A virtual art gallery is a website used to showcase various art pieces. It is also a platform of interaction between artists and their audience. Numerous prominent art repositories run virtual galleries, one being the New York New Exhibitions Museums. Yet, can you create and run an individual virtual gallery?

It is pretty easy to create a personal virtual gallery, although not that easy to run it. There are some facets you should contemplate before doing this; they include an appropriate software or website, the artworks you want to exhibit, and the quality of the images you will post on your website. The main reason for creating a virtual gallery is to market your artwork.

I will give an in-depth delineation of what a virtual gallery is and how you can create yours and make the best of it. Technology is changing numerous aspects of society, and art exhibition is no exception. I believe after you finish reading this article, you will be able to run your online gallery profitably. 

What is a Virtual Gallery?

If you wanted to see an art piece in ancient times, you would avail yourself at physical art galleries, but things took a different turn in the 21^st century. Today artists have resorted to showcasing and selling their works online as it is easier to reach many people that way.

A virtual art gallery is an online gallery that offers an interactive experience and features the art pieces one wishes to display. Artists prefer digitisation, given that many of their audiences spend most of their time on their phones, tablets, or laptops.

Virtual galleries are coming to light because they have numerous advantages to artists, art collectors, and the community. If you believe you are doing great work as an artist, you should embrace digitisation because the world should see your marvellous enterprise.

How Did Virtual Galleries Come To Be?

Many people have been exposed to virtual reality during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Google Arts and Culture Initiative was instigated in 2011. The interest in virtual reality can be traced back to 2015.

Since 2011, artworks have been easily accessible via technology, but not many people realize this. Many museums and galleries were launching their online platforms during this period, but many individual artists and art galleries were not doing the same.

The coronavirus has coerced numerous cultural institutions to lock their physical locations and satisfy consumers’ needs via the internet. Since there was restricted movement due to governmental lockdowns, they had no choice but to opt for virtual tours.

Because of the pandemic, many artists and art galleries have turned to technology to produce their works in virtual reality, mixed reality, and augmented reality. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, artists had no interest in virtual reality, but today they are amazed by its capabilities.

Preliminary to 2020, art digitisation was mostly perceived as a bonus to expand one’s audience since physical space was more valued. But today, physical spaces are not a priority, and that is why artists and gallerists must know how to create and run virtual galleries- the trends are changing, and chances are things may never go back to what they were before.

Why Should I Create A Virtual Gallery?

You might be asking yourself why you should create a virtual gallery and whether it will benefit you. There are innumerable motives why you should go virtual; the internet would not only offer you the opportunity of achieving new costumers from another parts of the world as can expose you to different art forms that can also inspire you.

Through your virtual gallery, your viewers can still enjoy the experience of a real gallery. However, if you had a physical gallery, you would only reach a few individuals in your community, which may not work in your favor.

What are the Benefits of Virtual Galleries?

If you set up a virtual gallery, it will never be closed, meaning your visitors would not be constrained from accessing your work. Isn’t this lovely? You can choose to run your gallery 24/7; hence, virtual galleries guarantee time flexibility, unlike physical ones.

Virtual galleries can never be congested. Millions of individuals globally can access your work at the same time. They do not need tickets or early booking. You will not experience rush hours, and your visitors must not make long queues before accessing your work. Many individuals hate going to physical galleries because of overcrowding and numerous limitations.

No pandemic can stop you from working if you have your virtual gallery. Art digitization is pandemic proof since your visitors will not physically contact strangers. The only obstacle you may face is yourself since this medium makes it possible for you to keep at it under any unfortunate circumstances.

Visitors can interact with artists and appreciate their works- this is quite rare in physical exhibitions. That being so, you have no idea how many individuals desire to meet you if you are an artist. In addition, you will be more motivated and feel good about yourself if people compliment your work.

There are many restrictions attributed to running a physical art gallery. For instance, you must have a license and pay admission fees. These charges do not apply to online museums. They are quite easy to run since they have minimal requirements.

Virtual galleries are children-friendly. They do not restrict art to being a thing of grownup professionals. Children can gain a 360 view of various artworks and enhance their interest and creativity through these platforms. Hence, virtual galleries include people of all ages and backgrounds.

