The Shame of Temu

Shoppers paradise innit? When you hit Temu the first time the spinning wheel let’s you know you’re going to get a great deal but that reality is far from the truth as you are pushed and cajoled by the platform to spend a minimum amount to ensure you get what? The bargain. Yes, but the bargain has evaporated now as you are blindsided by ‘Amazing Deals’ that push you to purchase stuff you probably don’t need.

But then again it’s more of a want situation isn’t it? What about if you want some Indigenous Art? Temu doesn’t have Indigenous Art but some sellers are flicking these ridiculously cheap pieces of art claiming that they are Aboriginal.

So let’s see what Temu offers and the first that I noted, I’ll call the Blue one. It’s a little 30x40, priced at only $11.66 and sold by TWtin, a purveyor of wall decarations. How can this possibly be Indigenous Art? It bears the motifs of the art but in its render it is meaningless.

Lets find something bigger.

A banner that is unrelenting in its desert colours. This is sizeable at 150x100 and a steal at only $6.72.

Again, how can this be possible? This one’s sold by YSQZ, the sort of user name hacked out in a couple of angry keyboard taps. Go deeper and you see this guy’s focus is on the party market with his birthday and Christmas banners.

And what these people don’t understand with their vapid interpretations of culture, is that they are doing immeasurable harm to an industry that prides itself on authenticity, where the act of laying down a painting, is to communicate a dreaming, that the artist has been handed to nurture and communicate.

The description given this piece of AI slop is 2D Plane Aboriginal Pointillism Landscape.

Let’s stop for a second. Pointillism?

pointillism
noun [mass noun]
a technique of neo-impressionist painting using tiny dots of various pure colours, which become blended in the viewer's eye. It was developed by Seurat with the aim of producing a greater degree of luminosity and brilliance of colour.

Is YSQZ of the opinion that all Indiginous art is pointillist or does the presence of the word lend the work credibility?

So do people think this genuine Aboriginal art? No probably not but the price tag and overall brightness of the image, would stop them buying the real thing. And that is indeed a problem because not only are they disrupting artists livelihoods but they’re destroying the eco-systems set up to sustain it.

Look at what you see in the first row of Google results for the search term “Aboriginal Art”. Every single picture is from Temu and we already know that’s not real.

Another search on Temu for “Aboriginal artwork framed” reveals a dozen more vapid auto-abstractions that employ techniques commonly associated with Indigenous art.

And just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse you see this thing and it’s only $6.51.

Again it employs many recognisable motifs of the work and then some more which are dead wrong with the overall effect just the insult and disrespect for a culture that’s had to struggle like no other just to stay alive.

Don’t buy from Temu. Boycott them and demand they remove these abherrations once and for all.