Instagram art is cool, but just not selfies, please
He wants to use his persona as an artist to create awareness
● These days everyone with a smartphone thinks they’re a photographer. So I guess it was only a matter of time before I landed an invite for an art exhibition featuring works solely taken on a phone, albeit ones jazzed up with a picturealtering app.
Called Skin Deep, this exhibition for the Instagram generation encompasses a series of portraits created by enigmatic German artist SaySay.Love, a partially sighted former businessman.
It was held at the AGOG Gallery in Maboneng in Joburg’s inner city on Tuesday evening.
Canapés like mini-chicken wraps and prawn cocktails were paired with wine for those who attended this intimate gathering — although the artist himself wasn’t one of them.
“He had to return to Germany due to a family emergency,” said his manager, Chantal Ford.
In attendance were Mark Hawkins of the Moving into Dance Mophatong dance company and the gallery’s dreadlocked co-founder, Nick Mangeya.
The photos included a forlornlooking mannequin and a self-portrait by SaySay.Love.
“The artist is all about love,” said Chantal. “He wants to use his persona as an artist to create awareness.”
I can only hope that those who lay claim to being models just because they’ve mastered the art of posing on their social media feeds don’t get any new ideas.