by Vannie Gama.
Yes, that is as weird for me as it is for you: seven years of the same dynamics with the old website and now a migration. Unfortunately, due to platform issues, I could not migrate the old design into the new hosting for ”vanniegama.art”. In a certain way, this might have come for the best. Due to this technological issue, I was obliged to rebuild the website. Also, this came right after the finishing of a new series, maybe the last of the year, ”Gestes”, a trilogy of very figurative canvases, almost the opposite of the previous, ”Behind time”.
Because of this sudden change and urgency, I’m starting to consider ”revitalizing” the website. Since the beginning, back in 2018, my idea was never to simply hold an online portfolio in the very format of the art market. As you know, I tried many formats. Differently from exhibitions and publications, online presence is something that I struggle with a lot: the hyperprocessed informational-food format of Instagram, the insalubrious and now, heavily censored ”X” (but very free to all sorts of anti-human expressions), the super-in-trend language of TikTok, the harder and harder to crack algorithm of Youtube – and Facebook, that, doesn’t really count. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have anything against having social media (you can still find my account on TikTok anyway!). The opposite: it’s a powerful and underlyingly important tool for contemporary culture. As someone who writes about technology, who would I be, trashing social media around?
My problem rests namely, on presenting crafts that were never created for it, but simply shared through it. And yes, I did try hiring a social media analyst. Advices received? All market strategies that were evident if your goal is to hit high numbers. Couldn’t do it: change everything to score a certain amount of zeros. At the same time, many of you reach me from time to time asking for more updates, because, indeed, doing exhibitions and publishing books or articles are, if not online, very regional events even the big ones: they remain aspiring geography and geography is limited: France is France, Brazil is Brazil, UK is UK, Canada is Canada, Japan is Japan, China is China, Angola is Angola, etc. So, although I am aware that websites are not the peak of technology and definitely not in the radar of social media, but it might be a way to reach more of you at the same time.
That said, it is very likely that the new format of the website, especially now that I was ”forced” to redo its complete design, will be more of a place to update you, the audience, on a every dozen days basis.
New series will be shared in here, as well. Since this level of websdesign is quite new for me, this transition between formats won’t happen overnight. Also, comments will be available, although it is likely that the community we built will continue to prefer to express itself through emails and voicemessages. Moreover, for the new people, we can, definitely get to meet each other in small groups in the season of exhibitions, festivals, events, and workshops. More than ever it is important to built community (the only word that navigates from social science, to art, to digital environment without losing its potential).
Nonetheless, I want to express that by choosing to keep the artworks ”well presented”, with their own temporality, far from social media, but at the same time making this website less than a showcase, I am walking even further away from the so desired comfort of following the artistic status cuo. I will always prioritize the lifelong of my craft and the length of my voice (and your voice), over any easy-to-blend shortcut for a living. This has a high price to pay, but you can always know that every artwork, every text, every performance, and collaboration is done with a lot of awareness and dissatisfaction over the other formats. I am very honoured to say, after 10 years of living as an artist, all my present collectors (from direct sales, despite auctions or art fairs, punctual in-philosophy projects) are profound people, who hold their own strong battles and contemplations within art. Are people interested in humanity, in something more than a bunch of numbers or the value of a signature over the construction. Are people who always ask me ”why” and ”how”, never settling for a mundane representation.
Thank you all for supporting my work and, I promise to keep you all updated. Feel free to reach out through email, or to schedule a call. I’m back with a representative in Brazil (the one year I spend with no assistancy was very insane so, back to have someone of trust on the atelier) who can also help you in case I’m not available. Just email contact@vanniegama.art .
VIII of Clubs and Vivid Dreams for you all, and see you soon.
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