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?

2 comments

2 Comments

taylor_flores4d 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_henderson4d 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.