Social networks have become access keys to the world of art and the ways of using them are a lot.
Here are the main ones…
Today thanks to the use of social networks in the art world it is possible to discover, learn and buy new works, talk to artists or choose to visit a museum, an exhibition or an art gallery through your smartphone.
Social networks have changed the way we relate and communicate with others.
Social networks are born as social and virtual networks, with the purpose to share passions, texts, images, videos, information.
Even the art world chose to be part of it, which is why there are more and more artists, gallery owners, collectors, professionals, museums and institutions who decide to share their work with the general public.
Thanks to digital, new professional skills are born for the world of art, with the task of communicating, with a view to promoting and enhancing the image of a museum or even for the sale of the works of an artist through the virtual social channel .
Social networks allow galleries to get in touch with new and potential customers, with some changes in their business models. Visionaries in this sense have proven to be Joe Kennedy and Jonny Burt, founders of the gallery The Unit London, first only virtual then real. In fact, the two want to sell art like YouTube does with music, making the market more accessible and close to millennial collectors.
The artists show their production or even use social media as a medium to create real works such as video, photography or digital art. A concrete example of success is that of the very young artist OLI EPP, who was able to tell his art, sell it to his collectors and then get noticed by galleries such as Semiose who today represents him. A millennial artist who works on the new generation and who makes himself known from the galleries through Instagram
Collectors create a personal virtual space, where through their profile they can promote their collection or find new works and artists, often becoming more and more public figures, case in point: Stefan Simchowitz, Jean Pigozzi or Yusaku Maezawa who has opened his own Youtube channel.
While professionals are able to find new customers and build a network of contacts, which becomes physical from the virtual. The most striking case remains that of Brett Gorvy, former president of Christie’s and current co-founder of the Lévy Gorvy gallery, who long ago posted the image of a Basquiat painting on his Instagram profile before flying to Hong Kong, where the auction was going to be held, he had already sold the work on landing.
Validation by the general public arrives through social networks, which shows its consent through “follow and like”, shortening barriers and creating completely new and unconventional phenomena, including economic ones.
But be careful: if on the one hand there is a great opportunity to be able to enter faster and unhinge the ancient art system, on the other hand there is the risk of being completely disconnected from the system of market, institutional and museum validations which determine the very value of art.
For this reason, it becomes fundamental to understand how to make the best use of social networks for art, learning to exploit its potential, also and above all by those who have already used them for some time.
