Instagram: A Digital Marketplace for Independent Visual Artists

Abstract

Instagram is now one of the most important spaces for the sale of art, with major auction houses, art dealers and independent visual artists, using the social media site to successfully promote and sell their works. An article in Vogue magazine, for example, recently referred to Instagram as the “World’s Most Talked-About New Art Dealer”. Using a case study approach, this research will analyse a number of Instagram art marketing accounts to examine how visual artists use Instagram to market their art, with a focus on the techniques and strategies, as well as the linguistic and semiotic resources used to do so. Following this, the study will through a process of reflective practice and the analysis of site data, evaluate whether and how this knowledge can be successfully employed in the development of the researcher’s own Instagram art marketing site and to what effect.