A New Era – How the Internet Changed Art

“Sharing of images through websites, blogs, and social media have enabled Street Artists to go directly to the audience without the filtering of gatekeepers” (From Chapter 2.5, in an interview on Viral Art).

Art has been a key part of cultures from around the world for centuries, but in its long history it has never undergone as rapid and tremendous a shift as it has in the last 60 years. Beginning with the advent of graffiti art in the 1960s, and continuing through the present day with new websites that are created every day that contribute to the culture of artists.

Largely because of the internet, artists are finding it easier to have their work seen and appreciated by individuals who may not have been able to find their work before. The internet has made it possible for people to interact with others who share a similar niche interest that would have gone unsatisfied before.

The internet has helped jump-start a new age of artistic expression. Artists and their work are now paraded around the web, being seen by millions of people worldwide. Now you can see street art from Paris, Buenos Aires, or Berlin without ever leaving your couch. Other artists have also found a home in the internet, gaining followers from around the world without needing to have gallery’s or sell their pieces on the street. This shift has created an opportunity for artists who would otherwise go unnoticed to be seen all over the world. Because of this, art has changed dramatically, and more than ever before it is being used as a way to prove a point or convey a message.

In order to understand street art, and the internet’s affect on it, it is important to understand graffiti and how it began; especially given that it is a relatively new occurrence. Graffiti began in New York City in the mid 1960s and slowly progressed through the subway system. Everyday people started seeing the art front the trains and some began to try and make their own. Communities slowly formed through chance meetings between different artists. Artists would meet at so called “Writers Benches” that had good vantage points of train routes that were known for their graffiti. In 1974 the Nation of Graffiti Artists was formed with the aim of taking artists off the streets and giving them a space to meet with other artists and perform their craft on canvas, in a legal setting. However, this soon became a place for artists to meet up and plan trips to illegal tagging spots, undermining the original purpose of the group.

After the Nation of Graffiti Artists proved less than successful, many artists were able to find a livelihood through the art form by selling their prints. Then came the Soul Artists; a collective that started out a as a graffiti crew, but graduated to having their own store that sold prints. This store became a popular meeting place for other artists as well, and went on to fulfill a similar function to what the Nation of Graffiti Artists had aimed to be. The connections being made at the Soul Artists store began to reach farther and in the winter of 1980 and 1981 graffiti started to make the news. By 1983 the Soul Artist group fell apart and it’s members moved on. But by this time graffiti had already taken hold of the community. Kids were growing up seeing the street art and were tagging the walls faster than the rest of the community could clean them. Starting in 1996 graffiti found a home on the internet with the website Art Crimes. This website helped individual artists promote their work through a system that wasn’t restricted to a certain geographical area. 

From graffiti, artists slowly moved to a new style that was less about an individuals name or signature “tag” and more about representing an image, or telling a story. This new form was street art, and it gave artists a whole new canvas. Street artists have often gone to the streets to send a message that they couldn’t say anywhere else. One of the earliest websites that began promoting street art was the Wooster Collective.

Graffiti effectively jumpstarted a new mentality around art. After the emergence of graffiti, art quickly progressed to a whole new level through social interaction and the invention of the internet, which made it possible for more people to have access to art from around the world.

There are several websites that have helped this shift in art culture. First is DeviantART, which describes itself as “the world’s largest online community of artists and art-lovers.” It can be thought of as a Facebook for artists, with extra options that are tailored to an artists needs. Second is Street Art Utopia, which is essentially a massive database of street art from around the world.

According to Steve Harrington and Jaime Rojo – a duo that makes up Brooklyn Street Art and writes about street art for the Huffington Post and has published two books on the subject – “The internet has made it possible for the artists and the public to have a greater direct, relatively unfiltered relationship to one another.” (Chapter 2.5 on Viral Art).

