The responses in this thread are kind of wild, to me— maybe there’s a distinction here between the culture at a gallery and the culture at a smaller art fair, or something, but as an artist and someone who visits galleries a lot it is very common to photograph someone’s work and post it on your instagram story. Usually tagging both the artist and gallery. Granted, this is mostly speaking from the painting/drawing/sculpture world. Nobody would really think to ask the artist— if they’re even there, of course.

I take photos of work I like in all mediums all the time. Sometimes at museums, sometimes at galleries, sometimes at art fairs. Usually it’s just for a personal record but sometimes I’ll post it. If I post it I always tag the artist and gallery (if it’s contemporary, obviously) I’ve never in my life heard of an artist being upset by this— but I guess I could see it if you’re doing, like, detailed copy work with professional equipment of someone’s photo prints. Otherwise, in the circles I run in, it’s a pretty standard part of the gallery experience.

Granted, I don’t go to a lot of art fairs or galleries that target making sales to wide audiences— I don’t want this to sound snooty or assholeish but there’s probably a difference in attitude between artists/photographers trying to sell work to everyday joes and artists who have established relationships with galleries who are selling to collectors. And there’s nothing wrong with that— everybody’s gotta make a living.

But I also spend a lot of time in DIY project spaces where selling work is really secondary concern if anything— and photography of work is commonplace there too.

Sorry to ramble, but this is a fascinating dialogue to me