Virtual galleries are easy sources of education and entertainment. Digitization has created freedom and more insight into art as people of all age groups can now interact with art pieces and interpret them at their own pace. People establish intimate voyages with various art exhibitions, and through virtualization, people can research more about art items.

Virtualization enables artists to conserve their priceless works of art. If you are unsure whether to showcase or preserve your work, you should turn to digitization. This way, you will display them while applying the necessary conservation measures.

Virtual galleries do not call for drop-offs and pickups as it makes buying artworks as easy as making any other online purchases.

Suppose you have a virtual gallery where you showcase your work; you will be exposing yourself to life-changing opportunities considering managers and prominent gallery owners might notice your work and endorse you in big business deals.

Today, many people prefer virtual tours to physical exhibition tours because they find it easy to relax without too much pressure. The only way you can be part of this is by creating your virtual gallery.

How Do I Run A Virtual Gallery?

As you are already aware, you must be willing to integrate your business with the online world to sell art.

The first step is setting up a free account. You have numerous sites to choose from, and some of them include Kumospace, Exhibit Virtual Art Galleries, ArtPlacer Virtual Exhibitions, and VR Art Platform. These websites do not limit how you sell your art based on geographical location, time, and space.

You will need to fill in basic background information before you get approved. The information includes your preferred username, actual name, the place you are residing, email address, and whether you are an artist, photographer, or student. In addition, you will clarify whether your exhibition is a museum, art gallery, or collection.

Choosing a website is quite crucial since they have varying resolutions. Some sites have management software and a mobile app that make them pretty easy to navigate. You can also create a virtual gallery in Google Data Studio and Google Slides.

What Next After Creating An Online Account?

After creating an account, you should upload at least one art piece. Depending on the website you choose, you will get guidance on uploading your artwork, but this is not a complex process.

Be sure to select an artwork you perceive as important and outstanding. Remember that first impression is vital because it depicts your style and vision. Most importantly, you need not worry about how your audience will view your work as long as you post high-quality images.

You should know that some hand-made art pieces may not be as appealing as they would be in physical space, but it is up to you to decide. In case you choose to showcase your hand-made works, remember to include their pieces, dimensions, titles, and other crucial information that may be of value to your clients.

An important aspect you must not ignore is photography. If you are not a good photographer, you should consider taking classes on platforms like Skillshare or hiring professionals because clients get attracted to high-resolution images.

High-quality photos are highly dependent on good lighting. It might be easier to photograph drawings and paintings, but sculptures require more work. You have to set an ideal background and ensure your audience attain an all-round view of the piece.

If you experience trouble managing your account, you can hire someone to do it for you, but of course, you will incur extra costs. But I guarantee you that it is quite simple; you will not need help, especially if you choose a mobile app website. Furthermore, you can photograph your work and instantly upload it to the app if you have a good phone.

How Do I Market My Work on A Virtual Gallery?

After setting up a virtual gallery account, the most important yet challenging task is marketing your work. How will people know about your work?

You must decide on your marketing budget, including the costs of building a website and paying for your domain. Not everyone can create and design a good website, so you might need professional help with that. If you choose to create an account via free service, remember to watermark your work because people are fond of stealing other people’s works.

You can also choose to join marketing communities to help you market your work. You might have to pay a small fee for this, but you can opt for free services. I would rather you pay for marketing because free things are not always without fault.

There are numerous ways you can market your virtual gallery. They include social media, email marketing, search engine optimization, and referral marketing. You have to work hard to promote your work because once you gain a considerable audience, your life will take a different course.

There are countless mediums you can use to sell your artwork. For instance, you can get big audiences on eBay and Etsy. Alternatively, after setting up a virtual gallery, you can collaborate with other galleries to sell your work.

Always ensure to collaborate with virtual galleries with larger audiences than you. Also, research their style and ensure it aligns with yours.

How Will Your Customers Buy From Your Virtual Gallery?

After marketing your website, you will gain good traffic, after which many people will start showing interest in your work. Clients can easily buy your work as long as you display art measurements and prices. After that, you should offer them a certificate of authenticity and receipts. It would be best to have a return policy to make clients earn your trust.

How Do I Package and Ship Works of Art to Clients?

