Don’t comment on it and just post the art -> some people enjoy the art, a whole lot of people skip past it, while the only people who understand the significance of the image are those who know the reality of the wealthy making bank with dispensaries while the prison industrial complex harshly punishes Black people at much higher rates than their white counterparts for non-violent drug offenses.
Comment on the fact there there is something going on in the image -> fewer people are skipping past the image because they want to know what the secret is, and when they can’t discover it, their curiosity takes them into the comments to find out. In doing so, they learn something they didn’t know about the state of affairs, and a non-zero percentage of them will begin to speak up and advocate for those incarcerated under an unjust legal system.
It isn’t about the art; it’s about boosting the signal.
What’s going on here? I cant spot it
The guy on the inside seems to be in a prison uniform, and be on a prison phone comm system.
I presume the intent is to show how, while dispensaries are now in the mainstream, there are still plenty of (largely African American) people still separated from their children because they purchased or sold the same thing that this store is selling.
That would be a very good point but it’s not showing that. It very much seems to be trying to show that working in a dispensary is the new prison. Which is dumb.
Ohhh I thought he was giving weed to a minor, and I was super confused on what the message was supposed to be haha
God I hate artists that talk like that
She was cueing the audience in that there is more going on, so dummie’s like me can know to look for more. I still needed a kind commenter to explain it to me.
I guess she wanted a larger audience to be able to experience her work, than you would have preferred.
I believe the deeper meaning is that even while weed is legalized in several states in the US, there are still many people in those same states serving sentences over the drug when it was criminalized. Those sentences were absurdly harsh, and disproportionately targeted black people.
So when the girl in the painting sees the dispensary, which is supposed to be a symbol of progress towards legalization, she instead sees her dad—still in prison, trapped from behind the glass in one of those restricted visitation rooms where you can only talk to one another over inline telephones.
I’m gonna be completely honest here I thought that was the pharmacist on the phone with a customer and he and the girl were waving hi to each other.
I may be a little dense and naive.
Artists that talk like they’re showing off their latest work that they’re proud of? I don’t understand.
It’s killing the frog. Instead of letting the audience experience the work and the emotional journey therein. The artist is introducing the piece with with the very blatant context of ‘this painting looks pretty but is actually really deep, can you find what I mean?’
It’s not bad, per se, but it cheapens the experience and comes off as pretentious.
on social though it’s so easy to scroll by. It’s different in an art gallery.
I agree. It shows lack of faith in your work and your audience. It also takes away the audiences’ sense of “getting it” when they look and notice, which makes your audience feel smart and in conversation with you.
Reminds me of those little panels beside paintings in a gallery that sometimes tell you way too much about what the artist was thinking. The work itself is supposed to be communicating, if you need supplemental material then you may have failed somewhat in the original work.