Art finds
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Practising fine art and creating content: two compatible professions?

By Chancy Victorin

Some painters and sculptors privately admit that overexposing their work on Instagram and Pinterest does not necessarily increase sales. Instead, it puts their work before people unfamiliar with the subject, whose comments may diminish its perceived value. Let us be clear from the outset: the aim is not to discredit the internet, but to ask whether it always serves those who practise fine art.

However much one boosts the algorithm, a piece valued at $4 million is unlikely to find a buyer among internet users hunting for bargains. Fine art is a matter for connoisseurs: unlike craft, which is associated with accessibility, it tends towards elitism. Even today, museums and galleries know the collectors and dealers, and news of an exhibition travels through newsletters or email before reaching a specialist magazine. Hyperconnectivity follows an entirely different logic: once caught in the machinery of virality, nothing is published without checking its SEO. It is difficult to remain authentic when you have to please everyone.

A painter is, of course, entitled to have an account and talk about their art. The risk is that repeatedly displaying their skills may dilute their aura as an artist, exposing them both to plagiarism and to rejection by connoisseurs. Content creation is a profession in its own right, one that demands constant hype, whereas sculpture does not need it. Some visibility, yes, but not an abundance. Even a pseudonym, which sometimes protects an artist, can obscure their identity: audiences struggle to identify the author and follow their work over time.

Influencers have undeniable power: religion and politics make use of them. But they are geared towards immediate engagement, whereas an artwork needs rarity and solemnity to maintain its market value. An influencer can make an artist known; rarely can they preserve the value of that artist’s work.

Art Basel Miami nevertheless seems to contradict this argument. Choosing this “bling-bling” city was a strategy for selling contemporary art to ambitious new money, less demanding than established fortunes reluctant to embrace current changes; without Instagram, the buzz would not have reached the same scale. Yet this requires substantial resources that emerging artists lack, and not everyone exhibits at Art Basel. It is therefore better to advise restraint to those who have not yet achieved major recognition, without forbidding them from pursuing visibility.