DeviantART has created a massive user base of 33 million people, that have posted 295 million pieces of art. It gives artists the ability to gain a following by allowing them to:

• create a profile
• set up galleries for their artwork
• communicate and collaborate with other artists
• make money selling their art

These capabilities are things that were only available to artists that had the opportunity to show their art at a gallery. Before the internet, gaining a following and selling your art was largely done through these gallery shows, which can only show your work in one area to a limited number of people. The internet has quite literally become these artists galleries. Artists now have the ability to show their art to millions of people by simply posting it on deviantArt. The website helps your work gain visibility by categorizing both artists and their work. It gives you the ability to search by artist, style, popularity, artists looking for critiques, random posts, keywords, and more. All of these give unknown or new artists a better chance of being discovered. DeviantART also includes a community aspect that allows artists to interact with each other and give feedback on their work. In addition to the above, the website “curates” a massive online store that makes it extremely simple to sell art to anyone on the internet.

Street Art Utopia is quite different from deviantART, though in some ways it helps perform similar functions. To start, Street Art Utopia is dedicated strictly to street art (hence the name). It also doesn’t allow users to post on their own or create profiles. It does allow people to post comments through Facebook, which is how the curator of the website determines the Most Beloved photos, a series of lists of photographs of the most liked street art from a given month of posts. Another way that Street Art Utopia allows users to customize their experience is by looking at a list of artists that have had several pictures of their work posted. The ability for users to follow specific users is something that wasn’t possible before the internet. Or if it was possible, not on the scale that it is possible today.

Before looking at research that I have conducted, I would like to look at several contradictions that are in a way inherent in the idea of looking at art on the internet. First we must stipulate what the true purpose of art really is, and whether it is meant to be viewed only in person. Second, is the irony that street art is, in most cases, illegal, and therefore internet fame may be detrimental to the artists themselves. Creating a way of following a certain street artist may result in the end of that street artists’ work. Finally, we must examine the idea of time in relation to public art and street art, art forms that may be ephemeral at their core.

In person, or on the internet from the comfort of your home – how is art (especially street art) meant to be experienced? Many people feel that the experience is different when you view art in person. Part of art is the environment that it is in, especially in the case of street art “so much of what makes a piece interesting is the area that it’s in, is it hard to get to, is the street dirty, is it busy or deserted?” An artist is attached to a given area and is affected by their surroundings when creating art. Can you say that people would experience the Mona Lisa the same way if seen in the Louvre versus in a grungy alleyway surrounded by trash and miscreants? It would likely be viewed very differently. Does this mean that art is ruined when seen on the internet? Not necessarily. It is different to say the least, but it is possibly most affected by the photographer. “The person who takes a photo can skew the view point, depending on the angle that it’s taken at they can hide an ugly side of the street, or they can highlight the beautiful flowers that are opposite the art.” Art is most definitely different when viewed in person or through cyberspace, but that does not mean that it is inherently wrong to look at art on the internet. However, there must be an understanding that it is affected by people other than the artist if it is seen on the internet.

In response to the second idea, how street art is largely illegal, garnering followers may be counteractive for the artist. One should read this article by the New York Times about B.N.E., and watch this documentary about Banksy. Both are instances of artists who perform illegal activities and become famous because of their work. It is an interesting idea, becoming famous through an art form that in many cases is meant to be anonymous. B.N.E. was given the opportunity to have an art show because of his widespread notoriety. Banksy has also put on exhibitions of his art, and sold books with photographs of his pieces from around the world. He recently gained even more fame through his month long show on the streets of New York titled: Better Out Than In. Other street artists, quite obviously, never become famous, and thus don’t have to worry about balancing the legality of their art form with the art itself. But for those that do, there is constant debate about whether or not the artist should be arrested.

