Giovanna Olmos - How to sell a digital painting
19 May – 23 July 2016


room.thecomposingrooms.com is excited to present Giovanna Olmos’ ongoing series ‘How to
sell a digital painting’ in her first online exhibition.

‘How to sell a digital painting’ started as a performative action of
making and auctioning a ‘Selfie Painting’, something Olmos had started
doing of her own Selfies on her phone in 2014. With each step of her 
performance she drew attention to the banal details of the process, especially
the implicit use of digital tools, with humour, transparency and sincerity. 
The steps are clearly illustrated in the later project ‘How to buy a Digital 
Portrait’(see below). 

In both projects a image taken of ones self in a mirror is sent to Olmos by 
email or text. She then paints the image on her iPhone, using the smartphone 
app ‘Procreate Pocket’, proceeding to auction the work by asking the audience 
to bid, or selling it by prearranged price – rising from under $100 to $350 per 
commission due to popularity.

Having studied poetry, Olmos considers the works as part of her poetic 
practice, as well as artworks and products. Considering the work in relation 
to poetry is useful as a metaphor to further understand her works, and also 
to cast new ways of thinking about the ‘digital object’, especially in 
relation to uniqueness.


Giovanna Olmos (b. 1993 LA, USA) lives in New York, NY. She was born in Los 
Angeles to an American father and a Swedish mother, and moved to 
Sweden at the age of eight. She graduated last year from the NYU Gallatin 
School of Individualised Study after studying poetry, philosophy, and digital 
production; on a grant from NYU, she spent some months in Brazil studying 
visual poetry. Only just 23, she is a published author and poet, as well as a 
“digital painter,” creating portraits on her phone with the help of apps such 
as Procreate Pocket, Brushes, and WeChat, resulting in a kind of mark-making 
that transforms painterly gesture into digital form. In 2015, her work was 
exhibited in Los Angeles and Berlin, as well as in an online exhibition held 
by the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, during which she was the New 
Museum/Rhizome Instagram resident.

www.giovannaolmos.com


***Instructions for TCR/room***

# How to buy a DIGITAL PORTRAIT

1. Download the app PayPal on your smartphone
2. Take a mirror selfie*
3. Email the photo to olmosgiovanna@gmail.com
4. Mention room in the subject line for the special price
5. Pay Giovanna-Olmos USD$150 via PayPal**
6. Receive your very own digital painting portrait made by 
the artist with PROCREATE POCKET


*Family and couples portraits also possible.

** a commission of $50 per order will go to 
The Composing Rooms, which will be spent on art.