Art and Galleries

Thoughts on the Algorithm, Instagram and how to engage.

Here’s the gist of it:

💎Don’t make instagram your Homebase, a mailing list is a safer bet, but do visit social networks and other platforms as places to do your art tours.

Phase 1:

First facebook then instagram have became galleries for artist.

For some artist this became their only connection with their audience.

Followers were season pass holders with easy access to the gallery whenever an artist needed them. The gallery took zero commission.

Phase 2:

The gallery now let 20% of the season pass holders in.

It charged the artist a fee to open the door to more of their followers and some of their followers friends, and people like them.

Phase 3:

The gallery with it’s AI is serving your art to the highest bidder.

The currency being attention not money.

Someone else will pay for the attention.

It’s also training you to make the kind of ‘art’ that will get the most attention, so they can make the most money.

This is the reality of the state of social media for artist.

Phase 3 was always the objective if not the plan, phase 1 and 2 were the required steps to get there. What can we do about it?

It depends what you’re doing in the gallery in the first place? What Job was the gallery doing for you?

For me:

I got work & made friends and got a number next to the word “followers”.

As an artist, I’m always looking for an audience for my work. And I have been guilty of making work specifically for the platforms. In today’s terms that might be a particular kind of art called ‘reels’.

But what do I really want from the ‘gallery’ as an artist?

Do I want to be essentially an employee for Meta (The company formally known as facebook and owner of instagram, producing content they can monetise?

Nope.

I want 3 things, that META alone is not going to give me.

1. I want an audience for my work

2. I want to make friends

3. I want to get work

So here’s what I’m doing

Instead of making work for any particular platform.

I’m making work.

Then I’m establishing a Homebase for that work, i’e this Substack. You guys are my core audience. Think of this as my own private gallery that you’re welcome to any time.

It’s a place to connect and maybe even do business.

But apart from having this home base, I’ll also take my work on tour on the various platforms available. It’s just part of the job an artist needs to do to get their work in front of new audiences. There’ll be hits and misses, I’ll just focus on the process.

If sub-stack stops being a viable platform, I’ll just move my Homebase.

Basically what you want to do is decouple your content from the platform.

Instead of:

1. Making content and posting on instagram

Do this:

1. Make Art.

2. Post on platforms.

3. Invite your audience to stay in touch via email

It’s more work, but you’ll be working for yourself!

💎Don’t make instagram your Homebase, a mailing list is a safer bet, but do visit social networks and other platforms as places to do your art tours.

Ps: one of the reasons I love substack is it has that 1-1 connection, I love getting your replies, but it also has a community element where you can leave comments and engage each other.

Please reply any email, I’d love to talk to you and if you want to talk to each other, here’s our current discussion