeborowski]

@catball sure! or well i can try anyways, but fair warning im by no means an intellectual wrt art history or even furry culture rly so take this more as me thinking out loud lol

i suppose its similar to any genre/movement/aesthetic/whatever thats prefixed with a "post-," in that it retains the characteristic qualities of the niche it spawns from, while ditching the limitations of the recognizable convention. of course, which traits are deemed "characteristic" and which ones are "limitations" is a completely subjective distinction, but ill try to explain what some examples look like to me the first time i heard the term referenced was in this post by scribblechicken, which i came across after seeing this post by the same artist. warning for slight nsfw i suppose. at a glance, its a silly gag recontextualizing something horny into a practical inconvenience, but i also find it interesting that the gag here, can really only be made within the context of the greater convention within furry art. a sexy anthropomorphized airplane, is an absurd subject, yet one thats become commonplace as a "furry" concept. in a piece like this, the absurdity isnt in the subject itself, but the recognizably of it, the fact that it is an icon to be familiar with. i feel the typical furry perspective on the subject could be described as "an admiration for form," to whichever end that serves, but this imo shifts that lens, into an absurdist one, a loving recognition of familiarity to the unfamiliar

another artist id put in this category, at least at times, is unibrawn, particularly thinking about this work. there is a furry character present, but they're buried in abstract expressionism, almost to the point of having to search to find them. this is far from the "traditional" structure of furry art, to place the character in some way that the viewer is immediately drawn to them. yet still, i find it a celebration of furry design, as my eyes are drawn most strongly to the expression, a "cartoony" face being the lighthouse in a sea of texture.

one last example is qsfocus / qs75834 on twitter, particularly this piece. a complete inversion of the positive/negative space of a standard furry pic. in fact, there is no "star" of this pic, no likeness to view. the swirlings of tail and paw serve to suggest and imply a furry setting, yet all remain hidden within each other. the setting carries the familiarity, but the piece leaves you feeling its loneliness, with only glimpses in your periphery.

now, i dont wanna put words in mouths. i really have no idea if these readings are correct whatsoever, or even if these artists identify with "furry" "postfurry" labels beyond whats stated. but i cant deny a certain aesthetic intuition i get for these types of pictures, that goes beyond just an "esoteric art style" or whatever, i see a difference in intention! (and, notably, i see antithesis of that in other particular pieces by the same artists, that feel more overtly "furry"). at the end of the day its a new label ive only seen some people toss around, maybe its the beginnings of a niche recognition, maybe it blows over. maybe

what i found interesting in the context of my original post, was how, trying to find meaning in the concept of "post-furry" made me reevaluate how i view, furry. it was never smth i really saw as an "art movement" in and of itself, but it feels hard to deny when i consider it. there seems to be a cohesive framework of particular types of visages, and how they're consumed. and this differs from simply having animal features in an art piece, jokes aside, we can tell the difference between a modern furry pic and just an anthropomorphic animal in art. and these conventions are interesting! the way things like anthro planes, pooltoys, open species, niche kink, or even just particular art styles become sorta become "canonized" as icons is neat. the way that the art is seemingly presented to be consumed, gazed at for its model. to illicit certain feelings! and to take these icons, these feelings, these conventions, and stick them into other environments, or to see how they fare without their typical substance, is so cool! to branch them out from one niche community that has grown to recognize them as normality, and carry that normality into broader artistic recognition feels like something that warrants the donning of "post-furry"

post-furry is actually an incredibly interesting thing to think about from an art movement perspective

[siirkaian]

im also thinking about having the one i still havent fucking named yet. their reincarnation on earth’s name is crystal. not actually die after they kill their higher up in his sleep bc liike......... SOMEONE meets them there and if its stardust............ stardust meets crystal as crystal and saves them from something on Earth and crystal is............. very much hmm. awake. they see into Earth in abstract ways (idk whats with the doors but when barren tries to enter their mind theyve got a huge hallway full of doors and lights that switch off when they come after barren like. as if theyre like office lights but they dont really understand) and like.............................................. where im at atm is that if stardust goes with whoever to that higher ups room, sees (crystal) has already killed them, and (c) is ready to die, they will probably ask stardust about that?? They probably wont understand what exactly happened bc like......... thats like someone from fucking ancient rome seeing visions of modern america its not.............. going to be digestible unless its slightly abstract........................ but im sure something as fucking monumental as seeing an angelic spirit literally manifest in light in front of you here on Earth is something that’’ make an impression on your soul................. and (c)/crystal are fucking good at what they do. i want them to ask about it. and since stardust, who goes between worlds consciously, is going to fucking know who crystal is and recognise that they and barren (stardust’s grandchild) have a lot in common........... theres no fucking way he’d let them jump out that window if they started questioning things, and they would have so many questions having realised that. ugh. basically - 

(c) is brought up as a servant to fill the hole that barren left behind when barren was basically kicked out. Barrens excellent at receiving visions and shit, (c)’s existence is basically ther higher ups finding out the limits of the demos mind in psychism and pushing them

