I refer to myself as an artist with great reluctance, because I am oftentimes an observer, an inactive participant, of this universe - I am just another Liberal Arts Undergrad doing his best to be understood by his audience.
My humble status grants me access to technologies that produce moving and still images; these creations are then consumed by a group of peers and professors whose attendance is mandatory.
I am currently frustrated, bored, and attention-deficit - these emotions exist within everything I produce.
As an artist, it is my intention to effectively create experiences based on these emotions (among others) to a willing audience who will question/engage/become lost within my assault upon the established conventions of entertainment, information, and reality itself. My experiences are simply mine and cannot be recreated for commercial use, but the ability to recreate the psychological experience (i.e. traumatic, nostalgic, psychotic) is why I remain invested in the arts.
In summation: the ability of others to extrapolate meaning based on the content and form of my work validates my self-referential use of the term 'artist'.