Reviews
An internet presence - A waste of time?
I'm loosing count of the number of profiles I've set up on the internet in the past year... maybe about 14... Artfind.co.nz, CreativeNZ, Fuel4arts, Dripbook, Virb, Facebook, Artelista, Issuu, WOW, IntrusiveArt, AniOman, Saatchi... That's not including the multiple profiles on Myspace. Is it a good thing I'm doing to promote my paintings? Or is it just one big bout of procrastination when I would be better off unplugging the computer and focussing on the paint, the canvas, the brushes? At least it becomes easier each time as I have images ready-prepared...
I've never sold a painting through the internet (tempting fate there) but occassionally I've met people who knew my work from seeing it online. It is a form of publicity which is out there for anyone to stumble across and you never know when chance will strike. But maybe I'm not using the internet in the best way? Or maybe the digital image is not the best way to show paintings?
Where are all the artists on the internet? I remember asking myself that when I first opened a Myspace page just over a year ago. It seemed it was all about bands and scoring dates and when I came across another artist it was like an exciting discovery. There were other sites which you had to pay for and they were full of artists chasing the dream of selling work but I was pretty skint and didn't want to fork out on a site that could probably live off the income from the artists and not worry too much about promoting me as an individual. So I jumped into the messy community of Myspace head first. I think it is because it is such a jumble of tacky images, glittery text, layout codes to make the techies ill... it's like a poor suburb with seedy backstreets, music blasting from every window, not a safe place to walk alone, you have your cheap flat and there is a great mixture of cultures, immigrants from the world over, you write with someone and she mentions a gallery you want to see and so you arrange to meet at the entrance to the underground station and she turns out to be someone different from the photo, even a different name, but she is involved with art... I think this is why it is attractive to artists. It's not about separating yourself from the rest - of being in a gallery or art magazine or website - but of being in there with everyone else. Everyone has a chance to show who they are and what they do and to share it with people who may never enter a gallery and the audience is potentially huge. It's not surprising that at least four of the finalists in the first Saatchi Showdown are active on Myspace.
An immigrant myself to Madrid, I guess that was in part the motivation to seek out other artists in Spain and I decided to create a webpage to gather artists together: Artistas de España. Luckily Spain has been slower than the UK in taking to Myspace so I was starting with something manageable. And now I have over 100 artists from all over the country and am starting to apply for funding for projects for everyone to get involved in and getting offers of help from the artists involved. Today I received a message from one of the artists, "Un hombre que viene de nueva zelanda se mueve más que cien españoles" (A man from New Zealand gets more done than a hundred Spanish!) I did it for free and have spent many hours on it and sometimes wonder if it is worth it all and that motivates me to make something of it. It's not unique - there are other artists collectives who have formed through myspace and there are individuals who have initiated participatory projects in their page. But there is a sense in which it is something untried, unstable, unchecked...
I like to think that the internet can be used as a creative tool, not just for promoting work but for initiating new work; for stimulating creativity. It's not just about showing what you do. The internet should be a place where you can feel at home, walk about in your underpants, pop down the pub with a friend and discuss the day to day things. We have to get away from marketing, and away from hoping to get noticed, and turn it into a tool for our own creativity.
So I guess well over half the sites I'm on have failed in this respect; in that they are just about having a presence and showing work. They are not about creativity. But we learn as we go along, no? I'd be interested in your reactions and ideas ;-)
I've never sold a painting through the internet (tempting fate there) but occassionally I've met people who knew my work from seeing it online. It is a form of publicity which is out there for anyone to stumble across and you never know when chance will strike. But maybe I'm not using the internet in the best way? Or maybe the digital image is not the best way to show paintings?
