A Black Friday art sale, a digital burnout, and an honest account of why I am choosing newsletters, real conversations and the work itself.
A sale in the middle of a crash-out
I had a crash-out for about the 40th time that year over existing online. Black Friday was also one of the best chances to sell work, and I needed to sell because bills exist and the paintings were taking up too much space. Most of the people who see my work are artists, and many of us are broke, but sharing still helps.
So this is the awkward part where I ask you to look at the work or share the sale. I am trying to make a living from the objects I make, not hide the fact that an artist has to sell them.
Why I left the feed
I am not on social media, especially Instagram, because I cannot handle what it takes from me. I am not made to create clickbait, I do not agree with the direction of the internet, and I became addicted to an endless scroll that traded time, energy and human connection for fast dopamine.
The feed stopped feeling like photographs of friends. It became insecurity, violence, clickbait and distraction arranged like a slot machine. That is not a neutral environment for making work.
Touching grass by choice
I may still appear on social media through scheduled posts made off the app, because I live in society and have bills. The newsletter is different. Email, text and meeting in real life let me reach a person rather than an algorithm. I am terrible at texting, but if we meet with an interesting quest I will talk for hours.
Snail mail belongs here too. Write to me and I will write back. I care about making things, deep conversations, learning how to stay present, and adventure. I want the art to be strange because it is mine, not because a platform rewarded it.
The last peddle
The Black Friday sale was the practical request inside a larger decision. I want to paint and create without performing the clickbait dance when the payday never arrived.
The newsletter, the available originals and the archive are ways to build a direct relationship around the work. The sale is not separate from the practice. It is one of the ways the practice keeps its time.
Originally published on Substack