Lastly, we look at art in relation to time, and it’s interaction with the internet as a chronicler of past events. Street art and public art take place in open areas that cannot be controlled by any one person. (Even if the government tries to control the streets, we are constantly reminded when we see graffiti that they can hardly restrict the graffiti at all.) Because of this, artists and their work are at the mercy of time, weather, and the next artist that comes along. Some locations have been covered hundreds of times by different artists, and it is accepted by all of those artists that their art lasts only as long as it takes another artist to find that spot and cover it up with their own mural or tag. Because art that is exhibited on the street is at the mercy of other people, it can be preserved through the internet. It is less important to have a picture of the Mona Lisa because it is very unlikely that it will be painted over tomorrow. Whereas with street or public art, giving everyone a copy by taking a picture and posting it on the internet before it is covered or taken down can make it last a lifetime, rather than hours.

When asked if the internet affected their work, an artist that I questioned said “definitely, the art I create is affected every time I’m inspired by something new that, in this day and age, was probably found on the internet.” When asked how the internet has changed the way they work, an artist replied with “it’s easy to get quick cash if you have an online following … Other than that networking. Finding an actual job online is pretty much the way to do it now a days.” When asked if they use internet specific tools to spread their work (hashtags, tags, Twitter or Instagram names) an artist responded with “So far I have an interestingly large following on Instagram.  It’s extremely easy to post, and receive followers with or without tagging.” Based on these responses alone it is very clear that the internet has had a massive impact on art and the way it is created.

In conclusion, the internet has not necessarily been detrimental to art and the culture surrounding it, although it has definitely changed it. The internet can lend permanence to short term pieces, it can provide inspiration, and it can connect artists with each other and with viewers. These three things, among others, have led to a massive shift in the culture of art that is thriving today.

RESEARCH

In order to research how art has changed, and how it’s followers have changed, I decided to look at it from two angles. First, the angle of the artist; and second, the angle of the viewer. I did this because there may be measurable differences in how these two groups interact with art; and one group may have noticed a change, while the other has not. I asked these two groups two different sets of questions that are tailored to their position in relation to art.

Questions asked of artists:

• How has the internet changed the way you work?
• Has the internet affected the art that you create?
• Does the internet make being an artist easier or harder?
• Have you gained a following for an art form that is illegal because of the anonymity that the internet can give you?
• Have you noticed specific online groups that are dedicated to your work or your peers’ work?
• Do you feel that the internet can lend a sense of permanence to an inherently short term art form?
• Do you incorporate a hashtag, Instragram name or Twitter handle into any of your work? If so, have you noticed an increase in responses to your work because of the connections you can now make with your viewers, even if you may never see them in person?

Questions asked of viewers:

• Do you think the internet has affected artists’ work?
• Are you more likely to be involved in the art world because of the internet?
• Do you wish that artists utilized the internet differently in regards to their work?
• Have you ever been a part of a group online that is dedicated to a particular artist or following street art in general?

I have transcribed the responses for some of the questions below.

How has the internet changed the way you work?

“The internet has changed the way I work tremendously. If you’re speaking in terms of revenue: it’s easy to get quick cash if you have an online following. However you are dealing with everyday people who don’t know professional rates. So I charge very little for my commissions as opposed to what industry standards would offer me. But usually I can fit into a fandom to create art for. Other than that networking. Finding an actual job online is pretty much the way to do it now a days. … Still twitter, tumblr, and YouTube are good places to be stumbled upon if you advertise or tag the right way.”

Has the internet affected the art that you create?

“Being connected to the internet means being connected to other people, places, etc. That fact, in general, means that sources of inspiration are no longer limited to just my immediate surroundings. So, definitely, the art I create is affected every time I’m inspired by something new that, in this day and age, was probably found on the internet.”

“The internet has affected the art I create for sure. In both bad and good ways. It can be a powerful reference tool if you need to look something up really quickly. It can even be a good source of information if none is coming in. Sometimes I get little sparks here and there by seeing something on tumblr or YouTube. But, if you rely too heavily on the internet as more than just a quick reference or inspiration source, it can do the reverse and completely suck your time and energy away.”

Does the internet make being an artist easier or harder?