(c) sees a lot of shit and knows theyre good at what they do, but their higher ups dont want to see them exploring other worlds. they therefore have a lot of uncertainties about their abilities and how Sane they fucking are because of the gaslighting

(c) gets to know barren secondhandedly as they start making an impact on the world, fucking up some plans and shit. (c) doesnt like them at first but starts to realise......... theres more to this life than just following orders out of fear. things can be different no matter how scary that is. seeds are planted

(c) ends up doing the mindwalking thing with barren (where they enter someone elses mind, a rare art that currently only barren and they know, and stardust is kinda taught by the god Moonshine) and realises theyve gone through similar trauma w the same higher ups................ seeds beginning to sprout 

(c) finally fucking snaps and ends up killing one of their higher ups in their sleep bc look. the worlds out to get barren and they can do one little thing.......... they dont have to be right, because they plan to kill themselves right after doing it, tired of being abused and of what the higher ups are doing.................. the main characters and they converge at this point

if stardust is there.................. then im SURE since (c) is literally on the fucking edge that they can finally ask like. they have suspicions that stardust is Sol bc they see a lot of fucking shit. but they wont ask that bc hes keeping quiet for a reason and if theyre right............................................... they ask if stardust was the one who saved them in The Other World (without being explicit beyond “did you save me”) and stardust is like.......... see............. left with this fucking decision and imt rying to decide what hed do. He knows the potency of that question - it means (c) knows about Earth. it means they dont know that they know earth. it means they will have a huge amount of questions and a boost to their self worth if he says yes............... but theyve just done something that will get them tortured and killed, theyre planning on dying for a reason. Does he say yes and give them back all their potential just before their death?? Or does he say no and disappoint them.............. because. oh i forgot to mention. (c) has a patron Higher Demos and considering Stardust is actually the fucking god-king of them its like................ (c) will find out after death the truth and this patron (or technically matron, i think ill make Mother their matron/guardian) will tell them why stardust lied but like..................... does he give this potential back when theyre really resoled for good reason to die (so they dont get tortured and then killed)? 

i was thinking of having stardust say yes, have them start waking up to themselves and realising theyve got so many questions and things they can finally talk about and “oh shit!! Wait if these things are real then holy shit, this world isnt everything there is and i think i understand” but. of course theres guards going around and they were supposed to do this super fast get in and get out so theyll probably get spotted............ im thinking about having stardust rescue them as they either get in trouble or go to finish it out of fear bc tbh...................... stardust speaks in actions more than words, not that he doesnt talk but after having taken part in the fucking war against siirka hes....... extremely conscious of the power he has over this life and the impact his actions have on everyone, but i think. him dropping that and reacting instinctually to save this person that was seemingly the enemy......... either he fucking loses his demos form to rescue them if he doesnt get to the window in time, or he’ll pull them forward and touching skin to skin is what activates mindwalking (but the less meditatvely you enter it the less control you have over what you see and whose mind is walked into) so. thatd be a fascinating way to show the connected memories of crystal and stardust and also some bits and pieces i havent been able to show elsewhere. OR! since crystal trying to die has given up, maybe thats a fucking GREAT opportunity to see into THEIR mind alone because theyve let down their self-preserving instincts! Thats how barren gets to see theyve gone through similar trauma, because when barren mindwalks into their mind theyve got the upper hand bc they fucking KNOW what! OH! the song i have for that scene just started playing. anyway they fucking KNOW what theyre doing more than barren! But when barren’s guard gets eaten up basically and (c) starts seeing the shit barrens gone through at the hands of their shared hgher ups their own guard drops and barren gets to see the related memories in (c)’s own mind............ so maybe.......... now (c), finally resolved and aware of their whole life now that its about to be ended, will be mentally open enough for SD to accidentally be pulled into their head

the timeline tho............. stardust has a few reveals and theres only a limited amount of mindwalks i can do with him before im having to actively be like “whoops i guess yet again the important info just HAPPENED to be missed!!” because ive already got. once with barren. Thats when they meet Moonshine and he tries to teach barren more about mindwalking, BUT since Moonshines a mental deity barrens physically overwhelmed like fucking blood pouring from the nose and passes out, SD catches them......... so both their guards are down and the mindwalking experience is scrambled to FUCK changing rapidly between memories of both of them both clear and scrambled since oops surprise barren is SD’s grandchild so their essences mix, and its like trying to right a spiralling descending plane but stardust is TRYING to steer barren away from the “Oh Yeah Im Sol And Your Grandfather” memories................ i can only get away with those memories not being there a VERY LIMITED AMOUNT OF TIMES. sure (c) and stardust have abstracted memories of Earth to anchor on but............. i cant keep having Stardusts mind explored while staying away from Sol. i cant. this story is supposed to be pieced together in clues i cant have like fifty million “heres stardust!”s and then be like “oh and hes sol!!” ya know.............. and stardust and (c) are possibly supposed to experience another mindwalk after moonshine so like. ugh. i dont. UGH i dont know