We read literature on e-readers and listen to music through Ipods so it was only a matter of time before we would start viewing art through social media.
It was on Twitter, scrolling down my Tweet feed, that my eye was drawn to a Tweet from the Saatchi Gallery – an arresting image and the caption – ‘If you can’t make it down to our new exhibition, make sure to check out Pangaea on Pinterest!’
Clicking through the link brought me directly to the board ‘Pangaea: New art from Africa and Latin America’ and it appeared that I had landed in the heart of the Saatchi Gallery Pinterest page, where 44 boards have been carefully collated, documenting images of exhibitions from the gallery past and present showing a dazzling array of art from the gallery archives.
For a time starved, cash poor art lover, I feel I have experienced a revelation. Although nothing can beat the quiet solace of an afternoon spent soaking up art splashed over gallery walls, there is something to be said for a quick fix on your Thursday lunch break. Many will say that by photographing art and pinning it onto Pinterest the art is reduced, and that something has been taken away from it. However, is it not better to see this merely as a progression in how art is communicated – an area that is frequently accused of elitism and attached to social stigma. Placing images on Pinterest may have changed the energy of the art, but the essence is still there and by opening up art to a new audience on social media the gallery is able to not only strengthen its marketing strategy, but also engage with its audience in a new way – which is, after all, what art is a about.