Fables 69 by James Jean (via kneel dillon)
On top of his multimedia work, Jean has created one of the best blogs and professional sites I’ve ever been sucked into. The way he incorporates his work, process, information and *STORE* into both arenas is something that every single practicing artist should check out and deeply consider recreating.
The gap between fine art and how it’s presented and sold online is pretty frightening. Ever since I started art school, I’ve been searching for more information on how artists sell their work online without having to deal with the scary, limiting and often silly art gallery industry. I understand that galleries are a necessary business for a small and generally very expensive segment of artwork. What I don’t understand is why more established artists - whether they’re younger or older, or whether their work has hefty price tags or not - aren’t taking more advantage of the internet. It’s not easy to set up a commerce site or build a store onto an existing professional site or blog, but I’d guess it’s always a wise investment for the small percentage of artists who’ve done this. Finding the right audience is not impossible, and I think any artist would be pretty damn thrilled to receive 100% of the money from a piece of work they made and love.
Craft artists and photographers figured this out several years ago. I really don’t understand why all the other folks are lagging behind on how much more financial potential the internet has for expanding an audience (customers!) and exposing work to people who’d never otherwise know about it (advertising!) Not to mention the comparatively low overhead costs of having your very own online gallery, and not having to deal with the difficult process of actually finding a gallery that doesn’t suck - in terms of how it treats its clients (artists!) and how well it conducts its business (sales and commissions!).
This is something I care about a lot, and will hopefully learn more about, because I’d much rather be in full charge of my own business than have to deal with the alternatives, and I suspect a lot of people in my position feel the same way.
If you ever come across some good information on how the internet is changing the fine art market, I’d love to get my hands on it.
(that’s where the comment box comes in handy.) <—that was a hint.