A fear of corn.

One of the reasons why my work of the past years has leaned towards art, is an implicit fear of corniness. There’s a lot of things that humans find beautiful or pleasant that have been featured and exploited in popular entertainment. This omni-presence has rendered such depictions or topics virtually taboo for art.

Even today, and even far outside the art world, creative people often find it difficult to include pictures of rainbows in their work, or sunsets, or kittens, or unicorns or mermaids, without a sense of irony. I personally dislike irony because it’s cheap. But I behaved in a no less cowardly fashion by simply avoiding such features altogether.

I think the inclusion of the science fiction elements in Bientôt l’été has helped me get over my fear. Even though Bientôt l’été itself is beyond a doubt intended to be a Work of Art, it contains this virtually kitschy element that may be the key to freeing myself from the timidity that has been my artistic practice.

I am no longer afraid to make videogames about things that are simply pleasant to observe. I still want to avoid the exploitation that often goes along with the use of such elements in mass media. But I think I can do this by being utterly sincere. Mass media are embarrassing because the images they produce are not good enough, not sincere enough. Because their only goal is money. But I have far more important goals.