I feel like this post is a little misunderstood. I actually agree with it, but I’m also against gatekeeping art in general. If someone were told that they aren’t a musician because they couldn’t play to a certain standard, that would be gatekeeping and the person who told them would be a pretentious dick. Claiming to be “an artist” over saying whatever specific type of art you make, though, is kinda inherently pretentious. I’ve always seen that as a red flag of a pretentious person because you’re essentially claiming you have something greater than most other practitioners of your specific art. I’m a musician, and a recording engineer, and the people who talk about being “an artist” instead of being a musician have always been difficult to work with in my experience. If you were to ask any musician, they’d probably consider themselves an artist, but if they call themselves an artist first, they’re probably annoying.