It is easy to wrap up and ship small works like canvas papers, but big artworks are somewhat delicate. You need not worry as long as you invest in packing and shipping materials like boxes and cardboard corners specifically designed for works of art. You should have good packaging skills to minimize shipping costs.

You should get shipping insurance just in case some of your packages get lost or damaged under the care of a standard carrier. Also, you should choose a good shipping service, especially if you are selling expensive artworks to minimize unanticipated losses.

Why Virtual Gallery?

A virtual gallery will give you a platform to create new trends. No one will limit what you choose to express. Today, many artists have taken advantage of digitization to express themselves to the world in manners they could not before. Virtual gallery is not just a financial incentive; it is a game-changer.

I hope you have gained critical insight from this write-up. I wish you luck as you create your virtual account. Always remember to be cautious, especially on copyright issues and plagiarism issues. Do not copy someone else’s work and ensure others don’t copy yours.

References:

https://www.artworkarchive.com/blog/how-to-showcase-your-art-collection-online-during-the-covid-19-shutdown

Does The Artist Still Own The NFT?

An NFT (non-fungible token) denotes an individual’s digital assets and a certificate of authenticity stored on the blockchain. NFTs are crucial to the art industry because they help artists track their official work and show subsequent and current owners of the pieces. Does an artist still own the NFT?

The ownership of NFT is quite complex since it is dependent on some aspects. In most cases, NFTs belong to original artists and not art buyers, but there is an exception to this. People can make external agreements to transfer the full ownership of NFT and copyright of an artwork to a buyer after sale. So basically, only original creators are mandated to own NFTs.

It can be pretty exacting to determine the ownership of NFTs, especially in the art industry. Some people even mistake NFTs for copyrights, but the two aspects are different. Hence it is vital to understand NFTs, their functions, and limitations.

I will explore the meaning of NFTs, how to obtain them, and their implications to their owners. NFT is an evolution of digital art collection. NFT can be traced back to 2014 when Ethereum Blockchain launched, but it recently came to light.

What Are NFTs?

NFTs are saleable jpegs that serve numerous functions in the art industry. They make artworks non-interchangeable and unique by storing them in digital ledgers that use blockchain to prove their ownership.

NFTs hold values and have a strong concurrence with cryptocurrencies. However, they are not easily exchangeable because the file stores information that upgrades them higher than standard currency.

People use NFTs to make an original piece of anything unique; it can be a work of art, video, meme, music, or photos. NFTs are not tangible yet tradable; they are files that prove the ownership of original copies of one’s work.

Contemporary artists rely on NFTs because they deem them perfect tools for securing their work and selling them online with minimal risks. Blockchain records all the transactions made on an artist’s work, the people involved in the transactions, and the amount spent.

Unlike NFTs, fungible assets are indistinguishable and interchangeable. For instance, bitcoins are fungible since their value remains the same after a trade. But what about art?

 NFTs do not meet the criteria to be copyrighted, but many people tend to confuse them for copyrights. The main reason for this is that both copyrights and NFTs prevent the duplication of original works. It is vital to heed that NFTs do not necessarily transfer the copyright of a piece of work from its owner to a purchaser.

It can be quite challenging to determine the ownership of NFTs since the association of art and NFTs is somewhat complicated since there are numerous overlaps to consider. Therefore, artists and buyers must discern the legal postulations and pitfalls attributed to NFT ownership.

How Do NFTs Work?

NFTs are created or minted from tangible and intangible digital assets like music, tweets, collectibles, art, virtual avatars, designer sneakers, arts, and sports highlights.

One can verify their ownership of an NFT through the blockchain ledger. It doesn’t matter the format of the original work because it is possible to sell GIFs, JPGs, and MP3s like physical art. The price of NFTs is dependent on the market demands.

Today, you can easily find replications of famous artworks in various locations, made possible by NFT. Hence, there are valid blockchains of lesser value than their originals.

If I buy an NFT of a painting, I will not receive the physical portrait but the certificate of ownership of the NFT through a digital wallet. Of course, an NFT can only have one owner at a time. Still, its ownership has limitations, especially if it is under a buyer and not the originator of a digital asset.

NFTs have licenses of the digital assets they represent, but as earlier mentioned, they do not confer copyright ownership.

Blockchain technology is essential to artists because it affords them a unique chance to monetize their work. Artists are not fully dependent on auction houses and galleries. Through NFTs, artists generate more income because they receive a percentage of interest made from every new sale.

