Art and Drama

You don’t even have to leave your study to be exposed to visual art both brilliant and questionable anymore.

In the limitless expanse of cyberspace there is an art community that has been filling up with user submissions for 2,456 days, as the homepage proudly proclaims.

DeviantART.com is host to over 35 million submissions of prose, poetry, and visual art of all possible genres. Origami, traditionally drawn comics, computerised vector art, original costumes, anime and any other art form imaginable. The quality ranges from the incredibly professional works of such ‘Deviants’ as `Zancan or *angelreich to the snapshots that whiz across the new submissions page that bear a cringe-worthy resemblance to a typical MySpace display pic.

There are journals for users, newscasts on art, tutorials for beginners and possibly most importantly – chatrooms.

Forget politics – the internet is the only free-for-all where the voiceless truly have a voice. People can (and do) say whatever they want.

If you can imagine a group of thousands of art enthusiasts between the ages of 12 and 60 into a room and given equal opportunity to express their opinions, you’re starting to come close to the feel of the DeviantART community.

Last year there was an intense drama over the firing of a moderator, by the screen name of Jark. For weeks upon weeks submissions were dominated by little yellow aliens (Jark’s symbol) and the entire community was divided into Jark Supporters and Those Against.

For a community that revolves around art and creativity, DeviantART drifts towards drama as often as life out here in the real world. But at least online it comes punctuated with visual assistance, and avoiding the drama is as simple as clicking the red X.

Staying in the study might be the answer after all.

-Alex Caton