the Rothko anon is an obviously absurd example because it’s Rothko, but also, most living artists aren’t on tumblr either! (even among artists who were at one point on tumblr, most of them have not been on tumblr for years)
as a more general point: there’s a rough consensus that’s developed around online artist circles and their fans that goes: “if you upload a piece of artwork made by someone else—even if the artist isn’t on this website (so you can’t Retweet/Reblog/etc. their own upload) and you include the name and a link to the artist—you’re Stealing from the artist and depriving them of pageviews etc. etc. (unless that artist has explicitly permitted reposts)”
a natural objection to this is that sharing a piece of art can lead people who see it to look up more artwork by that artist and begin following them, which is usually dismissed with eyerolls and rejoinders of “stop telling artists you’re doing us a favor by reposting our art!!”
and to be fair, these attitudes are understandable as a reaction (in part) to accounts that mass-upload someone else’s artwork without any kind of attribution, or this or that instance of a particular artwork going viral with the vast majority of the people who see it not being aware of who made it
but it’s also, like, completely untenable on a basic level. the premise that any such repost is a Lost Pageview/Follower the artist would have had otherwise isn’t so different from the notion that piracy is impoverishing musicians/authors/game devs/etc., and the associated mentality of needing to tightly control access to their work even when that is not remotely practical (or even beneficial for the artist)
(pop quiz: if I bring up a piece of artwork on my phone or laptop screen, and then show it to a friend who is physically beside me, is that also stealing from the artist?)
I guess this impulse can also be viewed as an attempt to preserve the Aura of an artwork in the context of art images being reproduced by electronic transmission of image data, creating a copy of the file, and viewed on a device that receives such a copy through the internet and then displays it on a screen. So even when looking at an artist’s work on their personal website’s gallery/portfolio, in a sense it’s copies that are being viewed, and depending on the kind of work, copies without an original (unless the images are of a physical painting / drawing / sculpture / etc. that’s been photographed or scanned). I think as an attempt to preserve that aura, though, it is misguided and counterproductive
ultimately, on a practical level: if someone is unwilling to accept that they don’t control when people will post their artwork to tumblr/reddit to show other people (or send it to their friends on discord, or show people on their phone, or….) then honestly. maybe they should consider just not putting their artwork online TBH
it’s also fucking hilarious when online artists put giant watermarks over their works that literally cover more than half of each image
you did it! you’ve protected your work from being viewed by
anyone! you are Safe from people trying to actually enjoy your art. congrats?
this is not a remotely reasonable thing to expect of anyone who isn’t already plugged into these internet artist echochambers
“don’t even post an image with the artist’s name and website unless you get specific permission from that artist!”please get fucking real
funnily enough, there actually are some people (maybe not a lot, but at least some that I’ve seen) who both
(1) agree with this kind of bizarre etiquette regarding visual artists, genuinely feeling it’s Wrong to post a visual artist’s work somewhere (even with attribution and links etc.) without first obtaining that artist’s permission, and
(2) torrent/fileshare/pirate music regardless of any particular musician’s feelings about it (and don’t feel bad about doing so)
I can sort of imagine how this happens? someone pirates music because it’s practical and they’re not going to fall for the standard You Wouldn’t Download A Car bit….but then they follow visual artists on twitter/tumblr(/instagram?) or other social media where an artist’s art account is sometimes also a personal account, or the artist otherwise fosters parasocial relationships with their followers. and those visual artists keep repeating what a terrible thieving Violation it is to post a visual artist’s work to reddit/etc. (even with a link and attribution) without “permission”. and the person just kind of gradually accepts (1) by hearing it from their favorite visual artists enough times, even though it’s inconsistent with (2)
