Red Zero Hiro

I strongly believe it is important to fight against the assumption that artists are mere entertainers. Artists are more than that. Artistry is a divine vocation and unfortunately, it is the modern pragmatic society that has relegated it to become mere entertainment. 

As such, there are artists who do only work to create entertainment, and worse, some who do it solely for the money. Of course sometimes when artists need money because the rest of the world does not support them enough, they might be left no choice but to compromise art for the sake of money. (And the trend of devaluing the arts contribute to the starvation of the artist. We can see it in the assumption that artists are rich, or the uncaring attitude toward piracy, or expecting artists to work for free. Even something as simple as the lack of encouragement, or the old cliché of not wanting your children to be artists because that is not a “proper job”. These attitudes say a lot about how we treat the arts as something not serious.) But at the same time, there are many artists who make art with a clear vision that art is much more than entertainment. Art is transcendent and it is bigger than this world. Art is best when made for Art’s sake. 

Making art comes down to the dilemma of making art for the majority people in order to get enough money to live, though the majority treat art as entertainment. The alternative is to make art with meaning for the sake of art, and for the sake of the minority who recognize the power of art and receive it for the value, it adds to life rather than for mere entertainment. That is art for art's sake. The form of art truest to what I consider to be what pure art should be. 

That is what I aim to be, an artist for art’s sake; an artist for the sake of the people who recognize the power and value of the meaning in art. 

So who says artists shouldn’t stick their noses into things like politics? That they should not seek to fight injustice? That they should not seek to make the world a better place? That they should simply stick to entertaining? They are wrong. 

How then can we contribute to the progress of the world as artists? Is it enough to be positive all the time for the sake of human harmony? Many assume that the only way is to win people over through kindness and emotional connection. That is, of course, a noble method and that is the calling of many people. However, nothing will change if that is the extent of our efforts. We must also not overlook the importance of the opposite, zealously fighting for the sake of those who are in need. This is what I embody in my music, at times a call to love, but at other times, a call to fight injustice, to fight for the sake of those who are victims of human ignorance and corruption. That is the task of a prophet, and that is the task of the artist. 

It is precisely the task of the artist to act as secular prophets, unveiling that which the world is blind to see.