How to Build a Successful Art Profile on Instagram?
Social media has significantly transformed the landscape of the art world, providing a revolutionary platform for artists of various disciplines, including painters, sculptors, photographers, and illustrators, to gain visibility and, sometimes, even achieve fame. This transformation, often capable of transcending traditional institutions and channels of art dissemination, has led to a democratization of art consumption and appreciation, aiming to directly reach a global audience. Indiscriminate and diversified consumption has lowered geographical and cultural barriers, offering unprecedented access to art from all corners of the world. This accessibility not only increases the visibility of artists but also changes the way art is valued and discovered. Now, even instant feedback from a diverse audience can elevate unknown artists to stardom, turning their creations into highly sought-after pieces. But what are the characteristics of a successful artist profile? I will answer this question first in a general manner, while later I will proceed to describe some Instagram accounts of five highly followed Artmajeur artists!
Unveiling Some Secrets: Instagram artist profiles effectively serve as digital portfolios, taking the form of a visual platform where images of artworks are uploaded, accompanied by descriptions and information about them, also aimed at directly interacting with potential buyers, collectors, and art enthusiasts. However, accounts that manage to garner millions of likes share several key characteristics, presenting exclusively high-resolution images, videos showcasing the creative process or the artist's storytelling, as well as carefully curated captions, biographies, and more general accompanying texts. Everything must be presented in an appealing, organized, creative, original, and distinctive manner, akin to creating another artwork intended to share the artist's life and work with the world through a meticulous narrative format. Yet, this does not lack spontaneity, with sudden desires to showcase even ordinary life, explicitly intervening to express goals, stories, and sometimes failures. Finally, the last ingredient is certainly the coherence of storytelling, whereby the painter or sculptor in question prefers to focus on a specific theme, style, or concept, intended to clearly define the nature of their work.
What is the key to the success of the 5 social media stars of Artmajeur?
THE PARADISE UNDERNEATH THE HORIZONT-23 (2015)Painting by Will Yu You Wei Yi
Will Yu
Will Yu is a contemporary Taiwanese painter with 202K followers. His work revolves around contemplation and depiction of the human figure, associated with philosophical concepts aimed at delving into people's psychological states. This is inexorably linked to the present, that is, to the current context, from which essential values emerge, such as "creative freedom, the fusion between true being and our daily actions, the symbiotic reality between the passing of days and the perception that pervades the sense of time." Finally, what more can be added about the artist? Will Yu's works, exhibited nationally and internationally, are also collected in museums, as well as by numerous private collectors. Now, we must discover why the artist has been successful on Instagram! The painter stands out for personalized content, showing details of works in progress where the brush moves to the rhythm of melancholic melodies and notes. It is evident that artistic creation arises from a meditative relaxation, aimed at investigating forms with the calmness of accuracy. Time passes and changes in the succession of gradually added color strokes, with hypnotic and relaxing movements, capable of enhancing a well-established realistic technique. In addition to this, there are images of events, photos, and videos of completed portraits, often accompanied by music with an ancient flavor. Finally, beyond what has been mentioned, the artist's profile proves to be consistent, engaging, and interesting because it presents itself as a gallery of faces with clearly recognizable emotions, able to synthesize the movements of the human soul.
CRAVE 2 (2024)Painting by Daria Kolosova
Daria Kolosova
Daria Kolosova, a Pop artist born beyond the Arctic Circle in Eastern Siberia (Yakutia), stands out for borrowing cartoon characters and sometimes even celebrity images to paint them on copper. This metal itself becomes part of the canvas, using a carefully studied and kept secret technique. The brilliance of the support has led the artist to coin the name of a new movement: "VIP Pop Art," conceived "for those who desire a bright popular image in an elite presentation." It all results incredibly bold and chic, to satisfy collectors who want something more than a "simple" and "standardized" Pop art. Now let's analyze an Instagram profile with 331K followers! Surely the sparkling copper works attract followers, also because the artist often shows how she paints them. But it's not just about art; it's also about the aesthetic of the character in question: the artist is a beautiful girl, who has nothing to envy to models. How could such a talented and charming woman, who also shows herself in her everyday life moments, always elegant, confident, and naturally wonderful, go unnoticed? I answer by going back to the beginning: 331K followers!
