The art community is growing rampant across social media. Some might say artists have an advantage they’ve never had all throughout history. After all, we can post our art on dozens of social platforms and people can view our work world wide, right? The answer isn’t so black and white. It’s both easier and harder for artists to become known.

Technology has allowed artists many advantages that the majority of humanity hasn’t been privy to prior, for sure. Today anyone can easily get started and distribute their work and even mass produce copies of their work in no time at all. There are so many resources free through YouTube alone, it seems almost silly not to jump on the band wagon and start promoting yourself as an artist online. The age of social media has created the perfect opportunity to just post your creative heart felt work on platforms and thrive like a field of palm trees! Seriously, have you ever tried to pull even a little sprout out of the ground? Those suckers are strong and boy do they put out seed and thrive. They just keep going! Anyways, using technology to our advantage is a dream. It sounds great, doesn’t it? I mean who doesn’t want to create art and have it selling like hot cakes on a Sunday morning at a IHop with a few techy commitments?

The catch? Beating the algorithm and staying relevant long enough to gain a following. Even better, making out like a bandit and going viral. Navigating the algorithm begrudgingly requires an extra set of skills and strategies that artists today are being pressured and maybe even forced to attain. At least in order to keep up with this progressively artificial world. It takes a lot of creative energy out of artists just to thrive on social media and maintain a presence in the sea of talent. Because there certainly is a lot of it. I cannot tell you the growing amount of online artists I have witnessed feeling bogged down by the grind of performing for social media platforms just to keep up with the algorithm. The love for art and the desire to create it from a place of true inspiration dwindles when creative though is being zapped from artists who’s time and energy is focused on feeding the media beast.

To put it bluntly… It’s so easy for artists to use technology to get started and promote themselves that everyone is doing it! I noticed a few years back this increasingly became the case as more and more people learned they could use social media platforms to make money. Now, suddenly everyone wants to do YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, etc. And why shouldn’t they? It’s a great idea, especially for creatives and entrepreneurs. Unfortunately, here lies the issue. Oversaturation makes it harder for artists to be found. In turn, this means it is both easier and harder for artists to become known today. I once read a comment that mentioned that the popularity of celebrities in the 90’s was so different. Celebrities felt like unique and rare talent. Today people can hit celebrity status and go viral but that popularity just as quickly fizzles out before the next viral person comes along and your no longer unique, or relevant. Ok, so I can’t really remember the comment in full but that was basically what they were saying. I thought about this and to be honest, it’s true. Just as quickly as an artist pops in and hits the algorithm just right, something changes and if the subs didn’t click, you might fade into the background with the rest of the starving artists.

As if over saturation wasn’t bad enough, we now have artificial intelligence stealing the spot light from the much more deserving and preferred artists who actually have talent! One click and someone generates a watercolor portrait of someone’s beloved mama and it’s shipped overnight. What human can compete with AI? When people are willing to purchase effortless art? I can’t even marvel at AI art. It makes me feel sick. All I see is talent that has been stolen from the minds of wonderful artists. Scrapped without consent from the internet and pulverized and repackaged as if it is quality… Even worse, as if it’s actually talent. Where is the cry emoji when I need one? I’d like to take a moment to weep for all the talent in the world that is currently having to compete with those who love a good cheat code and haven’t worked their butts off to perfect an artistic skill a day in their life. Seriously, how do these people sleep at night? Please, go gain a talent or skill that doesn’t require undermining and looting artistry from the brilliant minds of mankind! At the core of humanity is the very unique ability to create. Never will I understand the desire to destroy such a beautiful and expressive talent for the sake of making a buck. Even worse at the risk of ruining the artistic community we all love!