The modern artist is faced with the same conundrum that has faced artists since the dawn of the creative spirit.

“How do I build an audience for my work when no one knows my work exists?”

Yet, today, we have social media platforms with which to showcase our work, lead people to our exhibitions, and get the masses to take an interest in what we are creating.

The problem is, that these platforms are oversaturated with art and artists, all vying for attention to be seen, noticed, and appreciated. Every style imaginable, every minute of every day, and from every corner of the globe, people are posting work that typically gleans a 3 second view from each viewer. Some yield a second or two more if the work is more interesting or animated.

It’s like being a blade of grass and trying to stand out and be seen as unique on an infinite lawn.

No matter how much heart and work we put into our passion and post it to social media, the chances of gaining significant exposure are still very slim. We can build a modest audience or even amass an impressive following. But, for most of us, we strive – often in vain – to attract just enough likes to keep us engaged with social media and post our next creation.

The trouble is that the whole thing is just so incredibly awkward!

Whether you’re the artist trying to appeal to strangers to harvest “likes” and “comments,” or if you’re the viewer being force fed the content of strangers who are all posed as friends to get you to follow.

In the analog world, we keep our heads down getting on the bus or train, keep our words to ourselves boarding planes, and try to blend in as camouflaged as possible so not to stand out to loudly and attract unwanted attention. Occasionally, we encounter an individual who steps outside the norm and collectively the world raises an eyebrow and moves past quickly and without contact.

But, in the digital world, opinions drop like rain and people posture themselves in exaggerated roles to appear more of what they truly are or represent. It’s not an isolated phenomenon; it’s just about everyone on social media. 

The irony is that while some content creators produce viral material that gets notable recognition and may be potentially lucrative, there’s an entire realm of content creators whose material is, for lack of a better word, noise.

Go to the grocery store some time and instead of writing a list of things you need to buy, try writing a list of things you don’t need to buy. Walk down the aisle and list out all the items you walk past that you’ll never buy. Pineapple juice. Red pepper relish. Escarole. Duraflame logs. Canadian Mint candies. You probably won’t have enough paper to write down just two aisle’s worth of products.

That’s because the grocery store stocks inventory that appeals to every type of shopper, in hopes that when you come in looking for Irish butter, they’ll have it right there and ready for you. It’s kind of the same with social media – except with 100,000 times the inventory on the shelves. 

This creates a visual noise that keeps us from getting directly to what we’re looking for in the first place. In the grocery store analogy, it’s like going in for a gallon of milk, but coming out with bread, cereal, lettuce, tomatoes, and a six pack of Gatorade, too. We’re easily distracted by the noise and, without any intention, get caught up in the content we weren’t even looking for.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone on Instagram or Tik Tok and found myself delving into the rabbit hole of content that is so far from what my initial search was for. These platforms are designed like this to continually introduce us to new and unique content. However, that content is most often just noise or junk that fills the shelves between what we want and what we need.

Unlike the grocery store, social media platforms allow a lot of misrepresentation to exist within that noise. People who are not versed in a subject or field, yet who portray themselves as someone who is. This is especially evident with artists. When I first joined the YouTube community, it was partly because of the frustration I felt watching amateur artists pose as professionals. People with very little skill offering tutorials on subjects they knew almost nothing about. Self-proclaimed artists reviewing products they had no idea how to use.

For me, I clung to those content creators on YouTube who I learned to trust. People who backed up what they said with what they were doing. I still follow those same creators, even year’s later. 

Learning to tune out the noise and follow only those creators who provide entertaining or informative content that’s worth come back to can be time consuming and tricky, especially when living a busy life. But, it’s important not to be lured into the irrelevant material and dragged into that rabbit hole where it’s possible to spend hours upon hours consuming junk.

Again, like the grocery store analogy, when there are free samples and special deals on items we’d never normally purchase, it can be easy to fill our cart with items we simply don’t need and never really wanted in the first place.

One of my favorite grocery experiences is a place in Lexington, Massachusetts called Wilson Farms. It’s a huge farm-style shopping center where you can buy all your staple items, but where you can also find things you never knew you wanted until you saw them. For me, it was pickled walnuts, jalapeño mustard, and a sweet potato pecan pie. I mean, that pie was the best thing I’ve ever had!

It’s easy to get carried away shopping at Wilson Farms and even easier to spend double – or triple – what was intended. But, it’s still fun!

With social media platforms, another aspect of it that can be socially awkward is when we post our creative output and have to spend our time responding to comments. Some people leave a brief, “So cool!” or “Wow this is great!” to make us feel good about the work we’ve posted. But, sometimes people leave odd comments that leave us without any reason to reply. For example, I’ve had a lot of people compare my work to artists like Edward Gorey, Matt Groening, the artists of Mad Magazine, and Al Hirschfeld. These are kind compliments, but I don’t actually know the people who are leaving these comments. Sometimes people offer their unsolicited opinions, despite nobody asking. And when people declare how my work is similar to something they did, it can be extremely awkward to respond.

I find the best thing to do is just brush off any weird, awkward, or obscure comments and delete anything offensive or inappropriate. Still, it doesn’t make any of it easier to process, especially when the feedback is unproductive or unflattering. Some people don’t have the etiquette to refrain from commenting on everything they consume.

While I enjoy posting my work and sharing my creative journey and experiences with a community of like-minded people, I still find it a bit distressing trying to keep up with it all. Reading, sorting, liking, commenting, and even deleting or blocking. It can all take up huge amounts of time. And when we spend that kind of time focusing on people we don’t even know, then perhaps it’s worth reviewing and revisiting our role on social media and what our expectations are from it.

Otherwise, we’re just filling up our carriage with a lot of unwanted items that we may never use but which we gathered at great expense.

Thank you for reading. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic and what your experiences may have been.

As always, take care and stay well! 

Mark