How Do Artists Obtain NFTs?

NFTs are sold and bought on specific platforms, just like cryptocurrencies. Many NFT marketplaces include OpenSea, Raible, Axie Infinity, NBA Top Shot Marketplace, Nifty Gateway, and Zeptagram.

As an artist, you should ensure you have a digital wallet to store cryptocurrencies and NFTs. NFT is reliant on cryptocurrency, meaning you will have to buy one. There are many platforms from which artists buy cryptocurrencies using their credit cards. They include PayPal, eToro, Coinbase, and Kraken.

Before opting for a particular NFT market, artists must thoroughly research their options to evade falling victims to fraudsters who may end up selling their work without their knowledge and permission. Thanks to the internet, people can easily get reviews on NFT marketplaces and determine what works for them.

Few individuals have the technical capabilities to make or mint their own NFTs. But to individuals who lack this technological know-how, there are professionals on NFT marketplaces who guide people on the procedure to acquire NFTs.

Should Artists Buy NFTs?

Computerization has made it easy for people to steal artists’ work. For instance, you can go to the internet right now, download a famous artwork, print it, and use it as you deem. However, that piece will be meaningless because the original one is worth millions of dollars.

Whereas some artists find NFTs valuable, others deem them traps. All individuals who opt for online businesses cannot evade the subject of NFTs. They are worthy because they give artists control over their work and destinies.

Many young artists are making millions from NFTs because they understand that by tokenizing their work, they do not transfer their intellectual rights as they can print and showcase their work. Hence, NFTs have numerous financial benefits to their original owners.

NFTs are most convenient for motion-based works and 3D art because they are ideal online compared to physical space. Additionally, artists do not incur extra customs and shipping charges because of their bulk, limiting them to specific geographic locations.

Just recently, there has been a tremendous increase in NFT profits since February 2020; the interests totaled $60 million.

Are There Risks Ascribed to Buying NFTs?

There are some downsides to NFT ownership. First, the futures of NFTs are uncertain since they have not stayed long in the market. It would be wise if artists did not invest a lot of money in NFTs because it is impossible to tell the outcomes. Furthermore, even though some people have gained high profits, some have not.

One can sell an NFT for a lower value than they bought because their value is contingent on clients’ willingness to pay. Similarly, one may be unable to resell an NFT if no one wants it. Hence, demand is a vital aspect of blockchain technology because lack of thereof leads to tremendous financial losses.

NFTs are controllable by capital taxes meaning one may fail to receive long-term capital gains even if they incur high tax rates. Unfortunately, the taxation also applies to cryptocurrencies; hence, buying an NFT might be more costly than most people anticipate.

Therefore NFTs do not guarantee financial interest. However, they are just like any other investment. That is why artists must conduct research and be willing to take risks cautiously in preparation for unpredictable results.

Does The Artist Still Own The NFT?

Original artists own NFTs, and they have the rights to their works. On the other hand, buyers of NFTs only obtain the digital certificate of ownership of artwork, so they have limited rights to the works bought.

What Are NFT Ownership Rights?

According to the Ethereum organization, only one person can own an NFT at a time. NFTs owners can manage their ownership through a unique ID and metadata that one cannot replicate.

If I buy an NFT, I can prove my ownership through a distinctive identifier linked to the cryptocurrency I use. Meaning that all tokens have their owners, and they are easily verifiable.

Through cryptocurrencies like Ethereum, people can also prove their NFT ownership if they sign messages to show they own the private key behind their address. It is impossible to manipulate the ownership of NFT because the private key proves ownership of the original work.

However, there are some cons to NFT ownership. Since there are NFT limitations, do artists own them?

What Are The Limitations to NFT Ownership?

If a creator of an artwork decides to sell their piece to someone else, they can transfer the intellectual property rights of the NFT to the buyer, yet they must document it for future reference. If the two parties do not write it down, NFT ownership does not entirely belong to the buyer.

Buyers of NFTs need to ascertain the owners of their underlying assets this way; they can evade copyright restrictions. In some cases, people spend millions buying NFTs, but they still belong to their creators if they do not obtain permission to use them.

