O diário artistico da Val

Há cerca de um ano 'tropecei' num video do YouTube chamado "Val's Art Diary", que me cativou imenso.
Na verdade um diário em formato video, publicado directamente no YouTube em que a interessante Valentina nos mostra o seu processo de criação de uma pintura. Outras pequenas intimidades da sua vida ou reflexões surgem, condimentando a crónica num estilo emocional, inteligente e humorístico.

Depois o quadro e o DVD com o video é posto em leilão no ebay. Curiosidade adicional, o sucesso tem sido impressionante, com os quadros a atingirem várias centenas de dólares e os vídeos a já terem mais de 3 milhões de visionamentos.

"I started posting videos because I wanted to find an audience for my paintings. I think we live in the times when the traditional fine arts are often seen as snobby, and elitist. This perception often hurts artists who struggle to find the audience. It is hard for a painter to make an average person interested in his or her work. The presentation of the artwork in galleries and museums often does not attempt to reach out and explain the intentions of the artist. That's why the proper artist's statement was always very important to me. I felt that people who take their time to look at my art have the right to know what my intentions were when creating it. But I'm not a good writer and was always horrible at making a cohesively written artist statement. That's why I thought "Why not let myself ramble a bit on camera as I paint? Wouldn't that make it a truly ideal statement?" I believe there is something to it. I posted it on YouTube as an experiment. I was very curious to see how people respond to it. That's how 'Val's Art Diary' was born.

"My expectations were very low. I hoped few people would care enough to comment and give me feedback on my work which, by the way, in itself would have made me very happy. Even at the time when I started my art diary I thought about YouTube as a place for goofy videos and accidents. I never really believed there was a big audience for more serious art-related content. But I hoped there were few souls out there that would care about my work.

"The response I got was a total surprise. My videos have been watched by over 3 million people over last 5 months. I would have never suspected that so many people cared about my art and the creative process. But what surprised me more that number was the support and appreciation for art I found among the viewers who post comments under my videos. I post my videos every Sunday and each Sunday there is a virtual party where I have a chance to respond to comments and connect with the viewers and discuss the latest piece of art with them. Making art can be a very lonely activity and YouTube made it rewarding by giving me a loyal audience."