Instagram has a problem... I started posting my paintings and drawings on Instagram on October 22, 2015. In the four years since then, I have had over a dozen pieces removed with the community guidelines warning. My entire account was taken down over a catalog spread featuring text alongside a historically significant painting of mine that is in the permanent collection of the Centre Pompidou in Paris. This account, minus that catalog page, was subsequently restored due to a tremendous outpouring of support for my work from the art community (critics, curators, artists, and dealers alike). Despite my account being restored and my posts clearly indicating the materials I use, pieces continue to be removed with no warning at all. They are just gone. I am not the only one. I have heard from numerous artists who have suffered the same fate or feel they are about to lose their accounts. So clearly, Instagram has a problem and I think I know what it is. Instagram does NOT follow its own guidelines which are very clear: “Nudity in photos of paintings and sculptures is OK, too.” There are no qualifiers here. They are “OK.” Period. By Instagram’s own subjective guidelines, none of my work should have been taken down. If an individual complains, why are they simply not blocked from following my account? If an algorithm is taking it down, why don’t I have the right to appeal this decision to a human being? As it is currently, the system is arbitrary and discouraging for any artist whose work is challenging or thought provoking. Follow your own rules. Do it better. — A statement to Instagram by Betty Tompkins Betty Tompkins joins Sensitive Content, opening this week at Unit London Mayfair. @bettytompkinsart @bettytompkinsartnew #bettytompkins #eroticart #eroticpainting #feminism #feminist #feministart #contemporaryart #contemporarypainting #censored #censorship