Medium: Oil Painting

Censored by: Google Facebook and You Tube

Was there a notification of removal and if so what was the reason given?: These works are about dating for the over 40 and frisky. They sent me their boiler plate "Community Guidelines" and claimed that I went against theirs, in which I read, which stated that as long as art was "educational" and not selling porn, hate, etc, then I could post without problems. I of course challenged them, and nobody got back to me, except Google, who gave me a link where I could upload my images and a Vision AI would read each painting and give it a rating. I have included a screen shot. I realized that the majority of my paintings in my entire career of over 20 years as an contemporary myth painter, creating new archetypes that battle the issues we face today, would never see the light of day. My work has been censored for the last 5 or so years, but were completely censored when the pandemic started.

What date were you censored?: 10/2/2021

Were you given an opportunity to appeal? If so, did you appeal and what was the response?: Yes. And I did. A week later I was contacted and told me that I needed to upload each painting to Vision AI. the majority of my artworks failed and were censored.

What have the consequences been for you because of this removal? Please describe in best detail.: Anxiety and frustration. Loss of income. Unable to have health insurance due to loss of income. Loss of exhibition opportunities because I am unable to target important curators. Unable to grow my email list to attract patrons or collectors with ads, videos or to invite them to my art exhibits, which are now out of my home/studio. The majority of censorship of my art started during the pandemic a crucial time when I depended on the internet for my survival.

Please write additional comments: First, I have so much appreciation for what you are doing and it comes to me as a relief. I am glad to see Spencer Tunick part of this group. We know each other from San Miguel de Allende. It would be an honor to help curate and be part of this movement. Would love to see a channel online or podcast to address this issue where artists are invited to express the reason why they do their art and then interview of the social media titans to answer to this problem. How can we solve this? Where can artists go to express themselves freely without being censored? Do we need to ask permission of big tech? Can we create our own platform?

Your website: https://www.isisrodriguez.com

Your Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/isisrodriguezartstudio/

Your Twitter: https://twitter.com/IsisArtStudio

Your YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCk7a9wN_jZRVoPxNbgo5vzw/videos