Social Media and the Art World

Is Social Media a form of artistic expression? Is it just a set of tools with no implications beyond messaging in new ways? How are artists using social media? And are any self-conscious artists looking at social media the same way they look at their chisels, brushes and cameras?

This shall be the launching point of a discussion that I know will take some time to develop. For the record, I should point out my abiding interest in “Art.” I studied Art History at Tulane University and though I had the full survey courses like any other student, which means I know of the Venus of Villendorf as well as Georgia O’Keefe (interesting that my mind went there eh?), my main focus was on three areas of art: Dutch Art of the 17th Century, French Impressionism and Neo-Impressionism and finally, Abstract Expressionism. Pretty awesome stuff to study, but I came to art late, and even though as a child I loved nothing more (and by loved I mean harassed my parents and rotating list of housekeepers and nannies to constantly take me to the Met to see the mummies, medieval armor, tapestries and in particular the Temple of Dendur, which is still to this day friggin awesome) it wasn’t until late in my college career that I found the intellectual side of art so appealing. The ‘twain met.

Temple of Dendur at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

In fact, I remember a short art history course in high school where I was so appalled at the work of artists like Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko, that like a nincompoop I parried about  the cliche that “a child could have painted that.”

Of course, like the proper idiot that I am, and I hope one day to reacquire that precious outlook, it was only because I hadn’t learned anything about the painters, the history of art and the issues, both formal and non-formal, that the painters of that generation were concerned with. Once I had the vocabulary and background information, that magic time in the history of art opened up to me. And now I will have an abiding interest for the rest of my life. I am thankful for that, for as a writer, I am inspired by other art forms and have the utmost respect for artists. I give artists the benefit of the doubt.

The Intersection of Art and Social Media

For a few months now I have had my radar screen focused on this intersection to see what kind of artists, both progressive and more traditionally-minded ones, are engaging with social media, and how they are doing so.

I am interested in finding out about projects that I may have missed, so please leave your links or projects in the comments section and I promise to check each and every one out, and write about the ones I like.

What I have found, thus far, is disappointing. But more than that, you may be wondering why I am interested in exploring this issue on this blog. Well the truth is I’d like to one day work in the art world and am, in fact, in discussions with several artists and galleries about what a social media strategy looks like in the art world. I hope to move forward fairly quickly on these plans in January.

I mean, I’ve adapted my standard social media strategy to several different industries at this point, and I find the basic principles, activities and the philosophies that underlie my strategies to be extremely fungible. By that, I mean they work in different settings and with different sorts of businesses. Of course, aside from the standard strategy there is a lot of customization so that each strategy I develop and deliver is tailored specifically for that business. Ok, phew, enough self promotion markety speak. So, where were we? Ah yes…

Who Should Use Social Media in the Art World?

Well for one, artists, without a doubt, should be adopting and learning everything they can about social media. They should be engaging social media. They should be finding or creating new ways to use social media in their art. I am sure there are projects that I am unaware of, and in fact, I look forward to being pointed to those so I can read up and support them. I should say that a lot of museum’s seem to have gotten the gist and there are some great Twitter lists and accounts that do a great job of tracking them. But social media, and the wave of user generated content that it unleashes, is as potentially disruptive to the art world as it has been to other industries like print newspapers, magazines and the like.

As a democratizing agent and flattener, whereby anyone can get their opinion out, I would think that many artists would be looking with zeal towards the social media space to see what they can dig up. Other artists that inspire them, social trends unreported in mainstream publications etc.

Who else?

Galleries should definitely be ramping up their social media engagement. I am developing a suite of strategies for galleries right now, so if you want to talk, send me a note.

Auction houses? Consultants? Other Art world businesses and brands? Absolutely, because as more and more artists look to social media to inspire and house their work, or look for collaboration and most importantly, incorporate social media into their work, you are going to want to be there, educated and ready to take full advantage, when these great art experiments emerge. But first thing’s first. Are you ready?

Image Source: Photo by Rosemania 2.0 on Flickr