Take your sh*t out of the digital

A letter to visual artists born on social networks

Are you a kind of guy -or girl- that never stop creating content for your instagram account but never in your life have shared that content in real life? Well Hi five! I’m that kind of guy and I’m here to cheer you up to take courage to share your magic with a not-only virtual community.

No sleep. Not caring about being a zombie at the office the following morning. Like a hikikomori, several nights found me awake. But not playing games, just drawing non stop, for no money. A kind of hobbie that allowed me to express my feelings and share those feelings on a mobile app called Instagram.

Not a new thing

A virtual media where from share visual stuff is not a new thing. In the early 2000’s, Fotolog (Photoblog) emerged in Argentina as the first massive social tool, a virtual place where users were able to express themselves by visually defining their identity. It’s not my aim here to start talking about urban tribes, hairstyles and selfies, I just want to point out all the stuff beyond them. As traditional blogs did earlier with words, Fotolog put images on spot: people started to create visual stuff specially prepared for that media.

What a revival. Although we maybe remember this, Fotolog was also the place where young future visual artists started trying by doing and sharing.

At the same time, Yahoo’s Flickr was the social tool for amataeur and professional photographers that found a place where from showcase the beautiful ways they had to look at the world. Have you ever found illustrations on Flickr? Well maybe I was one of those weird users that used to use that media for share drawings or bold digitally-treated pictures -sorry guys, that was trendy at that time-.

Then and now. On the left, drawing by me during Fotolog’s era. On the right, a drawing by me last year for my IG account. Common topic here: guy and his pet.

Suddenly, the internet became plenty of shit but, at the same time, gave room to a new generation of visual artists around the world empowered by the use of social websites.

Users from Fotolog and Flickr started to create social circles where people looked up to each others work. It was common for users to cheer up their mates with comments of approbation and even meet up in real life to go out and about exploring the world through the lens of their cameras.

Someone to look up to. The work of local and foreing artists like Gojoa (left), Azul Portillo (center) and Adam JK (right) became a huge inspiration for me, not only admiring their visual stuff but moreover loving the messages behind them.

We are all artists

From that point on, new social tools showed up and people made use of the functionalities at hand while those tools, at the same time, learnt from that people to bring innovative ways of sharing and interacting with visual -and audiovisual- content.

Well known artists saw the chance to appear in social networks to stay closed to their followers. Surprisingly, the amazing work and work-in-progress of icon artists like Stanley Donwood from one day to another were there on Instagram for the delight of his followers, while other amazingly talented artists made use of social platforms as a permanent portfolio where from connect with massive audiences. On the other hand, the world saw a monster called YouTube giving birth future superstars like Justin Bieber and Lana del Rey.

YouTube gave strangers the possibility to share their talent on the Internet. What do you mean, Justin?

The latter, who were strangers at that time, started playing, having fun and experimenting with music and video. The same thing happened to thousands of amateur photographers, illustrators and designers who spent time creating stuff to showcase on Fotolog, Flickr, Instagram or even Tumblr. They saw their own work evolving along the way, becoming a better version of themselves.

If you are one of those ones, I’m here to tell you one thing: look back and see how many pictures or drawings are there “hanging” on your virtual galleries. Don’t ya think it’s time to take your shit out of the digital?

Don’t wait to be successful and popular to call yourself an artist. You already are!

The 3F

Three plus Fs for the word Follower: friends, fans and family are there everywhere in the digital arena -you probably are one of those who prefer to keep your stuff away from family, running away from aunts and uncles-.

You maybe made virtual friends who were stranger followers who liked your work or viceversa. But you might never met in person.

If you take your work to reality and organise an exhibition -in the countless shapes an exhibition can be understood and represented- you will be able to experience one of the most amazing feelings. Think about your friends, fans and family -this last one F is optional, been there, been there- in every stage of the process.

Folks the night before my humble art exhibition.

Magic happens when you realise a bunch of virtual heart symbols will never compare with real smiles, real bright eyes and real hugs from the people who like your work.

Take the challenge to make public your stuff to your followers in real space and look for just one thing: making them experiment special feelings in their encounter with your work.

Some tips

Last year with a little help from my friends I took courage and organised my first art exhibition at a friend’s house. Here some tips that worked for me and maybe make you go ahead with the first step.

Start simple. Start humble: Don’t wait until you get permission from high reputation art galleries that could even make you feel under pressure in the efforts to make everything perfect. Try to organise a meeting at a friend’s house or a small room at an art center nearby in the neighborhood. Enjoy the process, allow yourself to be imperfect.

Think about what you want your fellows feel: Don’t work necessarily with a trigger concept, but do work with feelings: what is the message behind your exhibition? How do you want your people to interact with the place? How do you want make them feel? Look for the meaning behind all your previous work, reflect about it, create a story from that point on.

I composed a short story to sintetize the concept behind my exhibition.

Take all over the place: Transform the place where your exhibition will take part. Work with light, decoration and sound to prepare a special dimension for the encounter between your followers and your work. Not only hang drawings or pictures on walls, be creative, and try not to spend too much money along the way.

I wanted my exhibition to be quite trashy, so I bought pizza boxes and collected Starbuck’s cups to put my art on them. People were happy.

Ask for help: This is the most magical thing behind scenes: work with your friends, ask for opinion or help, borrow stuff, have fun working together with other people. Be always thankful and once again, enjoy the process.

Mundokartoon borrowed me his house, his ears, his suggestions and gave me incredible help along the process.

Promote and be happy: be sure the people you want to see there that day are able to be there that day. Reschedule your exhibition day in case those special ones are unable to go. Invite strangers. Be welcoming. Give away pieces of your art. Drink wine and enjoy. I’m sure you won’t regret. Once everything is over, you will start thinking about what’s next in the real world.

I didn’t want anyone out of the party, so I even made my foreing followers part of my exhibition.

I know what I just wrote has nothing new and many igers’s been spending years organising their exhibitions. But I do know people who had an amazing work online and I’m here to tell them: your shit needs to meet people in real life. This message is for you guys. I’ll just be here waiting for your invitation!

Meet my references on Instagram: Gojoa, Azul Portillo, Adam JK, Stanley Donwood, Justin Bieber, Lana Del Rey, Mundokartoon. I’m themaninh, nice to meet you!