Art museums in your pocket

[MrBungle]

‎Google Arts & Culture

‎Are you curious about what Van Gogh’s Starry Night looks like up close? Have you ever toured the ancient Maya temples or met the inspirational figures of Black history? Do you want to learn about Japan’s unique food culture or incredible Indian railways? Google Arts & Culture puts the...

apps.apple.com

this is such a great app… really opened my eye what’s out there all in one place

 

[stlukesguild]

I might need to give this a look. Actually, I have a good idea of much of the art that is out there thanks to several years of rather intense courses on Art History (including Contemporary Art, Non-Western Art, Folk Art, etc...), my efforts in teaching... and years spent on the old Wet Canvas site playing games involving finding the titles and artists of posted images (before image search software). I will admit I haven't followed contemporary art as much recently as I did in the past. If you... or perhaps Arty... know of any good sites to check out I would be very interested and appreciative.

 

[Artyczar]

I have been off of Instagram (for the most part) since I took a 30-day break a few months back. When the break was over, I haven't been very interested in it. I found that I started to work more and feel less intimidated. But it was there I'd learn about what art was coming out of the galleries.

I like to check out who wins the spots in the New American Paintings book. Many of them get picked up by contemporary galleries pretty quickly or already have some representation. Not everything is good, but a few artists tend to stand out, and I'll follow the ones I like.

Going to the fairs is another way to see what's going on in the contemporary art world. And the Saatchi and Artsy sites have a few bits of news here and there.

I don't know if that was what you were referring to, but that's what I've got.

 

[MrBungle]

Intimidation or inspiration? More less a place to look at art.

Tough call. I understand. It’s the same reason I stay off art station. I’m hlaf you said that about instagram. Gonna just uninstall that. Lol.

I sometimes if we look at others and always compare. I know I do all the time. I like to draw and paint what i like I guess..

 

[stlukesguild]

I still flip through Instagram regularly for images. I find a decent amount of art: paintings, drawings, illustrations, comics, etc... and follow a good many artists there. I also find a good many photographs (and follow some fine photographers) of the human figure, dancers, etc... Unfortunately, social media censorship of the nude leads to many fine photographs and photographers of the nude being deleted while the site is filled with endless images of provocative near nudes by 20 year-old-girls with delusions of becoming the next "influencer" or wanting to market their OnlyFans site. Not that I am totally impervious to this. Still, admittedly, such images aren't the greatest inspiration for Art. I have to skip over a lot of junk in my feed to find a single really interesting image/artist/work of art. I probably end up spending more time on stupid jokes or humorous videos as well as recipes... which I have used a good deal in cooking at home. I doubt that Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc... are any better. I can't say that social media have been much of a boon for art. I've probably come upon more of interest in the old-style forums devoted to art... such as Creative Spark... than on social media.

 

[Artyczar]

I used to find a lot of inspiration on Instagram (not that I don't at all anymore), but something started to happen about a year ago or so. I didn't compare my art so much as I did the number of followers others had. I know one needs to spend a lot of time there in order to acquire those followers, and I have never dedicated that amount of time. I just don't have it. I also know that it does not necessarily equal sales either. I know that from experience and from what my peers have told me. But what it does seem to equal are opportunities (possibly?) to get attention from galleries. At least, that's what started creeping into my mind. Also, it seems like there's a constant output from artists on Instagram that I will never live up to. I can't make a painting a day or even in a week. Not a major one, anyway. So many young artists seem to be able to crank 'em out like there's no tomorrow. They all make me feel like I'm lazy and I'm a full-time artist. It gives me the idea that they spend all their time painting and posting and no other time doing anything else. Life seems grand in that scheme. There are about a thousand other things that need attention other than just painting all day when running your own career, plus there are the stresses of life itself, health issues, eating, showering, phone calls, and whatever else. I don't know how these other artists do it!

 

[stlukesguild]

Well... I suspect that just as is true of the Instagram posts by models and "influencers" a hell of a lot of what you see by the artists you speak of is all illusion.

Most of the artists that I truly admire among those I follow... Kaethe Butcher, Ikenaga Yasunari, Michael Bergt, Aron Wiesenfeld, Nick Alm, Bo Bartlett, Will Cotton, Jim Peters, Suzy Smith, Eric Wert, Maryam Gohar, Hiba Schahbaz, Ennoki Toshiyuki, Masaaki Sasamoto, Alessandra Maria, etc... are not far more prolific than myself... especially considering I have a full-time job as an art teacher.

 

[Artyczar]

That's good you point that out. Hannah says that to me all the time. That's it's all an illusion.