Honestly, that big art fair in Seattle last year made me stop posting my work online for a while.

I was showing a new digital piece on my tablet, and this guy just walked up, took a picture of the screen with his phone, and walked off without a word. It wasn't even a good photo, just a blurry glare shot. Tbh, it felt like he was just collecting stuff, not even looking. It made me question the whole point of sharing in public spaces, digital or not. Has anyone else had a moment that just killed your vibe for sharing art?

3 comments

3 Comments

taylor_flores3mo ago

That happened to a friend at a Portland market. Someone took a photo of her price sheet instead of the art. It made me realize the theft isn't about the image quality. It's about taking something without the shared moment of looking. That blank collecting feels worse than someone saying they hate your work. At least then they saw it.

abby_henderson3mo ago

Yeah that's such a weird feeling, right? Like they're not even stealing the art itself, they're just grabbing the data. Does it make you wonder if they even care about what the numbers are attached to? It turns the whole thing into a transaction before any real look happens. Kinda kills the point of putting your work out there at all.

martin.vera1mo ago

That 'blank collecting' thing you said really got me... I used to think taking a photo was some kind of compliment, like proof they cared enough to remember it. But after seeing people just snap pics of price lists or scan QR codes without even glancing at the work, I totally changed my mind. It's like @abby_henderson said, they're just grabbing data, not connecting with anything real. Makes me wonder why we put the effort into making something beautiful when they just treat it like a spreadsheet entry.