The internet presence/public persona of an artist is all just make believe. I think I'm an artist, therefore I am. All the different social media are just different avenues of the big electronic imaginary playpen we're in. Or is it a fishpond?
Full disclosure: I spend an inordinate amount of time on the internet. I don't mean wasting time at high speed on kitten videos and political rants. I'm not goofing around, I'm working on stuff: reading emails, researching exhibitions, writing, and posting on social media. And here's what I think about that.
If Van Gogh had been on Facebook, I'm pretty sure he and Gauguin would have been friends, and Gauguin could have messaged, "Dude! Not the ear!"
If Leonardo, the original poster child for ADHD, had been online, he would have accomplished pretty much zilch, because he would have been sucked into the vortex of Google, Wikipedia or OpenCourse lecture videos from MIT.
Shakespeare's Twitters would have more followers than Adele.
Botticelli could have Googled Savanarola and realized what a religious fanatic/nutjob the guy was and not burned all those magnificent paintings and drawings.
Mozart could have looked up his symptoms online and lived another 40 or 50 years.
Rembrandt would not have written an artist's statement, kept an organized résumé, or references, or any of that. But his website would have kicked ass.
Michelangelo would have done nothing differently. Well, maybe he would have found a few sources of marble online.
Ditto Cezanne - he would have just plugged away painting trees that look like fruit and fruit that looks like buildings.
See? I'm not goofing around at all. Seriously, I'm working on my blog!
Deborah Dendler website
Deborah Dendler Facebook page
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