E. White

Art & Fear for the Internet Generation

Revisado: 02-17-24

I’m married to an artist and internet creator, and my “scene” has long been people who create things for the internet, and I’ve long been an Andrew Huang fan, with a particular admiration (as an entrepreneurship nerd) for how he innovates on internet and creator business models, so I picked up his book knowing it would probably be good. Like so much of what Andrew does, it wasn’t what I expected, but in a good way.

I went in expecting a focus on business, which is what it says on the tin. However, the book is in significant part an auto-biography, which is used as a framing device and context for the advice given. This was refreshing, as many business-oriented books tend to proffer advice as facts that often don’t work outside the context they were developed in—Andrew talks about the experiences that led to his conclusions and helps you understand the situations they were designed for. Plus it’s just more entertaining.

While the book has fairly actionable business advice, I would more categorize it as a structured questioning and critique about preconceptions that many artists have about themselves, and how he was able to balance (or even justify) art with commercial success. This is something I see friends struggle with often, and Andrew reaches many of the same conclusions we have, so it’s great for there to be a resource that can be a head start in learning for upcoming artists in a very metrics-driven and hypercapitalist context. When my wife and I started dating she suggested “Art & Fear” as a way of understanding her better, and this very much feels like a spiritual successor for the Internet era. I would call it essential reading for the modern artist, and have picked up an extra copy for friends.

As an aside, I appreciate that Andrew goes into the messiness of his journey, including explorations of ideas that didn’t serve him well, or only worked for him in a certain context or time of his life. I think that’s part of the advantage of this semi-biography format.

I first consumed this as an audiobook, and it’s narrated by Andrew, which I think elevates it as it’s well performed and Andrew telling his own story lets him emphasize ideas or key moments well with his inflections and subtle emotion. Definitely improved the experience.

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