The digital world has already changed business in many ways. Established retailers close their doors, hardly nobody goes to a travel agency anymore, music shops became an endangered-business, banks are closing doors everywhere but continue online, while feeling the heat of the rapidly growing digital currency community, and everyone is ordering things online from all over the world.
Instagram, Facebook and other social media are causing a rapid change in how people look at art.
The bright side is that social media brought art to the attention of a much bigger audience, than it had ever been before in history. And if you have enough marketing skills to present your art in the right way, it’s even better. It has given a lot of artists a much bigger audience than they could have ever imagined and this is FANTASTIC!
However, the downside of Instagram and other social media are:
- Most of us became High Sensation Seekers. We need new images all the time. We hardly look... (truly look) at a piece of art anymore. We only see a small flat image of 5x6cm, and don’t get the same sensation of it, as when we are experiencing it in real life. If you like a post, you look at it for 10 seconds, next you (maybe) like it and sometimes post a comment, and you move on... more images, more new sensations, hyper fast, all the time. We get bored easier, want more, better, etc...
- Besides the fact that Social Media can be a true inspiration for (wannabee, upcoming and established artists) and to learn techniques, it also has become a perfect place to steal ideas, maybe even steal someone’s style (I’ve seen it happening with another artist).
- More and more artists create the same kind of work. They copy each other and call it art. But art is not only about techniques, it also is a lot about uniqueness, power of expression and originality. We are flooded with images of art with the image of Marilyn Monroe, Amy Winehouse, Micky Mouse, David Bowie (and every other famous artist that recently died). All the time we get to see the same recognizable faces... the same kinds of techniques and styles ... and some people get convinced that this is what art is all about.
- A lot of collective accounts on Instagram show exactly the same posts. They copy posts from other collective accounts, in order to get more likes and more artist-followers who are willing to pay them to get a post on their art on this collective account (and in the meantime hope that their account will get more followers). Also they sent Direct Mails to artists to convince them to pay them for a post on their account.
- If you have enough money, or are willing to invest, you can buy your followers and buy your likes... fake or sometimes-not-fake-but-fake-anyway. It does not make your art any better or bring you any buyers, it’s just faking to be famous. And then maybe some people think that it would be a good idea to buy from this artist.
Anyway... I just wanted to share my thoughts about this, to make you aware of it. Next time you have some free time: go visit a museum, art fair, gallery and TRULY experience the power of art!
Add comment
Comments