Where are all the artists on the internet? I remember asking myself that when I first opened a Myspace page just over a year ago. It seemed it was all about bands and scoring dates and when I came across another artist it was like an exciting discovery. There were other sites which you had to pay for and they were full of artists chasing the dream of selling work but I was pretty skint and didn't want to fork out on a site that could probably live off the income from the artists and not worry too much about promoting me as an individual. So I jumped into the messy community of Myspace head first. I think it is because it is such a jumble of tacky images, glittery text, layout codes to make the techies ill... it's like a poor suburb with seedy backstreets, music blasting from every window, not a safe place to walk alone, you have your cheap flat and there is a great mixture of cultures, immigrants from the world over, you write with someone and she mentions a gallery you want to see and so you arrange to meet at the entrance to the underground station and she turns out to be someone different from the photo, even a different name, but she is involved with art... I think this is why it is attractive to artists. It's not about separating yourself from the rest - of being in a gallery or art magazine or website - but of being in there with everyone else. Everyone has a chance to show who they are and what they do and to share it with people who may never enter a gallery and the audience is potentially huge. It's not surprising that at least four of the finalists in the first Saatchi Showdown are active on Myspace.
An immigrant myself to Madrid, I guess that was in part the motivation to seek out other artists in Spain and I decided to create a webpage to gather artists together: Artistas de España. Luckily Spain has been slower than the UK in taking to Myspace so I was starting with something manageable. And now I have over 100 artists from all over the country and am starting to apply for funding for projects for everyone to get involved in and getting offers of help from the artists involved. Today I received a message from one of the artists, "Un hombre que viene de nueva zelanda se mueve más que cien españoles" (A man from New Zealand gets more done than a hundred Spanish!) I did it for free and have spent many hours on it and sometimes wonder if it is worth it all and that motivates me to make something of it. It's not unique - there are other artists collectives who have formed through myspace and there are individuals who have initiated participatory projects in their page. But there is a sense in which it is something untried, unstable, unchecked...
I like to think that the internet can be used as a creative tool, not just for promoting work but for initiating new work; for stimulating creativity. It's not just about showing what you do. The internet should be a place where you can feel at home, walk about in your underpants, pop down the pub with a friend and discuss the day to day things. We have to get away from marketing, and away from hoping to get noticed, and turn it into a tool for our own creativity.
So I guess well over half the sites I'm on have failed in this respect; in that they are just about having a presence and showing work. They are not about creativity. But we learn as we go along, no? I'd be interested in your reactions and ideas ;-)
Tags: internet, promotion, marketing, myspace, self, website
Replies to This Reviews
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Permalink Reply by Janet Hassinger on -
I just had this same conversation with a houston artist who moved to New York. He spoke of the lonliness as compared to living on an island of about 20 inhabitants. It also brings up the issue I just mentioned - one needs to be physically present in some way to effect acceptance with a dealer - unless you have been in the venice biennale!!
The islan may even be friedlier - it is just that there is not much to do and no other artists!
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Permalink Reply by Ermiyas Mekonnen on -
In my view it is all about targeting people that may be interested to see your work. I know how you feel I also maintain lots of profiles in varies pages. At first one becomes obsessed and think people have to see and comment on it, but now I only post it to please myself and to keep the momentum of my work current and also to share my observation of the world around me.
I was watched a Washington Post [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2007/11/21/VI200...]video that in Japan almost everyone is a blogger, using mobile phone, computer, laptop and so after watching that I have become less obsessive and I'm seeing it's fruition.
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Permalink Reply by Byron on -
yes. amen. i'm really amazed at the amount of social networking sites I've gotten on and created myself, www.space.jaxcal.org in order to meet and network, and get my work noticed, and really get to the next level. and it's taxing. so many of them have been a waste of time. but i'm seeing this art review site to really be worth while. it's making me a believe again. and I have changed my goals as I'm really just wanting to have discourse about the work. I have a day job and a family to support so being a full-time artist is years away if it ever happens. I mean I have to have health care. I live in the states, and my wife had a new infant baby last night. no joke. She arrived midnight. but just you posting on the drawing group about that novel makes it worth while. now I know about that novel. there's not telling where that little connection could take me with my artwork. anyways. I'm a believer again. thanks for helping me believe.
cheers.
bk
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Permalink Reply by Janet Greco on -
Hi all,
This is a fascinating discussion. This site, whoever took the initiative to create it, is a gem. (And after all it is simply a ning.com site - anyone could have set it up, really.) I have been on for only a week, and what amazing connections I have made already. I started showing my work only two years ago (after nearly 30 years as a photographer). I had two exhibitions last year to get a taste of what that is about. It is a lot of work! But you have to get the right venue if it is to be of real value.
