Can we talk more about this? I think of hacker news as a place to discuss differing opinions and this response seems like something I'd like to understand better.
When does opting out of a cultural scene == racism?
Yes.
yaakov34 explains it well.
You might as well say that it's sexist to _notice_ that the tech conference is all dudes.
It's the same victim-blaming absurdity.
Noticing such quotas as such is of course not racist or sexist. Acting because of them is. Feeling like a victim because you are the only "X" in the room is also racist or sexist (depending on context).
And are you saying his ONLY reason for "leaving the art scene" was because everybody else had white skin color? Not even because of their behavior? How is that not racist? And if he left because of the behavior, and describes it as being "white", it is also racist. There is no way to interpret his statement as not being racist.
As for "leaving the art scene", I bet he doesn't reject "white money" and 99% of his funding is from white people. In the article it is also stated that "European museums" bought his art.