There is a common myth about NFTs- many people believe that once they buy an NFT, they own the work of art it presents. Wrong! I defined NFTs as tokens representing a digital asset and not a physical item. Hence ownership of NFT means owning a token which is different from owning an asset.

NFT original owners can share their works with their audiences since they automatically own the copyright to their work. However, unlike the creators, the buyers’ use of NFT s is quite limited since they do not own other rights to the work.

This rule does not only apply to NFTs. For example, if I buy a physical piece of art, it will be wrong to display it to the public and claim its copyright ownership. Therefore, to use NFTs as one pleases, one must buy the copyrights from the creator or come up with their work of art.

Accordingly, it is essential to note that NFT purchasers are rarely owners since all they have is a unique hash under blockchain technology with a link to the work they bought and a transactional record of their purchase. So, it is wise to tread caution before purchasing an NFT because of its impediments.

Original artists own NFTs unless they decide to fully sign off their ownership rights to buyers, including copyrights. People need to understand this to contemplate the essence of buying tokens for digital assets via blockchain technology.

What Should Artists Consider Before Minting NFTs?

If you want to mint a work of art or any other asset like a tweet or GIF, you must consider and adhere to the rules of copyright law. Hence, you should know that;

• You are the owner of a digital asset’s intellectual property rights unless you are not its creator.
• You can transfer your copyright ownership to a buyer
• You Must obtain permission to mint an artwork if you created it with other individuals
• You must be the creator of the work you want to mint and should not steal other people’s work
• You cannot mint an artwork created under someone else’s authority, especially an employer, since they have the underlying copyright of that piece
• You can create an NFT using someone else’ work if they permit you to do so
• If other artists inspired your artwork, you should not mint it unless you have their consent

Are NFTs Here to Stay?

As much as NFTs have numerous limitations and require people to tread with caution, they have tremendous benefits to artists. High financial rewards make blockchain technology attractive to many artists.

NFTs will become building blocks usable across virtual worlds created by the internet in the future. Soon enough, many people will interact with others in virtual communities, design their works and explore numerous things in metaverses run via NFTs.

The value of NFTs lies in their capability to track the history of an artwork and its creator; thus, this form of digitization will minimize the theft of art pieces online.

I hope you now understand NFT ownership and its limitations. It’s pretty easy to mint and trace NFTs, yet people should be vigilant while buying them. I believe this information will help you decide whether to mint or buy NFT from an artist. If you choose to buy, you should contemplate copyright ownership so you can use your NFT as you please.

References:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicolesilver/2021/11/02/the-history-and-future-of-nfts/?sh=d90c4076a163

https://www.livemint.com/technology/nfts-much-hyped-but-how-do-they-work-11639884308143.html

https://thenextweb.com/news/so-you-bought-an-nft-doesnt-mean-you-also-own-it-syndication

What Does a Data Analyst Do At A Museum?

Unknown to many, there is a strong correlation between museums and data. Like other enterprises, museums are financially-driven organizations that need to collect and analyze data to determine revenue earned and enhance customer experience. Why do museums need data analysts?

Museums need data analysts because they serve vital roles that ensure the effective running of their digital platforms. Data analysts identify trend patterns, analyze and synthesize data to enhance the relevance of museums to modern audiences. Data analysts are valuable to the art industry because they attract more clients and solve financial crises.

I will clarify the association between art and data. The modern world is data-driven, and for industries to thrive, they must be willing to adjust and adapt to the rapidly changing times. Yet this may not be easy, hence the need for data analysts in art repositories.

Why is Data Valuable to Museums?

Prominent museums are enriched with cultural diversity and need data analytics to respond to new audience trends. People do not recognize museums as complex organizations, yet they are competitive, financially and mission-driven, and aim to achieve specific goals.

I perceive that there is no clear association between data and visitor attractions. But museums rely on data analytics to determine the best way to serve their clients. The most significant difference between museums and other organizations dependent on data analysis is that archives are considered public establishments and not profit-driven.

Currently, museums are facing external pressure to meet the needs of young generations. Therefore, analytics and applied data are handy for museums because they help steer the unknown future.

What Type of Data Collection Processes Can Museums Use?

Data analysts help museums understand visitors’ behavior by collecting certain information. For instance, a museum can establish whether local and international tourists exhibit similar behavior, get more works and visitors online, and the target audience segments most attracted to specific collections.

