"Get that bag, Grandpa" (UNLOCKED)
A thought I have often when people tell me to "Get that bag" often cus of the licensing I do with "This is Fine". Feels hollow and crappy pretty much every time I hear it. Is that all artists are supposed to do? Are we not trying to entertain or find an unexplainable feeling in our hearts that we try to explain with our work?
No one means anything bad when they say "get that bag" but do they actually mean anything when they say it? Or is it just something to say because we hate the quiet down-times? We fear being nonplussed and need an opinion. So out comes one we've all heard before. I guess it's all true, but it comes at a cost of sounding the same over and over.
Comments (6)
This is exactly how Charlie Brown would talk to Linus about getting the bag.
I guess whenever I say it to someone, it feels like I'm trying to say "don't feel bad about getting money by doing this, I don't see it as selling out". Because idk sometimes it feels like The T Shirt is an inevitability and if it is, the artist better be the one getting paid. I'm happy to see the artist get paid.
Maybe it means you make awesome stuff and deserve to lead a life not riddled with financial insecurity. Maybe it means I recognise your hustle. Whichever way, it is framed through the prism of the bag. Well meaning but through the eyes of the bag.
I guess i’d rather earn it more thru my work than thru one thang. it doesn’t feel earned to me, for whatever reason. maybe i need to go back to therapy about this.
I've already told you my thoughts to your face at SPX years ago. I think you've contributed to the human lexicon with your art and are a legitimate American genius. The money aspect doesn't even come to mind. When I buy your printed versions of lil comis, I am fully cognizant I can read them for free online. I wanted to support you. I legit had no interest in the idea of Question Hound becoming a video game but I backed the kickstarter because I believed in supporting you more than I believed in you, "getting the bag." I won't speak for those who say that to you but I wonder if it's more so an inability to say that they want to support you without the framework of capitalism since it's an overwhelming presence in our lives.
Any idiot can, "get the bag." It's why we have so many vapid billionaires making the stupidest products and decisions hinged on human misery. Your art doesn't bring misery.