Pain Propaganda

Anti-Fascist, Anti-Ableist, Pro-LGBTQ+, fucking wierd art by WFL

The purpose is to provoke you.

I think the greatest weakness of modern art is how so few folks are willing to push against the grain and create things that are uncouth.

Take the artwork in the hero of this site, for example.. And be prepared, I'm about to piss off a lot of my fellow artists. So much so that the knee-jerk reaction will be to scream "YOU'RE NOT AN ARTIST!"

The effort to produce it - just as an estimate mind you - was about 65% AI. Are you pissed off at me yet? Did you stop reading this?

Look, I'm not an AI techbro. I've been creating both digital & traditional art for over half my life, and I actually agree with you on subjects like ethically sourcing training data, the problem with deepfakes, and the flooding of the world with the muzak-equivalent of boring, shitty low-effort art.

AI is a useful tool, however, for artists and more.. And it certainly isn't going anywhere, so we need to get involved in guiding it, otherwise you'll just let the shitty side of AI overtake us all.

A gray dusty AI-generated hand holding up a paint brush

With that said..

Pain Propaganda isn't just alliteration.

A glitch-style portrait of Will Leffert with blacked out eye makeup, wearing a black plate carrier with a pride flag patch and an "I Voted" sticker

I am Will: someone who lives in constant, unceasing physical pain. Pain that has limited me in so many ways; preventing me from pursuing my creativity the way I used to.

I also recognize a world full of pain. Fascism, ignorance and general hate surround us, causing a different kind of pain.

Studies show that swearing can actually reduce the impact of pain.. And as a music instructor once told me: Better to be vulgar than non-existent. That's a Bev Hensen quote, by the way.

I spread my own brand of vulgarity across the world, and share it with all of you, hoping you find your own relief in what I create. I may not have the more well-refined technique of my peers, but I stopped caring about that long ago.

I don't create for the masses. I create for my fellow spoonies. My fellow LGBTQ+ folk. My fellow anti-fascists. My fellow fucking weirdos..

..But ultimately, as all art should be, I create for me.

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Pain Propaganda is a source for alternative art by an alternative artist.

Pain Propganda is me taking my creative pursuits that I have developed over numerous years and sharing them with you, in the hopes that you'll spend a little money and buy something out of the menagerie of creativity that I have produced in various mediums.. And sometimes, that shit is "Fucking Wierd".

This is from my piece "Live With Coal / Plan For Diamonds"