Electronic tracking is an ideal way to collect and analyze data; it helps determine visitors’ expenditure, track clients’ movements while in the museum, and the number of people passing through particular doors. However, data analysts must obtain consent from their visitors to not count as a breach of privacy.

Data analysts use numerous data collection methods like indoor location tracking, surveys, social media profiling, Google analytics, and polls. Many data analysts prefer digital means like Google analytics which are easier to use.

Through Google analytics, museums can obtain various information like their potential customers’ sex, age, location, and demographics. Social media platforms effectively establish how much time users spend on a museum’s site and the pages visited more often.

What Are Museums Like In the Age of Big Data?

Today, many museums are open-minded to digitally converting their assemblage and availing themselves of research. Data projects are not common, and this is quite disadvantageous.

Museums have a big responsibility to enhance client loyalty given the COVID-19 pandemic that limits people’s needs. What makes a museum outstanding and attractive to the public? The seizing of digital data enhances unique customer experiences, loyalty, and satisfaction.

Most museums use data to avail vital information to the public, but most do not realize they can use it to understand their audience. Museums can easily contact clients and inquire about their experiences because clients have varying expectations.

What Impact Does Data Analytics Have on Museums?

From my perspective, data analytics is mandatory in museums. When most individuals go to museums, they never exhibit interest in the works they see; instead, they aim to skim through every piece available in the repository. Museums need to be more unorthodox by spending more money and time to elevate visitors’ interest and engagement.

Data-driven decision-making is often valuable since it gives a museum a high competitive edge- this means that museums should embrace data analytics to fulfill their responsibility to the public. It is awry for a few individuals to have a genuine interest in museums because they are public enterprises. Data-driven metrics help inform the mission and goals of museums.

Hiring a data analyst can be quite costly, but applied data is handy in formulating policies and project implementations. The good news is that today, data is easily accessible through attendance records, Google analytics, and financial information.

Raw data is useless and must be processed to reveal helpful information. Data analytics might be costly, but it is worth it because it is the basis of practical insights in all organizations today.

What Do Data Analysts Do?

Data analysts collect and interpret data to solve problems or enhance organizations’ performances. They work in governmental organizations, criminal justice, art, science, business, and medicine.

Data analysis involves identifying appropriate data, collecting and cleaning it in preparation for research, scrutiny, and finally, interpretation.

Data analysts use numerous tools like Microsoft Power BI, SAS, Google sheets, Microsoft excel, python, SQL, and tableau. The technical skills data analysts must have include data visualizations, programming languages, math, statistics, and database tools.

Data analysts working in museums must have specific workplace skills like industry knowledge, communication, and problem-solving. If you are interested in becoming a data analyst at a museum, you must learn about the industry to familiarize yourself with current trends and issues. Critical thinking and speaking skills will give you an upper hand.

What Do Data Analysts Do At A Museum?

Data analysts determine museum market success through solving data crises and making museums more relevant to new audiences. Most museums rely on anecdotes to decide events and programs, yet this should not be the case.

Some museums lack the financial resources and professional development necessary for accreditation. Most people employed in museums lack the knowledge and morale to collect, analyze and interpret data hence the rising need for data analysts.

The use of personal anecdotes in making decisions is quite unpredictable because technology is rapidly changing the industry. Museum professionals cannot evade using digital operation tools in enhancing sustainability. Data analysts help understand, change and evaluate organizational practices with minimal or no risks.

Why do the millennials and individuals of generation Z exhibit tremendously low interest in going to museums? This age group entails a massive percentage of the world’s population. Thus, they should be the museum’s target audience. If young people lose interest in museums, the chances are that the generations to come will manifest the same behavior.

Museums should hire data analysts to enhance inclusivity and vibrancy in art repositories. Since most museums employ staff that are not well trained on data analysis, they should consider hiring professionals or training their staff on data logic and analysis.

Today, only eminent museums hire professional data analysts because the budget for hiring these individuals is relatively high. Examples include the Smithsonian museum, which has an internal team of data analysts to interpret visitors’ data. The British Museum uses Microsoft data scientists to mold client experiences.

Prominent museums have access to more resources than small museums; thus, they are highly likely to benefit from data-driven decision-making. Through research on data analytics, data analysts can evaluate audience engagement, sales development, and ticketing, hence organizational success.

