Is studying other artists on social media getting in your own way?

THE SOCIAL MEDIA GAP

I’ve spent a good part of the last five years studying and looking up to other artists, mainly, those who found their following and success on social media (Emily Jeffords, Laurie Anne Gonzalez, etc.). I also spent time studying the classics, of course, especially artists whose work I just love to look at and whose style differs greatly from mine (Hiroshige, Turner, Shiele, Mitchell, Dufy, Wou-Ki… my favorites).

It wasn’t until last year that I started to notice a potential downfall of spending too much time studying artists on social media versus artists who found success by other paths. In art design, they call this the “design gap” and I think it now applies quite broadly to any artist trying to build their own brand.

The thing about building a brand is that art, especially in the first few years of developing your craft, does not fit into a brand. Art is not a nice sweater which may change fabrics or design over the seasons, but is still, at its core, a nice sweater. Art is constantly evolving, extremely personal, subject to extreme highs and lows of energy and spirit - highly dependent on the artists’ emotional balance in life.

For this reason, developing a brand before giving art and yourself time to expand can be…distracting. Social media exponentially grows the gap between “brand” and “art quality” by giving artists a brief look at a brand and a practice which may have taken decades to build. A perfect artist’s brand has been whittled down to a single, beautiful image on your phone - which looks, as it's supposed to, very pleasing, easily accomplished and “brand-perfect”.

In order to get away from “perfecting a brand” and instead give space for the art itself to expand, would it be beneficial to spend less time working on a brand, and more time working on art? How?

There is no very good advice for spending less time star-gazing at the artists we look up to and want to become. However, in this specific aspect of art development, there comes a time where a very simple brand is absolutely good enough, and working on art can, and should, become the main focus.

If the process of branding is losing a light, creation aspect, it may be a sign that there is too much focus on the brand and not enough on the art. If you are trying to create a brand so that your art looks like it, there is wisdom in having that vision - but the jump to creating the art to match will never happen if you’re still trying to drag the art, forcefully, up to meet the brand - instead of letting the art speak for itself while the brand builds and enhances it.

It’s very difficult to navigate. As an artist, studying other artists' websites, social media and styles of presenting work has been crucial in the way I build out the more business-like parts of my art practice. Without someone to look up to, I also would never have had an idea of what I want and desire for the future - I would have had a very hard time picturing success as no one in my community or that I know personally was ever, or has ever, done anything close.

But the focus, the entire point, the whole thing - it still has to be about the art, not the brand. That’s where the social media gap will really devastate an up-and-coming artist. Looking at artists while simultaneously knowing your art requires more time and energy, effort and years to develop can be very painful. As artists, we see visually perfect brands and desire them to be ours, on a visceral, very emotional level. The personal connection to a succesful artist can feel like a calling unto itself.

I don’t have the answer to how to solve this gap, but I know that in my practice, I wish there had been a way to accept a simplified version of branding, so that I could focus on the art itself. I wish there had been a little more separation between what I thought was where I needed to go, and where I actually needed to put my effort, in the present moment. This, as it turns out, has always and will indefinitely be, on practicing and creating my art.

Send me an email with any questions or further discussion. Thank you for reading!

Avery Ches is a chalk pastel painter and photographer focusing on big sky landscapes and nude forms. Originally from Kentucky, she calls New Orleans, LA her home in the US. You can follow her daily art practice on Instagram.