Social Media
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Your Goods Were Redirected: Instagram as the East India Company
The post critiques Instagram’s role in censorship and control over artistic visibility, likening it to digital colonialism. It argues that Instagram operates not just as a platform for sharing art, but as a logistics company dictating who sees what content. The author stresses the need for a deeper understanding of power dynamics in digital spaces.
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Water Takes Many Forms
Conversations with Virgin Mary Thursday, April 27 Water takes many forms. Frozen—waiting for someone else to free it.Still—green, thick, breeding sickness.Whirlpool—moving but going nowhere, swirling with its own debris.Waterfall—leaping into the void, surrendering to gravity and consequence. Which one are you? You know the answer. You’ve been circling for months, mistaking motion for progress. The…
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We Trade the Ticket for the Sugar Bag
The narrative centers on self-doubt, procrastination, and the struggle to pursue artistic ambitions. Through conversations with a friend named Jorge and reflections on personal experiences, the protagonist recognizes excuses tied to past grievances and fears. They confront their reluctance to take action, guided by messages that inspire self-acceptance and boldness.
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Are You Closer to Your Promised Land?
The narrative explores the speaker’s reflections on envy and self-comparison after receiving a letter from Jorge, inspired by Virgin Mary’s wisdom. Despite their initial intentions, they find themselves distracted by neighborly envy and digital comparisons, ultimately realizing that personal growth should focus on individual paths rather than others’ achievements.
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All Thing Must Pass
The post reflects on the author’s complex relationship with their late gallerist, Oscar, and the challenge of balancing artistic integrity with social media trends. Visiting Jorge, the author grapples with loss and the inevitability of change while processing grief through metaphorical comparisons to outgrown shoes and the fleeting nature of relationships.
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You have Started to Smell like Ketchup
Your ketchup is leaving a bad smell in your pantry. When was the last time you poured ketchup on your food? Was it with Thai takeout or French fries? I bet it was the second. You pulled out a bag of McCain’s frozen fries, tossed them in the microwave, squeezed ketchup on top, and started…
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Why Velázquez Painted Only One Nude — and Why Instagram Still Erases Them
On the persistence of cultural censorship across centuries Charles Darwin was never meant to become Charles Darwin. His father, a wealthy physician, expected him to follow medicine or the church — safe, respectable, predictable. The young Darwin’s passion for collecting beetles, rocks, and fossils seemed frivolous, even embarrassing. When he boarded the Beagle in 1831,…
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Love Conquers All, another story about censorship
In 1602, Caravaggio completed Amor Vincit Omnia, or Love Conquers All. It was the kind of work only Caravaggio could create: Cupid, standing with arrows in one hand, seems to tread casually over symbols of human accomplishment—armor, a lute, a lined notebook—suggesting that love supersedes all human endeavors. The painting was an instant sensation among Rome’s…
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Ethics and Art: A Tale of Social Media Woes
Ethics, the elusive butterfly of the modern age. What is it, and how does it impact us? More importantly, how does it mess with my work as an artist? This concept is as abstract as a DeKooning painting and just as slippery. You can’t grab it and hold onto it for long; it’s free-spirited and…
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Unintentionally Censored: The Artist’s Struggle with Instagram’s AI
Over the past month, I’ve embarked on a seemingly Sisyphean task: scrubbing my Instagram account clean of any posts that the platform deems non-compliant with its vaguely articulated guidelines on sexually explicit material or something along those lines; I can barely remember what they call it anymore. Each day, without fail, Instagram flags around five…
Carlos Fentanes 