Museum funders are now demanding evidence of organizational impact on the public. How can measurable results be achieved? Relevant museums have professionals who use digital data evidence that helps determine social impact.

It is vital to evaluate the influence of museums on the community to gain funding from NGOs and governmental foundations.

What are the Responsibilities of Data Analysts in Museums?

• Conducting user research and utilizing it to improve the existing organizational practices; for instance, by developing solutions for problems discerned, they can find out why some works receive more attention than others.
• Developing data analytics programs and suggesting new projects to be enacted to elevate user experience and high revenue
• Using mobile technologies to establish the needs of the target audience and the trends in behavioral change
• Training internal stakeholders on how to collect and analyze data in small museums that may not afford to employ many data analysts
• Coming up with continual reports on critical digital metrics and presenting them to firm managers, and other senior personnel
• Analyzing implemented projects to determine their impact on a museum
• Serving as organization referencing sources for data analysis and implementation
• Researching on possible development or enhancement of new projects and channels
• Establishing the effect of digitization on user behavior

How Do Data Analysts Make Use of Data to Enhance Client Experiences and Boost Organizational Earnings?

The biggest obstacle museums face today is using and expanding data analytic tools with little money and time. The solution entails incorporating external data sets like geographic, demographic, and psychographic information, enabling museums to pay dividends without necessarily relying on consultation or staff.

Data analytics enable museums to communicate with their audience. Some museums do not engage in systematic qualitative analysis. They should rely on data and its potential to influence anecdotal inferences. Data visualization is essential in communicating insights, therefore building museums’ strength in logical reasoning. 

Museums must practice data analytics- it does not necessarily need to be perfect. Most organizations believe in perfection, yet this leads to delays which might do away with the value of expenditure in analytics.

All museum organizations can use data because it is easily accessible. There is vast information on past events and current happenings that help organizational management understand how contemporary art repositories work. I believe applied data can change the museum industry for the better good.

Museums can use numerous digital devices to collect data on client preferences, including audio guides, mobile applications, and touch screens.

Audio guides are sources of audible information on visitors’ progress. They help reconstruct customers’ routes, and the analysis of the data collected is useful in determining the information most consumed and the works that spark the most attention.

Mobile applications are also handy in monitoring the flow of visitors in museums. Data analysts can discern the most requested exhibits through the apps and ensure clients receive their requests.

Touch screens are a pretty significant source of data because they showcase the screens most visited by clients, the time spent looking for available information on an art piece, and the methods clients use to search on-screen.

Data analysts explore customers’ behavior to know a specific museum’s target audience and develop a good loyalty strategy to enhance clients’ trust and allegiance.

Are there Museums that Have Benefited From Informed Decision Making?

Many prominent museums formulate their strategies depending on the information conveyed by their data analysts. These evidence-based scenarios demonstrate the essence of applied data in the valorization of museums;

• The Fenimore Museum of art in Cooperstown, New York, could not discern the relationship between ticket sales and media advertisement. The solution was to compare the postal codes of sold tickets with geographic ads through data analytics. The proposed implementation resulted in an increase in the number of clients from locations where radio advertisement of the firm was high.
• The Madrid Reina Sofia National Museum could not understand the visitation trends for some art exhibitions. The finding was that a significant percentage of the visitors were from abroad, mainly first world nations.
• The Chicago Art Institute wanted to increase its revenue by attracting more visitors. It used data analytics to track the visitation of clients and the time they spent at specific exhibitions. The museum chose to promote the galleries with more visitors, thus increasing profits.

How Can You Become A Museum’s Data Analyst?

You should have specific qualifications to be hired as a museum data analyst. They include;

• Bachelor’s degree in any analytical field like Economics and Mathematics
• The technical know-how of navigating social media platforms
• Good communication skills
• Good data visualization skills
• The ability to multitask and willingness to learn
• Good organizational skills
• Ability to understand and interpret large data sets
• High morale and good professional conduct
• Good writing skills  for drafting data analytics reports
• High proficiency in the use of Microsoft Excel, SQL, python, tableau, and Google sheets
• Ability to make good data-informed decisions that enhance organizational success

In closing, I hope you understand why museums need data analysts. If this is your desired career, do not hesitate to send job applications to any museums that may be hiring. A good data analyst is valuable to a firm and receives high compensation for the excellent work done.

