Art | Censorship

A Few Museums Created an OnlyFans Page and Maybe I Should Too

The artwork that caused Facebook to limit my visibility

Warning: this piece contains “nudity” which can be considered offensive, at least according to mainstream social media.

Posing model n°13 (censored it myself to post on social media) — artwork and photo by Author.

Nudity always had a place in art. The human body is just as interesting to draw or paint as a flower or a landscape, if not even more. Regardless being a natural thing, the naked body has also been a subject of controversy through the ages. What was considered “acceptable” depended on the era, from a mere ankle being scandalous in the Victorian age to nude breasts being no problem at all in the seventies.

The internet made all content available to anyone, including the extreme. It is obvious that there have to be some boundaries, but lately, the rules of what is “acceptable” have become stricter again — the result of an overly critical society that tries to please easily offended minorities. Social media has to follow those rules, which come with censorship. Some use filters, separating so-called SFW from NSFW content, and some rely on users to select the setting that applies. What is considered safe for work and what is not? What is “tasteful” and “explicit” nudity? It’s all about criteria, often subjective. Some platforms, mostly the bigger mainstream social media like Facebook and Instagram, have a zero tolerance for any kind of nudity, and with automated detection in place, a lot of content is labeled incorrectly and censored.

Zero tolerance only works if it makes sense.

Nude with cigarette — artwork and photo by Author.

I know art can be explicit as well, and there often is a fine line that is easily crossed. Nude women are a big part of my oeuvre; I think the female form fits my style — curvism — perfectly, and I simply like the sight of a nude woman. I like to paint “pretty pictures,” and for that, I use subjects that I find enjoyable. Most of my work is stylized, often bordering abstract. Regardless, some of it can be considered explicit, and I don’t show it on social media. Most of it is not even close to explicit or obscene; I usually don’t even depict nipples, and other than a suggestive line here or there, it’s all about shapes and letting viewers use their imagination.

And yet, Facebook, my primary social media channel, chose to limit my reach. They didn’t delete my content, nor did they suspend me or even send me an official warning. They sent me a notification that my page didn’t qualify for recommendation because I violated the rules. That was only a little while ago, and it was the first time I ever received such a message. When I went to my notifications page, I saw that several of my older posts had been restricted too — it basically meant that only my followers got to see that content. Suddenly, it made sense why some posts hardly generated engagement.

Part of getting attention on Facebook is sharing content in related groups, which I sometimes do. I noticed some posts got stuck in “awaiting approval” status, which was weird because some groups didn’t even require approval. As it turned out, Facebook put them on hold automatically, seemingly without notifying group moderators, as they often remained unpublished for months. Not only was it about the image, but also about the description — certain words would automatically trigger censorship; words like “nude” or “naked”, which was to be expected, but also “cigarette”, for example.

Wine and a cigarette — artwork and photo by Author.

As it turned out, I wasn’t — and am not alone in this. I see many so-called NSFW artists ask about where to show and sell their work. There is a huge creator base and market for this kind of work, and because of stricter rules on social media, the amount of work that doesn’t get seen only grows.

I found out that even museums had content removed: famous masterpieces depicting nudity are being banned from social media. A handful of museums in Vienna decided to create an OnlyFans account to be able to show their “controversial” art. It’s probably not ideal, but at least it’s a solution to what should not be a problem. I have been thinking about creating an account there as well, and maybe all artists should. OnlyFans was originally intended as a funding website for all kinds of creators, not just for porn, so why not take advantage of the opportunity?

Nude n°74 — artwork and photo by Author.

The artwork in this article was censored by Facebook. Not by deleting it, but simply by making it “invisible” for the masses. To keep my page “healthy”, I chose to delete some of the images, and now I simply no longer post this kind of content.

I don’t think any of these images are explicit or even offensive in any way, but maybe I’m biased. What do you think?

About the artwork, in order of appearance:

• “Posing model n°13”, acrylic on textured paper, 30 by 40 cm. This was the painting for which I received my first notification. I took it down and posted a censored version of it … which also triggered a restriction!
• “Nude with cigarette”, acrylic on textured paper, 30 by 40 cm. This was a problem on several fronts: the words nude and cigarette, and the image, all held it back from getting visibility. And yet it got over a hundred likes and several comments on my page, only from followers — nobody found it offensive in any way. Also, this is an interpretation of a piece by Ysbrant; the original is more detailed and thus “more explicit”, yet considered a classic work of art.
• “Wine and a cigarette”, acrylic on textured paper, 30 by 40 cm. Nothing wrong with the image, but the word cigarette caused it to not get through the filters; to share it, I changed the title to “Wine and a smoke” and suddenly there was no problem.
• “Nude n°74”, acrylic and ink on paper, 28 by 40 cm. This is an interpretation of an existing piece; the original is an etching by Marcel Gromaire — I wonder if he faced this kind of censorship back in his day.

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