MONEY (2016)Painting by Art Vladi
Art Vladi
Art Vladi, a versatile artist from Bulgaria, currently based in France, boasts 342K followers. His art, mainly manifested through painting, sculpture, and wearable art, falls halfway between Street art and Pop art. In addition to what has been said, Art Vladi is also a sports enthusiast, a discipline he paid homage to by creating celebratory sculptures for the International Wrestling Federation (FILA). Furthermore, the artist also created a bust in honor of Professor Rayko Petrov, now placed in front of the National Sports Academy in Sofia, Bulgaria. However, the most important year of his career was 2016, when he received commissions from UFC champion Conor McGregor. His paintings adorn the private collections of other famous personalities, such as Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan of Abu Dhabi, boxing legend Floyd Mayweather, action star Dolph Lundgren, and entrepreneur, TV personality, and model Kylie Jenner. There were also prestigious recognitions and invitations, including the invitation to the First International Contemporary Art Fair in Cannes at the Palais Des Festivals and the First International Contemporary Art Fair in Haute-Savoie at Rochexpo. Now that you can imagine why the artist has 342K followers, we can analyze his profile, which is very consistent with the artistic path just described. In fact, on Art Vladi's Instagram, we find wearable art, sculptures, event promotion, as well as the recurring image of Conor McGregor, along with the presence of other famous characters. These latter ones become testimonials, ready to promote and stimulate the purchase of the artist's works, as well as favoring the further increase of his already numerous followers.
INFINITY CHROME GOLD (2022)Sculpture by Vincent Faudeme
Vincent Faudemer
Vincent Faudemer is a French artist with 1.2 million followers, who creates sculptures in resin, bronze, and silver nitrate, inspired by childhood heroes. Among these, what has become a distinctive hallmark of the artist is certainly Babolex, a "relative" of the elephant protagonist of the Babar series of books and cartoons, created by French writer Jean de Brunhoff. However, the subject is not only intended to appeal to the most innocent moments of viewers' lives, as it is often accompanied by brands or characters from consumer and show business society. This association reproduces the opposition between the purity of youth and the "corruption" of the global culture of adulthood. On the Instagram profile of one of the world's best-selling French sculptors, the most recurring work is precisely the one depicting Babolex, which is treated like an icon, often coveted and adopted by celebrities. In fact, one of the artist's most successful posts alluded to a collaboration with the renowned rapper Snoop Dogg, whose figure was juxtaposed with that of the elephant. Other notable figures have gone crazy for Babolex, including Steve Aoki, Shéri Nicole, Amanda Cerny, Ian Ziering, Pierre André Gignac, Martika Caringella, Chris Brown, and the Kardashian Family. Finally, the artist's Artmajeur profile talks about luxurious collaborations, appearances in well-known magazines, although it is primarily focused on showcasing the dazzling array of works with high-definition photos!
SILVER BULL (2015)Sculpture by Richard Orlinski
Richard Orlinski
I want to conclude with the 8.9 million followers on Instagram of Richard Orlinski, a Parisian sculptor born in 1966, who has been known since 2015 as the world's best-selling French artist. The beginnings of the popular Orlinski date back to 2004 when he created the iconic red resin crocodile, which gave rise to a repertoire of Pop works with vibrant colors, often inspired by the animal world. These can be the aforementioned crocodiles, chimpanzees, bulls, lions, etc., but they are all characterized by the same multifaceted style, often made dazzling by the use of gold and silver. So, why does Orlinski's profile have 8.9 million followers? Primarily because he is a well-known artist, who has exhibited his sculptures in galleries, fairs, and famous institutions including Art Basel, FIAC, Art Élysées, and the Palace of Versailles, as well as in renowned outdoor spaces. The Instagram profile is literally the showcase of the fame and success achieved by the sculptor, designed to collect his interviews, his participation in events, but also the advertisements for which he acts as a testimonial, as well as his enviable travels and important collaborations. Alongside the cult of personality, enhanced by shots immortalizing him with famous personalities like singer Chris Brown, there are also some of his multifaceted works here and there, aimed at reminding us of the origin of his notoriety. To continue the celebration of Babolex, as the elephant in question has been named, there are also animated videos, aimed at involving the viewer in a story whose purpose is to make an artwork "concretely" live in the imagination of those who desire to cherish it.
Olimpia Gaia Martinelli
