The Little Boy. AI-Generated.
Prior to the advent of social media, artists mostly depended on traditional institutions to get noticed and recognized. Access to the public sphere was controlled by galleries, critics, curators, and academic gatekeepers, who would determine which artists and works were worth paying attention to. This old system was mostly elitist and closed, and selected artists who had excellent technical proficiency, conceptual strength, and sustained artistic evolution. Getting noticed meant finding common ground with the values and schedules of those institutions, which acted as gatekeepers to what was deemed "serious" or worthwhile art.
