Magenta Mood (Photo By Gail)

Artist Drea Cofield found out the hard way that the morality police behind social media platforms run by Meta can be wildly arbitrary and merciless. While working on pieces for her 2023 solo exhibit at Galleri Urbane in Dallas — just a few weeks before the show was set to open–  Cofield’s Instagram account was shut down immediately after promoting the exhibition.  Entitled Send Nudes, the exhibit showcases paintings of selfies sent to the artist by consenting adults who understand how their images will be used. Instagram wasn’t hearing it.

“I was locked out of my Instagram account because the shows title caused it to be flagged for ‘sexual solicitation’,” Cofield explains. “There was no process in place to dispute this decision. My account was deleted the next day.”

As you can see by this lovely example of her paintings, Magenta Mood, there is nothing porny about her art. “I make paintings from selfies people send me,” says the artist. “They are not anonymous – the subjects who sent me selfies, understand the scope of my project. They choose how to represent themselves and they can decide whether or not they want to be named in the title of the painting made from their photo.

“The most compelling selfies are usually nudes or semi nudes people have taken for themselves or lovers. I have chose to create the very first exhibition of this selfie series and title it Send Nudes, a phrase that originated as a request, usually made by men to women on the Internet. Here it solidly positions the paintings in relation to the nude as a subject in art history, while underscoring the methods I used to request images and what it means to be able to do so as an artist and as a woman.”

Follow Drea Cofield on Instagram Here.

Photographed at Future Fair in New York City.