We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming about fundraising best practices, challenges that artists face, and musings about organizational design. It’s a hard world out there and our brains are collectively pretty fried these days, especially as we continue to navigate the art world together. Something that brings a lot of joy to some members of the Fractured Atlas staff (myself included!) are memes. Specifically, we love niche memes about art and the art world.
They can make you feel seen, they can help you laugh about some of the challenges that we all face in the art world, or they can just bring you a little smile. Here are a few of our favorites.
The trials and tribulations of art handlers, the people who package, move, hang, and install art in galleries, museums, and private homes of collectors. This account features a lot of posts about working in manual labor in the arts and also some very ingenious uses of drills.
This one’s a personal favorite of mine because it is so specific to the exact kind of art that I do. It captures the small annoyances of ceramics (when things don’t fire correctly in the kiln or your handles come out looking weird) but also the mix of spiritual reflections that clay provokes as well as the earthy fact that ceramics is mostly just touching dirt in various forms.
This relatively new meme account specifically posts affirmations to calm DJ nerves, but they are incredibly wholesome and very applicable for anyone who performs, who creates art, and needs the occasional hype-up.
This account takes aim at the foibles and indignities of the art world, especially in blue chip galleries and with very wealthy collectors. It’s got a real bite to it. The account is private, so you'll have to request to follow.
A mix of twee aesthetic and commentary about art collectors, gallerists, and artists. This account cracks a lot of jokes about the wide wealth disparity between collectors and artists and the way social clout in the art world works.
Classical paintings with very contemporary observations that range from the snarky to the raunchy. It’s also a great account to look at close-ups of very old art to see just how expressive and odd artists have been for centuries.
Freeze Magazine, a play on Frieze, has got some tough love for artists, but it comes from a good place. Freeze Magazine punctures the self-importance that we see so often in the art world, but out of a place of compassion for people who stay in the arts because that’s really where we belong.
This account really makes you realize that placement is everything. They take famous pieces of art and place them in ugly spaces that often have fairly threatening auras, to be honest. It’s good for a laugh and for a reminder that art needs to interact nicely with its surroundings.
A Twitter account instead of an Instagram one! We’re BTS fans here, especially Sophia Park. This absolutely genius account mashes up pictures of BTS with art that has a similar color scheme and vibe. Who could ask for more?!
We all deserve a little meme, as a treat.