Dust rise right on over my time
Empty fossil of the new scene.
-Alice in Chains
It never ceases to amaze me, all the people who bi
tch about there
being too many new groups. Or all the overnight e
xperts who give
unknown artists a hard time, when they wer
e begging for
acceptance into any group that would take
them. There are those
that say that ANSi is dying, but t
here are probably more ANSi
artists now than ever before. Unfortunate
ly, a rookie artists
initiation in ansi is all the discouragement some
need to quit
the scene before they have a chance to prove thems
elves.
I am not old school, but I have been drawing sin
ce 1992, and
things have changed drastically. In the past two
years, look at
the groups that have risen quickly and the
n died out...Union,
Shiver, Integrity...and the mega-groups th
at have eclipsed the
competition, only to become more about rep
utation than
art...Acid, Ice and the like. Not
that being in a big group is
so bad, if the reputation for quality is
earned. But a
reputation that substandard artists derive
from being in a group,
a reputation earned by someone else who was draw
ing for the fun
of it? That aint right. Yet these are the people wh
o put down
the new groups, new artists and anyone who stays origina
l.
A perfect example of this is none other than Rad Man.
He has
every reason to be pleased with himself and his gr
oup. But the
ANSi art that made Acid what it is today is being
set aside in
favor of mediums like VGA and RIP. Thats fine...
nothing wrong
with something new. But being a Teklordz
senior and artist, I
took notice when he starting ripping on Te
klordz. Why? Because
they draw original art based on their own
ideas not comics, and
are willing to give new artists a chance
to improve and be seen.
How the hell is any group supposed to start with
out new artists
and original design concepts?
Then there are those who say There are too many new
groups --
dont start another one! In reality, a lot more groups
die than
are started. Granted, most of them are unknown local gro
ups with
no big-name artists to miss, but they are still part of t
he scene
and mattered to someone. Its also funny, what passes of
f as a
new group might be months old. But in the past two yea
rs, its
come to the point where any group with no Internet presen
ce might
as well cease to exist.
Fortunately, some groups that nobody gave a rats ass abo
ut have
found success. Fuel and Septic are a couple which rose
from
obscurity to release some really nice work, mostly
with original
material by artists nobody has ever heard of. Hal
aster brought
back Fire to become one of the best groups
out there right now.
Other revival attempts havent worked out
as well, and some
established groups are dead or dying only
three months into 1996.
But that is the cycle the scene works on.
An influx of new will replace the old if given half a chan
ce. If
not, the scene will die a slow, lingering death.
I think its
safe to say that the artists people consi
der the stars of the
scene wont be doing this forever, and if no n
ew artists take
their place -be they ANSi, ASCii, VGA o
r RIP- there wont be
anyone to criticize. What fun would that
be?
O-Tron
FoS/Teklordz/CiA
xrist@primenet.com