“It depends on how you look at it. It makes it easier because your access to resources is limitless. There’s tutorials if you want to learn, step by steps, line by lines. Artists are able to put their processes up on the internet and share it with the world. If you want to learn a certain technique, you can just look up how to do it. But because of that, it’s kind of like, well, now everyone can do that. Everybody can learn to paint a flower like a pro? But if everyone learns how to do it then everybody is a pro. Then, is anybody? It just makes it harder to be original.”

“Being an artist is just hard. It doesn’t matter how much you scroll, or research, most of the drive has to come from you and what you see. It’s handy for sure. But the hardest part of being an artist for me is not taking it so personally/not blowing up when I fail/hating my art. Having the various communities that ask for art is always nice to fall back on though. But again, it’s hard to get a following if you don’t have time for it every day.”

Do you feel that the internet can lend a sense of permanence to an inherently short term art form?

“Maybe. I think with some pieces, their short-term existence is a part of its overall appeal. For instance, I did this installation piece with hanging flowers and charcoal rubbings in Ireland. It was amazing, I loved it, but the pictures I took, even the videos, that are currently up on the Internet could never do it justice. The time and place were very much reflected and necessary to its success. It was a very “had to be there” piece, a very need-to-see-in-person project. I went into it knowing that I’d have to take it all down after a couple hours, so I don’t feel like having on the internet makes it seem any more permanent. It was there, and now it’s gone. It’s internet presence is more of an “Oh, this happened” documentation rather than a “This artwork is here forever and will never die” thing. ”

Do you incorporate a hashtag, instragram name or twitter handle into any of your work? If so, have you noticed an increase in responses to your work because of the connections you can now make with your viewers, even if you may never see them in person?

“I’ve never incorporated anything like that directly into my work, but, yeah, sometimes I like to tag my stuff with like #art or #paintings or whatever. And it always increases responses. I mean, that’s simply because it increases exposure, though. Now, not just your followers or friends can see it, but everyone who decides to check out that tag.”

“So far I have an interestingly large following on Instagram. It’s extremely easy to post, and receive followers with or without tagging. It all depends on how frequently you upload, no matter where you go. Instagram isn’t easy to make money on unless you really try to. It’s full of younger people. Deviantart is the same. Except it’s harder to get followers and commissions. Again. You must have time to update. Furaffinity is another big one. despite people being absolutely appalled by furries, they’re nice people. And they make good money. They also spend good money on commissions and are avid art collectors.”

Do you think the internet has affected artists’ work?

“Yes. Street art has basically changed mediums since people started posting pictures and starting discussions about street art online. Street artists paint/create for the people who will see it in person as well as for the many more who will see it online.”

Are you more likely to be involved in the art world because of the internet?

“Absolutely. Access to museums, exhibits, and street art is limited, both for patrons and for artists themselves. The internet allows more people to participate. One could also argue, though, that the internet has changed street art (and art in general) so much that this positive aspect is also a negative one.”

Have you ever been a part of a group online that is dedicated to a particular artist or following street art in general?

“Not a group, but I followed multiple picture, writing and video blogs for street artists (graffiti, murals), street performance artists (dance, improv) and temporary public art projects.”

Do you think the internet has affected artists’ work?

“Yes, I do. The abundance of art on the internet, video, music, graphic design, design overall has shaped new ideas. Once gets to see art from all over the world, something that wasn’t possible prior to the internet without much expense and hassle.”

Are you more likely to be involved in the art world because of the internet?

“I don’t know. Maybe differently. There seems to be so much more art online as well as offline. Or maybe it’s just that we know more about it. I do think creativity has blossomed and continues to do so.”

Have you ever been a part of a group online that is dedicated to a particular artist or following street art in general?

“No, I haven’t been part of a particular group. I have been exposed more to the intersection of art and urbanization. For example I am fascinated with New York’s HiLine Project and the possibilities of the LoLine. I am also intrigued how artists, from food growers to sculptors can engage with the public in urban settings. I also love how dilapidated buildings can be rejuvenated through street art.”