🎨 Not All Art Is Political, But All Good Art Challenges Comfort

Blog 1 of 10 from the Truth Bomb Series by Jools Teare

Once upon a time, in a land not so far away (Staffordshire), some poor soul dared to tell me that art shouldn’t be political.
“They just want something nice to hang over the telly,” they said, probably clutching a beige mug of builder’s tea and crying over a watercolour of a sheep.

To which I say: bollocks.

Now don’t get me wrong—art doesn’t have to be a middle finger to the monarchy or a Banksy-style “power to the people” manifesto. But if it doesn’t rattle something, tweak a nipple, or whisper something deliciously uncomfy, then what’s the bloody point?

Let’s get this straight:
Art doesn’t need to shout slogans from a picket line, but it should at least make someone squirm in their seat a little.

🖕 Comfort is the Enemy of Creativity

Comfort zones are lovely for slippers and early nights. Not for art.

When people tell you they want “nice” art, what they really mean is “safe.”
Safe art doesn’t ask questions.
Safe art doesn’t nudge people out of their mental cul-de-sacs.
Safe art hangs politely and matches the fucking cushions.

And if you, like me, are a neurodivergent, queer-adjacent, emotionally-charged rebel who’s navigated a life of ‘why don’t you tone it down a bit’, then safe can do one.

Because art—good art—should challenge something.
It might be your assumptions.
Your prejudice.
Your sense of nostalgia.
Your unspoken ache.
Your own internalised bollocks.

🎭 Every Drag Queen, Every Canvas, Every Scribble Says: “Wake the Fuck Up”

You think drag is just wigs and contour?
It’s gender. It’s protest. It’s “I won’t be what you told me to be.”
Even a lip-sync to Donna Summer in a shit pub in Stoke-on-Trent is a bloody act of artful defiance.

And it’s the same with painting.
Even my glitter-covered portraits of Divine or Dot Cotton sipping tea are sly Trojan horses.
Yes, they’re funny. Yes, they’re collectable. But they’re also flipping conversations in disguise.

🧠 The Brain Doesn't Grow in Beige Rooms

People say, “Oh but can’t art just be nice?”
Sure.
But “nice” is a beige word. “Nice” is the celery of adjectives. “Nice” is what you say when someone gives you a weird trifle and you can’t spit it out.

Good art doesn’t have to be angry, but it must be awake.
If you want people to remember your work, it has to unsettle the stagnant air a little.

Even a painting of a bloody teacup can carry a message—if you dare to make it.

👑 A Quick Message to My Fellow Rebels

To every ND, queer, weird, late-diagnosed, people-pleaser-turned-paint-slinger out there:

• You don’t have to be “shocking” to be powerful.

• You don’t have to be “deep” to be political.

• You just have to stop smoothing your edges to please the HomeSense crowd.

Whether your art says “fuck the patriarchy” or “I survived my childhood and here’s a rainbow,” you are challenging comfort.
You are telling the truth in a world obsessed with filters.

And that, my darling, is political enough.

🧨 Power-Up Prompt:

💭 Ask yourself:
Who am I trying not to offend with my art?
Then go ahead and offend them (a little).

💋 Share This If:

• You’ve ever been told your art was “a bit much.”

• You’re done with playing safe.

• You believe weird, bold, neurodivergent art is what the world bloody needs.

Want to collect unapologetic, glittery rebellion for your walls?
Get your hands on the Jools Teare collection before it’s banned in beige households everywhere.
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