Elizabeth Lopatto
What happens when an artist who’s famous on social media gets taken seriously by the mainstream art establishment?
Ben Davis wrote a review of artist Devon Rodriguez’s solo show called “Underground,” a nod to how Rodriguez rose to fame: doing portraits of fellow subway riders, giving them the portraits, and posting the whole thing to TikTok.
I tend to view the existence of a review as someone taking art seriously — even if the reviewer doesn’t like the art, it was worth considering thoughtfully. Rodriguez didn’t see it that way, and now Davis is writing about what happens when social media and the art world interact.
