Good stuff. I echo a lot of the concerns and advice here. My natural instinct/ intuition, like a lot of people/ artists is to go the opposite direction that i see. Most artists do this whether they know it or not. Art is a form of rebellion with these platforms. Years ago I was commissioned to create the main lobby art (a vast complex chaos of thousands of lines intersecting with random thoughts and images) at Facebook’s headquarters in Palo Alto (not the Disney campus- the new one designed by Frank gehry). I’d know the design director who previously worked for Barack and got him elected. I know a lot of these artists who work for Mark Z and they all hate him. I mean despise him. While working on the art they asked me NOT to include Mark in the mural but include themselves and their friends and loved ones. As I went about creating the art I discovered I’m not obligated to be a force of hate. I included him anyway. I was immediately fired and they went into my file and manually removed Zuckerberg and rendered some crap in his place. The lawyers redrew the contract to allow this to happen three weeks into it. Then they took the art and used it again for free for the LA offices. They had a “supplier” named monster pay my tiny little stipend and I told them never to contact me again. They did years later and i obliged reluctantly. All this to say, they don’t care about you, your work or even their work. Their mission is to move fast and break things. Those things are you. Don’t let ‘em have you.
I appreciate you reading it, and also sharing that story. It sounds very interesting line with what I have heard from within the industry.
Despite living in the Bay, I have made a point to avoid that whole world, and hearing your experience being involved in it, and how they treat their creative talent, reinforces that decision!
This is excellent! I wrote a very similar piece recently for a print magazine that has yet to come out, even down to the phrase “creative stagnation”! Long story short, I quit Instagram a few years ago because I didn’t like the directions it was pushing my work in (as you say, the platform rewards what’s quick and easily digestible over more time-consuming, complex, or experimental work). While Instagram initially helped my work find an audience, the desire to gain and keep an audience began influencing what I created and preventing me from growing as an artist. Ultimately, removing myself was the right decision. I find the incentives on Substack much healthier, and I like to think I’ve matured enough to manage my relationship to the platform in a better way, but my IG experience will always make me vigilant about how the norms of a platform can influence the creative process.
Thank you!! I look forward to reading your piece, and especially hearing how it’s been being off of it for an extended period.
Its a fickle tool for sure, but I’ve begun feeling the scales tipping and it no longer being worth it, especially considering what’s lost when you give it such a big place in a creative practice. Thanks for reading :)
I’ve found myself at a point in life where I’m unsure how to go about sharing my photography, it’s why I jumped on here and have been loving how intimate and real everyone’s posts on here are. The “messiness” you mentioned is true authenticity and authenticity is what’s missing the most on instagram nowadays as people now try to just game the system to farm likes and engagement.
This is great and sums up so much of what I have been thinking and writing about too! We all want and deserve creative freedom, not just yet another algorithm to perform for where we don’t build real relationships, we just access exposure. 🥲
I quit in January right when Michael Stipe called for a boycott. I haven’t missed it. I have been thrilled by the friends who have reached out and connected beyond it. As an LGBTQ person, I’ll never be able to trust that platform again. The expectations and moving goal posts made it so unsustainable that watching this march towards “the end” makes perfect sense.
reluctantly i joined Instagram 6 months ago to build 2 accounts from scratch, in tandem with real life work/ offerings, and last week decided it wasn't worth it - my work falls into the slow, complex category, where often pieces exist in relation to one another. i didn't let it get me down though, i kept the momentum going over here with a rebranding and switching up of my pace - 2 posts a week instead of one a month. leaving also gave me that push to make a website that really worked for me (in process).
(i had a personal account but deleted it along with facebook years ago in favour of other modes of communication - it was that feeling of giving a lot and getting not very much that did it for me).
i actually write about this in a post on here that comes out tomorrow, if you want to look out for it. i'm glad these discussions are being had, i think it's really hard to exist as an artist without it because it is so enmeshed in how we understand a creative person's persona and work, but i think departing from it/ decentering it is truly necessary.
people who think in alternative ways are perhaps more comfortable with this. i think the art world needs more gumption. idk, it's hard. the change will be messy, and as someone who likes things neat and orderly i can tell that for me personally that aspect will challenge me.
This is a great summary of a complicated situation. I’m no longer posting my own content on IG, and I feel shame in telling you it’s not been easy! It offered me all of the things you’ve mentioned—but it no longer serves me. We are the content who make so many less deserving (techbros) rich.
My soul enjoys the slower approach over here (on Substack), but my wallet has taken a hit. And that’s okay. True change isn’t cheap.
