Art in the 21st century: Reflections on artistic dabbling with social media

Art in the 21st century: 

Reflections on artistic dabbling with social media

I just completed an essay for my undergraduate module, Art as Commodity (highly recommend it if you are thinking of a UE at NTU). As the average university paper the assignment brought me on a source-citing expedition with the regular mandatory formatting requirements. However, this assignment ruffled the feathers of thought and brought me to the question: what is the purpose of art-making anymore in the 21st century? 

Source: Pinterest (Couldn't find the original creator but he or she is a gem)

This question seemed especially difficult to answer even with the research on the therapeutic effects of therapy, and how it has helped artists over the years fulfil meaningful expressions, communication, soul-searching and transcendence - when considered in context of the digital age.

Whenever I draw something, be it a scribble or a color-splodge, the thought of when this would be posted onto instagram haunts my mind with an unconscious omnipresence. What's scarier is the sentiment of adrenaline associated with it - almost akin to that of a drug addiction.

Sometimes, I would wake from the reverie and catch my marketing schemes interfering with my cathartic art-making. It's almost as if the brain is split into two - one for making art because it is fun, the second because of some motivation for media attention in our convenient virtual spaces.

I know I am not like that - drawing came naturally since the age of 3, and I can't stand a day without it in the midst of work or studies up till now, even if it means no functional wifi nearby.

However, over the past few years since I started using Instagram in 2018, things began to change. It started with one, then two, then three: more and more thoughts of eventual fame, recognition, success through the platform represented by a tiny camera worshipped tumultuously in our tiny lives. 

Though I've stopped being so addicted to checking for likes, followers, posting and measuring myself to others in Instagram's art world last year, the period before that saw an unusual internal turmoil foiling around with my passion for the arts. I changed when I started using instagram, and it wasn't a very good one, although it did bring improvements in perspective.

 Image source: Vexx (you might just find him on insta)

Now, I remind myself to keep itching fingers away from the screen whenever the urge rises. Though I stopped feeling so addicted to the social fame online last year after deep reflection and shifting focus to things that truly mattered such as nature and the physical, liveable everyday, the burden of instagram continues to haunt, and now ever more so in the form of social obligations and 'artisan' worry.

Building one's portfolio as an artist has definitely become much easier with platforms - especially Instagram, and Tumblr. Provocative photos of your works of various angles showing features, line and details minute to the unobserving eye may be exhibited in square formats within a bustling digital space where audience traffic is high and connections rife with potential clients. However, with bustling social activity comes competition as your art becomes simply one of the hundreds in the sea of profiles of the Instagram world - or more generally, the social media world, depending on which platform you are at (and does it even matter). Standing out, becomes a difficult thing to do, some find their niche, some try to adapt to the trends that catch you rapidly as breezes of an unpredictable yet invasive weather in your wide yet bubbled ecosystem.

Unknowingly, social media has not only impacted the democratisation of art portfolios and information sharing, but also the way art is created, why it is created, and how it impacts both audiences and artists. This effect might be less profoundly felt by those who spend more time building a community in physical fairs, but even a good portion who do so feel the pressure of having a social media presence. Look at art galleries such as Art Loft and Art Ling, even they have come to embrace the net as an extension of their sales community in this digital age. Check out the new online gallery with computer-simulated scenes, Gallery.sg (Lijie, 2014).

For the individual artist the pressure is easily felt - I for one used to struggle for months with the feelings of inadequateness in Instagram's sea of information on ranked artists, follower counts, and 'hearts'. Drawing, painting - creating, has become more frequently updated through pinned 'uploads' as artists from all around the world seek to build their audience. As much as this has become liberating for many the downside to the silver lining is an increased pressure to have a consistent presence for a successful audience, and in more serious cases an 'editing' of personal creative interests to appeal to trends of the waves.

Wait - but artists drawing what others would like to see could be enjoyable for the artist, too, right? Of course it could be - who wouldn't want to see more adorable Pikachu fanart? Jumping into the artistic bandwagon of ideas is fun but it ceases to be so if it is largely extrinsically motivated.

Perhaps the main issue of this is what it means for unique creativity. We all have individual tastes and we don't care what others think of the drawings we have in our diaries. Once aware that others are watching, however, things start to change. Creativity is becoming increasingly similar across the arts community with social media. Look what's getting the most likes? Elsa drawings. Better make one for my one feed to boost the likes. Maybe I'll hit 500.

Source: Meme Generator

 Instagram has even become a largely vast space where unhealthy trends easily pick up - such as the spread of suicidal and depressive drawings, which Instagram has sought to ban. Whether or not this move is ethical would be another topic for discussion. 

Source: Mercury News

Of course, making money while doing what we love is great and social media is a way to achieve this, but after doing this for awhile I realised I began to see my art as 60% commodity, 30% marketing, 10% therapy. Drawing is no longer nobody's business anymore. How many of us have felt FOMO when we leave the screen for the afternoon? How many of us have felt the unconscious adrenaline after a slew of likes or comments for that post? We can't deny the influence social media has on making art: the itching impulse to report almost everything.

Social media is addictive because of the positive social rewards or incentives it provides, research has shown it affects brain secretions of dopamine, the neurotransmitter of pleasure and reward associated with happiness, resulting in our cravings for social media - phantom vibration syndrome is no joke! (Mcsweeny, 2019). It's not surprising that the average person spends up to 135 minutes (or more) on social media per day.

Source: Jobologies

After reading a poignant article, I decided to reduce posting my artworks on instagram, and devote time to painting solely for the heck of it.

Who are we drawing for anymore? What's the purpose of writing that poem, that snippet of emotion, that string of sentiment? Gone are the days when we drew for absolutely nothing but fun and sheer love of the arts as kids in kindergarten, or simply took pictures to record a beautiful moment to keep, or write diaries jut for the heck of it. No 'likes', no competition, no surveillance - heck it would be great if we could go back to the old days. And we could, if we try.