Full Interview
1. How do you use Facebook to connect with participants in your art?
“I have a lot of people try to be my friend on my personal page, but I only accept people that I’m actually going to work with in the future. My fan page, which is public, I have about 12,000 likes. Unfortunately I was a little slow at starting that page. So it hadn’t been up for years so other people on Facebook have created Spencer Tunick pages that are not updated by me. My presence on Facebook in different countries, on my fan page, is pretty prevalent. I didn’t and don’t really utilize social media because my Facebook [fan] page does not have that many people on it, 12,000 is really not a lot of people when it comes to Facebook."
2. How do you use Instagram to connect with participants in your art?
"Well, the problem with my work is that I predominately do naked photographs. Even though it’s photography, people still associate photography to pornographic imagery. There are really stringent rules on both Facebook, Instagram, and maybe Twitter, but definitely Facebook and Instagram where they don’t allow nudity. So, I don’t use it as much because if I don’t want my Instagram taken down, you’ll notice that I use a censor app to pixelate the genitalia and nipples of the people in photographs as much as possible when the works are up close. I don’t want someone working for social networking sites whose one job is to look out for nudity and knows nothing about art to find my work and to take down my sites after spending so much time cultivating friendships. It’s a lot of work to gather people on Facebook and Instagram. I’m one of those artist that find it very difficult to show their art on Facebook and Instagram."
3. How do you use social media to enhance the visibility of the works of other artists?
"If I have a close friend whose work I like and it would help them out, I’ll definitely post it on my fan page and tell people to check it out."
4. What are the benefits of using social media to connect with past and future participants for your art?
"With Facebook, you really don’t need it to survive as an artist. It is nice to have to communicate, but it’s not a necessity. Maybe it will be in the future but right now it’s not that important. "
5. How do you think social media has affected how we engage with art?
"It takes some of the mystery out of it. Which I think is the fun part about art, is that you go in sometimes, and you learn about the art once you see it in a space and that’s where it starts opposed to having all the lead up to it is exposed. I don’t know if that’s the best thing for art, I think art should be experienced for the first time not on Facebook or Instagram. I think it’s nice to discover the work separately than on social media. Sure you’ll find out about an invitation, but sometimes too much information is not a good thing. See it first, physically hopefully, then decide to get into it."
6. What role does your website play in forwarding your work?
"My personal site is the most important thing to me. I use it to organize my work and to gather people’s names and information because they can register on my site to participate all over the world. My site has been up for over ten years so I have thousands and thousands of people’s emails. If I’m doing work in a certain country or region, I can use that list to invite people to participate or if I have a book coming out, like I do now, that will be for sale through my personal site. "
7. Do you have any advice for young artists?
"To survive. It’s a miracle that you can support yourself on your art and not have to work for another person. You shouldn’t ever think about becoming rich or having a high income. Success in my world, where I’m at right now, is paying my mortgage with my art my children’s health insurance. It’s difficult. There’s a big market, there are many galleries opening up and the internet, but at the same time there are many more artists out there. It’s difficult surviving off your work, but you should just be happy making it. I once heard from someone that the best way to become a successful artist is to have a 9-to-5 job at first. In today’s art world, you really have to be in the neighboring cities looking at art, seeing art, making art, and making connections. It’s a lot of competition out there, even for me. You really have to believe in yourself before you make the decision to be an artist. You have to look at what’s out there and see if that’s where you want to be creating new ideas and objects. You can’t do what has already been done. You can take things from it and that’s what you should do, but you really have to try to create a vision for yourself."
“I have a lot of people try to be my friend on my personal page, but I only accept people that I’m actually going to work with in the future. My fan page, which is public, I have about 12,000 likes. Unfortunately I was a little slow at starting that page. So it hadn’t been up for years so other people on Facebook have created Spencer Tunick pages that are not updated by me. My presence on Facebook in different countries, on my fan page, is pretty prevalent. I didn’t and don’t really utilize social media because my Facebook [fan] page does not have that many people on it, 12,000 is really not a lot of people when it comes to Facebook."
2. How do you use Instagram to connect with participants in your art?
"Well, the problem with my work is that I predominately do naked photographs. Even though it’s photography, people still associate photography to pornographic imagery. There are really stringent rules on both Facebook, Instagram, and maybe Twitter, but definitely Facebook and Instagram where they don’t allow nudity. So, I don’t use it as much because if I don’t want my Instagram taken down, you’ll notice that I use a censor app to pixelate the genitalia and nipples of the people in photographs as much as possible when the works are up close. I don’t want someone working for social networking sites whose one job is to look out for nudity and knows nothing about art to find my work and to take down my sites after spending so much time cultivating friendships. It’s a lot of work to gather people on Facebook and Instagram. I’m one of those artist that find it very difficult to show their art on Facebook and Instagram."
3. How do you use social media to enhance the visibility of the works of other artists?
"If I have a close friend whose work I like and it would help them out, I’ll definitely post it on my fan page and tell people to check it out."
4. What are the benefits of using social media to connect with past and future participants for your art?
"With Facebook, you really don’t need it to survive as an artist. It is nice to have to communicate, but it’s not a necessity. Maybe it will be in the future but right now it’s not that important. "
5. How do you think social media has affected how we engage with art?
"It takes some of the mystery out of it. Which I think is the fun part about art, is that you go in sometimes, and you learn about the art once you see it in a space and that’s where it starts opposed to having all the lead up to it is exposed. I don’t know if that’s the best thing for art, I think art should be experienced for the first time not on Facebook or Instagram. I think it’s nice to discover the work separately than on social media. Sure you’ll find out about an invitation, but sometimes too much information is not a good thing. See it first, physically hopefully, then decide to get into it."
6. What role does your website play in forwarding your work?
"My personal site is the most important thing to me. I use it to organize my work and to gather people’s names and information because they can register on my site to participate all over the world. My site has been up for over ten years so I have thousands and thousands of people’s emails. If I’m doing work in a certain country or region, I can use that list to invite people to participate or if I have a book coming out, like I do now, that will be for sale through my personal site. "
7. Do you have any advice for young artists?
"To survive. It’s a miracle that you can support yourself on your art and not have to work for another person. You shouldn’t ever think about becoming rich or having a high income. Success in my world, where I’m at right now, is paying my mortgage with my art my children’s health insurance. It’s difficult. There’s a big market, there are many galleries opening up and the internet, but at the same time there are many more artists out there. It’s difficult surviving off your work, but you should just be happy making it. I once heard from someone that the best way to become a successful artist is to have a 9-to-5 job at first. In today’s art world, you really have to be in the neighboring cities looking at art, seeing art, making art, and making connections. It’s a lot of competition out there, even for me. You really have to believe in yourself before you make the decision to be an artist. You have to look at what’s out there and see if that’s where you want to be creating new ideas and objects. You can’t do what has already been done. You can take things from it and that’s what you should do, but you really have to try to create a vision for yourself."