The Challenges of Being an Art Creative in this Internet Age by Ayorinde Ogundele
Being a ‘creative’ is a new profession that wouldn’t have been acknowledged as such decades ago.
A creative is a person who can invent and develop original ideas, especially in the arts. But in this present age of the internet, it refers to anyone who creates “content” - which is anything that captures enough attention on the internet. Now for us in the visual arts world, the battle for attention is hardly ever in our favour.
During the early stages of Instagram, it was a healthy ecosystem for artists to showcase their works but now one has to offer sacrifices to the god of algorithms through dancing, singing and creating memes/reels to garner visibility. There have also been allegations that Instagram limits a post’s reach just so the artist can create more.
The internet age has had positive and negative effects on human psychology. It has provided us with the ability to connect and reach a wider audience but has also reconfigured our psyche to underappreciate physical interactions while acting as an avenue for hate crimes as well as fraud and deception.
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For visual creatives, reaching the right audience can be a challenge and the most infuriating part is how one is indirectly forced to showcase their work based on what is currently going viral.
Luckily there are some ways to counter these pitfalls:
When creating art with the consumer's expectations in mind, you are bound to be critical of your ability to create something worthy.
Unhealthy Saturation: When creating art with the consumer's expectations in mind, you are bound to be critical of your ability to create something worthy. Moreover, when opportunities are scarce and ill-matched to skill sets, this can create a cache of undervalued artists. Nepotism (the practice among those with power or influence of favouring relatives, friends, or associates, especially by giving them jobs), also acts as a prominent source of discouragement for artists who lack a ‘godfather’ figure or mentor that can aid them in their struggle to the top.
In cases where constructive criticism is lacking, successful artists can also get sucked up by their success and might put out anything under the guise of ‘contemporary art’.
Remedy: You will always have new artists and platforms emerging in the artistic space but self-belief, determination and hard work can set you apart. The road can be bumpy at the beginning of your artistic career, but perseverance helps you stand out.
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Depression: Whether temporary or long-term, most people have felt depressed at some point. As an artist, the depression that comes with under-performance is often under-recognized. It destabilises the artist and eventually, their dream may end up being nothing more than a smoke screen.
If an artist isn't surrounded by people who share in their vision it can make them downplay their ability to be successful and standout. This in turn can drive them to seek validation from the internet (which most times is not very kind).
Remedy: Visiting a therapist to help with the situation is always a welcome idea. A change of habits, routines, and social circles can also be useful when trying to get out of a depressive state. You deserve to see your future self win, so get up, make some positive life-changing decisions, shake off the old you and get ready for this new chapter of your life.
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Brain Fog: is characterized by confusion, forgetfulness, and a lack of focus and mental clarity. When their work begins to gain traction and exposure, artists can have a hard time determining what to create next. This can be daunting especially where one pegs the number of interactions or engagement on the internet as a metric for success. If you’ve had a good streak with impressive interactions and the numbers suddenly start to fall, the app is likely trying to restrict your audience so you can probably pay for a function or promote your work through ads. As a result, you can get disoriented and confused about what to create or how to plan. Brain fog can also be linked to depression and a lack of zeal to persevere.
Remedy: As an artist, we rely on inspiration to work, and the inspiration can come from our perspective on life, at times the music we listen to, or the books we read. Unfortunately, research is a crucial process that most artists choose to skip. To overcome brain fog, we need discipline and a healthy routine to follow. This is crucial because we tend to be too hard on ourselves when we want to get out of a mental situation that is holding us back.
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Artificial Intelligence (AI): The use of AI is increasing and a lot of jobs are being lost. AI has made it easy for cloning and plagiarism which opens the door to fraudulent activities. For artists (most especially visual artists e.g. painters, photographers, videographers etc) AI is causing a huge scare in our careers right now as most of what we offer can easily be replicated by typing some keywords on a website.
Remedy: While we have to acknowledge that AI has made things relatively easier, we also have to remind ourselves of what art stands for. The potency of art is in its ability to create relatable emotions which AI isn't quite able to reproduce. In as much as AI might seem to pose a threat to creatives, we can also use it to our advantage in terms of inspiration and research. When we improve our skills, the indispensable nature of our service is reflected, ultimately reinforcing our place in the world of creativity.
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