The internet on the other hand, is another story. It is surely necessary these days to have a website. Whether by just using this space (more than sufficient) or creating a fancy gallery online, it's our calling card. Nothing electronic can do justice to non-digital art, but, what other way do we have to get exposed to the range of material that's out there.
So, I'm happy in here. Facebook is for the kids. This is our sandpit. I'm just now wondering, to top it all off, whether via this site we can generate some meeting groups in our respective communities. Because a few of you in London, I'd really like to meet.
ATB Janet
www.frozenbay.com
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Permalink Reply by ted stanuga on -
I too agree.... after one is in this for awhile (art making) the urge to wretch every time someone asks a money question is overwhelming.
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Permalink Reply by Sorg on -
You tell me, I've talked to so many artists online, they ask what's goin' on, I ask them and we show art through each other's info they put out there. It's do-it-yourself time in the artworld.
We've got a show you're all invited to show in. It's called Nada Motel. Last year it was Dada Motel, but that's a long story, actually it's not. We're changing the name of the art event every year. Keeps 'em talkin'. It's all in fun so...anyway.. 60 artists participated last year but we've got tons more rooms to fill with... you.
http://www.artreview.com/forum/topic/show?id=1474022%3ATopic%3A157832
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Permalink Reply by carol strasser-trent on
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I agree, but you got to do what you got to do.
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Permalink Reply by John Collier on -
I think you are right Pamela, with too many profiles to keep up it eats into studio time. But I think Art Review has been worthwhile so far. It's of course nowhere near as large as Myspace, but the content is much more pertinent without all the spam, "surveys", etc. that bogged me down when trying to keep up with Myspace.
John
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Permalink Reply by Linda Dennis on -
Hello, I am an artist who up till 8 months ago, lived the art life in NYC and Brooklyn. I moved there finally after many years in smaller communities, knowing or assuming as the common knowledge dictates here in the US, that if you want a real life and career as an artist - you MUST live in NYC at least part of your life.
It did make a huge difference..opportunities, people, the spirit and energy and importance art is given there are unlike anywhere else. Also, the quality. But it is also all about youth, fashion, money, class, money, class, youth, ....you get the picture. So for awhile at least, I am not there, but am able to make more work in a quieter environment. So the Internet is more interesting at least to feel "in touch". It will not get you shows in Chelsea (NYC) or in the Whitney Biennial though..you have to have boots on the ground there for that. You can meet people though that are there if you are lucky who might connect you. It's a new world. Who knows.
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Permalink Reply by Patricia Fernández Miranda (Pafermi) on -
Esta discusión iniciada por Charles comenzó hace meses, pero sigue siendo actualidad.
Internet es la Torre de Babel, mezcla de idéas, tendencias,orígenes, desengaños,esperanzas y algo más.. Buscar en ella el Edén, es una utopía, pero intentar utilizarla del mejor modo, no deja de ser posible.
Hay sitios donde el desorden llega al desastre y es mejor apartarse de esa riada.Art Review empezó como agua mansa, ojalá no se desborden sus aguas.
Es cierto que participar de esta voragine de sitios web, e-mail, nos lleva a entrar en una espiral que nos ocupa tiempo pero de alguna manera, tienes que publicitar tu trabajo.
¿Quíen mejor que tú para hacerlo?.
Reunirse en un café y declamar poesía, esa también era publicidad.
A muchos nos cuesta la relacion cercana por ubicación geográfica, por personalidad, por tiempo, quizás. Por tanto, creo que tomando su lado práctico, internet para todos puede ser positivo.
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Permalink Reply by Charles Olsen on -
hi frank - see page 6 ;-) + below the reviews on each profile page it says either 'added a reply' or 'wrote this review'.
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Permalink Reply by Janet Hassinger on
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I certainly did not create that discussion but follow the comments . Linda olsen's is interesting and true- one needs boots on the ground in NYC. This may be my first comment
a very interesting road to NYC seems to be through residencies such as the one at Glassell at MFAH. Many of the artists end up with major Houston galleries and then NYC galleries. Of course young seems to be an issue for those that are accepted but not a necessity. I recently advised Joe Kelley in england to apply - not certain if he did so. His work looked as if it would intrigue the jury committee.
if that happens for him- his internet presence will have opened a big door.
otherwise - I found you again and that is great. I love looking at your work
Janet