Good stuff. I echo a lot of the concerns and advice here. My natural instinct/ intuition, like a lot of people/ artists is to go the opposite direction that i see. Most artists do this whether they know it or not. Art is a form of rebellion with these platforms. Years ago I was commissioned to create the main lobby art (a vast complex chaos of thousands of lines intersecting with random thoughts and images) at Facebook’s headquarters in Palo Alto (not the Disney campus- the new one designed by Frank gehry). I’d know the design director who previously worked for Barack and got him elected. I know a lot of these artists who work for Mark Z and they all hate him. I mean despise him. While working on the art they asked me NOT to include Mark in the mural but include themselves and their friends and loved ones. As I went about creating the art I discovered I’m not obligated to be a force of hate. I included him anyway. I was immediately fired and they went into my file and manually removed Zuckerberg and rendered some crap in his place. The lawyers redrew the contract to allow this to happen three weeks into it. Then they took the art and used it again for free for the LA offices. They had a “supplier” named monster pay my tiny little stipend and I told them never to contact me again. They did years later and i obliged reluctantly. All this to say, they don’t care about you, your work or even their work. Their mission is to move fast and break things. Those things are you. Don’t let ‘em have you.
Thanks Felix!
I appreciate you reading it, and also sharing that story. It sounds very interesting line with what I have heard from within the industry.
Despite living in the Bay, I have made a point to avoid that whole world, and hearing your experience being involved in it, and how they treat their creative talent, reinforces that decision!
Hope you’re well.
This is excellent! I wrote a very similar piece recently for a print magazine that has yet to come out, even down to the phrase “creative stagnation”! Long story short, I quit Instagram a few years ago because I didn’t like the directions it was pushing my work in (as you say, the platform rewards what’s quick and easily digestible over more time-consuming, complex, or experimental work). While Instagram initially helped my work find an audience, the desire to gain and keep an audience began influencing what I created and preventing me from growing as an artist. Ultimately, removing myself was the right decision. I find the incentives on Substack much healthier, and I like to think I’ve matured enough to manage my relationship to the platform in a better way, but my IG experience will always make me vigilant about how the norms of a platform can influence the creative process.
Thank you!! I look forward to reading your piece, and especially hearing how it’s been being off of it for an extended period.
Its a fickle tool for sure, but I’ve begun feeling the scales tipping and it no longer being worth it, especially considering what’s lost when you give it such a big place in a creative practice. Thanks for reading :)
Really great Gabe!
Hey Gabe, great read!
I’ve found myself at a point in life where I’m unsure how to go about sharing my photography, it’s why I jumped on here and have been loving how intimate and real everyone’s posts on here are. The “messiness” you mentioned is true authenticity and authenticity is what’s missing the most on instagram nowadays as people now try to just game the system to farm likes and engagement.
This is great and sums up so much of what I have been thinking and writing about too! We all want and deserve creative freedom, not just yet another algorithm to perform for where we don’t build real relationships, we just access exposure. 🥲
I quit in January right when Michael Stipe called for a boycott. I haven’t missed it. I have been thrilled by the friends who have reached out and connected beyond it. As an LGBTQ person, I’ll never be able to trust that platform again. The expectations and moving goal posts made it so unsustainable that watching this march towards “the end” makes perfect sense.
reluctantly i joined Instagram 6 months ago to build 2 accounts from scratch, in tandem with real life work/ offerings, and last week decided it wasn't worth it - my work falls into the slow, complex category, where often pieces exist in relation to one another. i didn't let it get me down though, i kept the momentum going over here with a rebranding and switching up of my pace - 2 posts a week instead of one a month. leaving also gave me that push to make a website that really worked for me (in process).
(i had a personal account but deleted it along with facebook years ago in favour of other modes of communication - it was that feeling of giving a lot and getting not very much that did it for me).
i actually write about this in a post on here that comes out tomorrow, if you want to look out for it. i'm glad these discussions are being had, i think it's really hard to exist as an artist without it because it is so enmeshed in how we understand a creative person's persona and work, but i think departing from it/ decentering it is truly necessary.
people who think in alternative ways are perhaps more comfortable with this. i think the art world needs more gumption. idk, it's hard. the change will be messy, and as someone who likes things neat and orderly i can tell that for me personally that aspect will challenge me.
Is the image at the top of the essay an example of the type of artwork that IG rewards?
This is a great summary of a complicated situation. I’m no longer posting my own content on IG, and I feel shame in telling you it’s not been easy! It offered me all of the things you’ve mentioned—but it no longer serves me. We are the content who make so many less deserving (techbros) rich.
My soul enjoys the slower approach over here (on Substack), but my wallet has taken a hit. And that’s okay. True change isn’t cheap.