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 joe kelly on -
i was so drunk i lost my small portfolio and don't feel bad about it.....haha
it was due for renewing anyway!!!!f%ck!
glad to have met you too
sorry i was so pissed, i couldn't spell my own name let alone have a decent conversation...
thank the lord for this site eh?
although god shouldn't get involved should he?
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Permalink Reply by joe kelly on
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maggie,
you have clouted the proverbial nail on the head!
if we did spend more time a la studio we would be richer still....
we are already in a powerful position as outsiders commentating on those inside
the internet and other such tools are a sign of the times
the notion remains the same, we need,....... as artists, constant affirmation that we are heading in the right direction as 'creatives'
then the internet becomes an extension of us anyway
and if it's only a fleeting glimpse of what technology can do for the art world, then so be it...
bring on the ice-age
lets wipe the slate clean
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Permalink Reply by Michael Bowdidge on -
Probably not...
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Permalink Reply by artgenerator >> Werner Klompen on -
There are a lot of people that can show there work by internet . There work can be so special that there is no place for them . No one likes to show that work because they need have a save position .Now here is a change to do that .
To be a artist is difficult , in the public opinion they are idiots .
Hope happy idiots .
And it is good that we see more work , of more people .
Because we can make a better opinion what is going on .
But for me it stay's all a little to clean and pushed up work .
And ther are people wich make beautiful work but can't handle the computer .As artist you need to do so much other thing that it is a great job to go not creazy .And that real life not internet .
That's why i like that you was drunk . hi That's real life 2
Shit happens art too .
Even if they don't ask we make it .
Thanks the open space of mind .
We feel free in donig it .
We just have to let the artist out of us .
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Permalink Reply by joe kelly on
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indeed shit happens.....
indeed, it is a fine line between continuing to make art and having no financial outlet for it, and giving it up to take an office job(boredom/creative suicide)
indeed, indeed
gravity makes the world go round, not money!
i think i may go into physics/cosmology....at least if you explore you get rewarded!
explore art......get lambasted for not being 'True to materials' etc,...'form follows function' etc etc
technology has made us slaves to time......
if i could send my ideas/concepts by pigeon or smoke signal i would do it without hesitation.......
.i think there's an oxymoron in there somewhere......
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Permalink Reply by Janet Hassinger on -
I think your work is awesome and if our little gallery were closer I would want to show it.
Houston opens photofest this week. Are you there or is your work present. the themes were transformation and --china! one can not be china in norway (?) but your work is about transformation.
I do hope some one finds you - the work should be shown
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Permalink Reply by artgenerator >> Werner Klompen on
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yes the viratual-world is a place where some people life .
And what they see there or read there is for them the thruth . And when those thing's start to get into dayly life is get no output back .Those thing are all about the input .
They take ut from us away .
And glamour and champagne like to feels it's oke .
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Permalink Reply by Pammm on -
The internet is my life fuel at this point in my life. I'm not sure if this is bad or good... but my work keeps getting better or richer or deeper or whatever one calls it. I know for a fact that I would not be where I am today in my studio if it wasn't from the feedback I get online. People, all kinds of people, like (get something positive from)my art.
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Permalink Reply by artgenerator >> Werner Klompen on
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When you mean my work thanks a lot . And i shall show you more of my work in time . When you have looked through all of my work , thanks again .
And sure i hope that my work more get out to let the people enjoi or think about . Now on the moment a few of my works are hanging in Pittstowe a nice galerie .Wich is driven by artist and a feeling if , are you in a film . With paintings sculptures instalations movement and a own scene . Great .All kind of different work what get's a harmonie .Like it's a museum
And when it's possible i wil go with my work where ever its possible .
You always can contact me . Mucho greatzzzzzz artgenerator
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Permalink Reply by Sharon Arnold on -
Oh god, it's never a waste of time! I've learned you'll never know who you meet, and the relationships you'll forge. The internet is just another venue, another tool, another way to network and meet people you want to support and who will support you.
I for one am excited by Artreview's venture. After MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Saatchi; this seems to be the site where I'll actually meet other artists.
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Permalink Reply by Janet Hassinger on
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I have not participated in any internet venue before but I find the interchange uplifting and entertaining. Even in a big city such as Houston we rarely look at each others work unless it is at an opening.
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Permalink Reply by joe kelly on
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big cities do not suggest interaction...if anything they defer it.....postpone it....
i lived in london for several years, it was the loneliest period of my life to date, purely because the immense amount of people forces the more shy amongst us to avoid rather than confront/tackle.
hence the reason i went back to my provincial home town where i felt more comfortable....
the perception is (from a third world perspective) that big cities have more to offer in terms of opportunities, the reality is that EVERYMAN AND HIS DOG has already thought this and are headed in the same direction, thus the proportion of opportunities is probably less than if you'd have stayed at home in your sleepy suburb.......
it is a terrible shame that we depend on the cities for our inspiration and commerce, when we are actually far 'richer' where we are
