The Great Unfollowing

Latest works I completed this week. Feeling that "blue"- not to be confused with the blues.

My new morning routine while I sip coffee and scroll online is to clean up my Instagram. In particular-my art account @galleryrodriguez

Years ago as an experiment I hired one of those companies to organically grow your social media account. Basically they compliment a crapload of accounts all day and follow random people (although its supposed to be targeted to your specifications i.e. only art, design, galleries,etc) and as a result you get followed back. I was just curious how these entities work and ended the experiment after a few days.

There was tons of nonsense in my feed- bad erotic photography, instagram "models" and I use that word super loosely and sarcastically, basic moms in Russia, fitness coaches, profiles with one photo, etc. So as a result my following count WAY EXCEEDS the followers and if you know anything about the stupid algorithm-Instagram doesnt like it and will hide your posts. (Thanks Zuckerbish)

I should preface all this by saying I REALLY DO NOT CARE about Instagram and in fact I dislike it immensely since Facebook took it over. However- as a business I still need to get my business and art seen and connected so that means people actually need to be seeing my posts. So...the great unfollowing begins.

All these random profiles that do not pertain to my business, don't interact with me, are not even real or active...unfollowed! And it feels good to sweep my feed and see only art, artists I like, nature photography that is amazing and yes even just normal people if they have some authentic life to share.

Like one guy just posts humble photos of himself and his life with his cat and his yard and food- that would be grounds for deletion-but I can relate to his life. Theres no posturing, slick wannabe videos, filters or trying to be something he isn't. Its very real and authentic and I appreciate that.

I want to connect with what Im seeing and relate to it as a human. That's where Im at in life. I want real and genuine.

At first I felt bad about unfollowing some of these people but in reality they were not even following me back lol! So piu piu piu-gone! It feels good to shake the numbers down.

But don't spend too long on Instagram doing this because real life is way more important. Today is payroll work and painting time in the studio.

Live authenticly- the world really needs that right now.

Comments

Digital Vacation

Have you looked around and discovered you have filled your life with bad habits? If you said NO- good for you, you might not be human! 😁 I was experiencing a major BLAH and it was all because of ME. What I spent time on, consumed, did and did not do. I also felt like the willpower I used to have in abundance was gone and I wondered if I would ever get it back. First and foremost I had to look at my main bad habits. What was the very first thing I did every day. EVERY DAY! I reached for my phone, I social media blitzed my brain over two long cups of coffee every morning. I made sure to look at my MEMORIES like it was my job every day. Ruminating on the past and seeing everyone's angry opinions and celebrity/political posts and regurgitated memes ad nauseum....is actually not a very optimistic and healthy way for me to cruise into the day. Not only is this not good for my spirit it wasted almost two hours of every morning. 💀 That's precious time! I'm weaning mys...

So what's the Scenario?

Street Artist 'My Dog Sighs' Paints Faces on Cans Found Littered on the Street I found this interesting art on Pinterest and thought it would be a good example for a proposed scenario.....indulge me if you will.... The scenario is this....this street artist paints on cans. Pretty cool right? Pretty neat! He's probably not the only one who paints on cans in the world but he most likely is the only one in his little neck of the woods and art circle. Ok, let's pretend I invite this CAN painter to be in this big group show we do annually at my gallery. (This is pretend land, I dont have a gallery but roll with me...) Ok, he is a hit, everyone thinks his can faces are awesome and he's considered pretty unique for doing this medium in our little art circle. Ok fast forward into the future....it's a year later and it's time for our big annual show...here's the scenario....we don't invite the CAN artist to come show again BUT we do hand out a can ...

Top 10 Reasons

Have you seen Labyrinth? The scene where she finally realizes she had the power all along and that actually Gareth did not ...that's powerful stuff. My favorite part....aside from every scene with David Bowie prancing about in too tight leggings. 😁 My digital vacation got interrupted yesterday. I've still been checking my messages in Messenger because HI IM AN ART BUSINESS AND THAT DONT STOP. I was alerted that the scammer had hit up a mutual friend and because I was trying to be Art Spiderman I went swinging back online to see what was going on. Unfortunately the scammer got someone and I had to make another PSA about it to help my peeps understand what was going on. Barring that though... it's up to YOU to be SMART PROACTIVE RESEARCHING humanoids. I can't save you. Also my brief pop into fakebook gave me enough fodder to want to keep my vacation going. Here's what I was met with on messenger and on my page upon landing: 1. People pushing politics/celebrities ...

Art Plunge

Search This Blog