Confession of a Facebook Stalker

Are you honestly offended by that comment? Really?
You must be, as you apparently de-friended me.

First of all, YES I WAS KIDDING: that would be a horrible thing.

I find it very hard to believe you could be offended by a comment like that, in a context like that, given your sick, twisted sense of humor you put out there in public for years…

But the real point is this: you put an offensive, disturbing image out there (“battered white trash whore”) for people to see; in return, I offered my own offensive disturbing image. I didn’t get offended, freak out, and run away. I responded to what you put out there in kind. If you don’t want to be offended, don’t put offensive material out there for people to respond to.

One of the reasons I admired you as an artist (note my use of the past tense) is that you’re not afraid to use disturbing images to get your point across.

Maybe in the back of your mind you think there is some safe space you can retreat to and no longer be an artist. But that doesn’t jibe with the rest of your work, which seems to be really ballsy and in your face and daring.

You chose to create an image, play a character, and risk it by putting it out there for all to see. You made choices as an artist, whether you know it or not. Stand by them. Own your work. Don’t get all offended when someone holds a mirror up to it and decides to challenge you back, in exactly the same way you challenge them..

The problem is you don’t own your work. You’re trying to retreat from it somehow and deny the reality of what you portray. You want to play it safe. You want to be able to say, “JK!” But you’re an artist. You mediate and manipulate images. That’s really powerful, and carries a lot of responsibility. If you don’t want to deal with that reality, then maybe you should quit your “art” and focus on the waitressing instead.

I mean, as an artist, don’t you get that? Or are we not supposed to take you seriously when you create images and put them out there?

As an artist, do you think your audience is just supposed to sit passively by and quietly absorb everything you put out there, without challenging it or reacting in any way? Really?

I would say that shows a serious lack of artistic integrity.