Guide · Artists

Instagram for artists: show your work without losing studio time

For a painter, a ceramicist, an illustrator or a fine art photographer, Instagram is often the first gallery that collectors, gallerists and exhibition venues see. Your works are already presented on your website, with their title, medium and dimensions; the Instagram account is still waiting. Here is what works for an artist, and how to keep it going without taking time away from the studio.

What an artist can post

The work on its own: a sharp image, framed on the work, with no distracting background. It is the reference post, the one people find in your grid.
The detail: the brushstroke, the texture of a glaze, the grain of a paper. A close-up shows what an overall view flattens.
The work in situ: hung in an interior, set on a table, held in a hand. It gives the scale better than dimensions do.
The studio and the process: a stage, a tool, a piece coming out of the kiln. These images show the work behind the work and build a bond with the people who follow you.
The Reel: a series scrolling by, or several views of one piece in a row. It is the format Instagram shows most to people who do not know you yet.

Photographing a work for Instagram

In the feed, Instagram shows images in 4:5 portrait (1080 × 1350 pixels); the profile grid only shows their centre, in 3:4. A landscape canvas therefore loses its edges: keep a margin around the work rather than cropping right to the frame. Shoot in soft natural light, square on to the work to avoid distortion, with no reflection on varnish or glaze. For ceramics and sculpture, a plain background and two or three angles are enough.

What the caption should say

An artist's caption repeats the information on an exhibition label: title, year, medium, dimensions, then one or two sentences about the work or the series. For example:

Tides III, 2026
Oil on canvas, 100 × 81 cm

Third canvas in a series painted facing the same coastline, from one season to the next.

Available: link in bio.

#painting #contemporaryart #oiloncanvas #artistsoninstagram

Say clearly whether the work is available and where to see it: a current exhibition, a gallery, your website. It is often the question people do not dare ask in the comments.

How often to post

Two posts a week are enough, as long as you keep it up. A series of six works easily gives a month of content: one work per post, a detail, a studio view, then a Reel showing the whole series. Better to spread a series over several weeks than to post everything on opening night.

Galleries, venues and collaborations

Mention the gallery that represents you, the exhibition venue, the photographer who shot the views. Offer them a collaboration post: if they accept, it also appears on their profile, in front of an audience already interested in art.

Mistakes that cost followers

A photo taken at an angle, with a reflection or yellow light, that does not do the work justice.
An empty caption: no title, medium or dimensions. A collector does not know what they are looking at.
Letting Instagram crop a canvas at random and cut off part of the composition.
Posting only around exhibitions, then disappearing for months.

Let your website post for you

If your works are already presented on your WordPress site, everything is there: the images, title, medium, dimensions and text. Foliocast uses it to prepare posts and Reels, crops the images to the right format and posts at the best times, even with your computer off. You review every caption before it goes out. The tutorial shows the setup in 10 minutes.

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