We live in an age where social media dominates. From our friendships, to events, to retail, it has crept up in to almost every aspect of our lives. For artists, it has provided a global platform to share their works and grow their exposure.
A growing world of art superstars has emerged on Instagram, acting as a virtual museum style exhibition platform. The consumption of street art has even evolved and been impacted. Location sharing services have allowed street art to become globalised, becoming viral under the right hashtags, inciting virtual responses, reaching larger audiences. It’s an emerging movement from street tagging to hashtagging.
The interconnectivity of social platforms allows artists to share their process, share their works, and find inspiration in a larger world, right from their devices. The corporate world has noticed this trend and taken advantage, using digital art pieces for their marketing and advertising initiatives. Geotagging murals or art works have driven the selfie-taken generation to help companies increase awareness and grow their profits- becoming a form of guerrilla advertising. Locations are becoming Instagram landmarks with their incorporation of artworks as photo-centric backdrops for visitors to create content.
Artists also have the power to speak directly to their audiences, and to convey their artistic voices to the audiences that relate and share their ideologies. With so much access, the elitism associated with artists and art collectors has also been eliminated, opening up opportunities for art collection and ownership. Artists also no longer need to be ‘struggling’, with social media providing cheap, often free exposure. Social pages are curated to suit the artists aesthetic, making them recognisable to their audiences. TikTok has provided a space for artists to document their processes and invite the audiences in to understand the work that goes behind each creation, forming an emotional bond.
The quantity of content can be overwhelming and it is easy for artists to get lost in this space, which means having solid knowledge of social media marketing is essential. Additionally, certain art mediums can lose their impact in these formats, such as sculptures. But overall, the benefits outweigh the negatives.
Hashtags open up a whole new world in networking for artists, allowing them to get noticed by their peers, collectors, and other audiences with general interest. This can even create opportunities to grow a presence in galleries or exhibitions. Social media has given an artist a global space to form connections, and promote their work, in their own voice, on their own terms.