Friday, November 14, 2014

Intimacy and social media

Communication screen to screen. The text messages and the images of the person. But not the person. Not the body language. Not the eye contact. Not the nuance of the words. For all that social media brings, is it not communication backed up by intimacy.

It is the same with the art image. We get used to the image as it is marketing, decoration in print and electronic media, a life on the screen of google images. Scale, texture, mark-making, nuance, fine detail--all the intimacy of the piece and the individuality of the artist are lost.

Does the image on the screen entice the viewer to go see the piece in person? Purchase the piece, intimacy unseen? Has the originality been co-opted as a primary value in favor of wider visibility? Is art history the history of the reproduction or the history of the art?

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