References

https://medium.com/museum-tech-trends/5-reasons-for-museum-data-analytics-14b777c12d2a

https://searchbusinessanalytics.techtarget.com/feature/Museums-and-data-A-powerful-combination

https://arenametrix.com/en/marketing-museums/

https://nysmuseums.org/MANYnews/7300085

Blockchain technology refers to databases enciphered in blocks that store information electronically. This technology is a substitute for long-established go-betweens to transfer the crypto-currency bitcoin. Is blockchain the future of art?

Blockchain is the future of art since artists utilize it as a medium and subject, thus changing how collectors use art. It also enables artists to track down the sales of their work and control the audience of their exposition. Blockchain was originally a ledger for Bitcoin and would be highly embraced in the future to ease artists’ work.

I will expound on the meaning and various uses of blockchain and whether or not it will survive these rapidly changing times. Many experts believe that blockchain is here to stay, and it will change people’s lives, especially artists because it will restructure the art industry. Others argue that it is uncalled for.

What is Blockchain?

Blockchain is a digital ledger of transactions that is quite impossible to hack. Unlike the traditional ledger, it does not call for a third party to facilitate the exchange of data, money, or anything between people; people deal directly with each other.

Blockchain is becoming highly acceptable in modern society because it is a promising and revolutionary technology that enhances transparency on the internet. The internet harbours different characters like fraudulence, and blockchain does away with this.

Blockchain has structured databases with well-collected information stored in groups called blocks. These blocks have a fixed storage capacity, and newly filled ones can link to previously filled ones, thus forming a blockchain.

Blockchain is primarily used in Bitcoins to ensure that all parties obtain and retain control. Bitcoin transactions are on permanent record since it is impossible to reverse them. Additionally, anyone can access databases, thus minimizing hacking cases.

A Brief History of Blockchain

The notion of blockchain technology can be traced back to 1982 yet; software engineers did not put this theory into practice until 2008. In 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto published Bitcoin, then the following year, the first successful bitcoin transaction took place.

In 2012, bitcoin and blockchain gained recognition in television shows and magazines. In 2013, blockchain could serve other purposes besides bitcoin. In 2015, more than a hundred thousand people accepted bitcoin and the San-Fransisco company tested the trading of shares in private firms.

In 2019, IBM came up with a blockchain banking platform collaborating with prominent organizations like Barclays bank. In 2019, China announced blockchain as its cryptocurrency. In 2020, blockchain helped fight the COVID-19 pandemic by safely storing patient information and research data.

How Does Blockchain Work?

Blockchain prohibits the editing of digital information, yet it allows the recording and distribution of data. Hence, it is ideal for keeping records of transactions without deletion, destruction, and alteration. Blockchain has three components; blocks, nodes, and miners, which serve varying functions.

Blocks

A blockchain has numerous blocks, and each block consists of a nonce, hash, and data. A nonce is a 32-bit whole number produced during the formation of a block. A hash is a tiny 256-bit number amalgamated to the nonce.

A nonce produces a cryptographic hash once a block of a chain generates, and the data recorded becomes permanent except it gets mined.

Miners

Through the mining process, miners generate new blocks for blockchains. All blocks in a blockchain have unique hash and nonce, making mining blocks a tedious or nearly impossible activity. The successful mining of a block entails the acceptance of all nodes by the network.

Nodes

No individual or organization owns blockchains. It decentralizes via nodes. Nodes are devices that store copies of blockchains and enhance the running of networks.

Each node is different because they have varying copies of the blockchain. For a node to maintain a copy of a blockchain, the newly mined block must be updated, verified, and approved by the network. Nodes make it easy for people to check actions in the ledger- they foster transparency in blockchains.

Most people use blockchain to buy and sell bitcoin through nodes. For a miner to get a financial reward, they must complete a new block successfully. After most of the network confirms the block gets permanently secured to previous blocks using a hash, the sale gets processed.

What Do You Need to Know About Blockchain?

The most crucial trait of blockchain is that it applies to other fields- it is not strictly tied to finance. This technology applies to any transaction that calls for visibility and transparency, one of them being art. In the future, there will be numerous practical applications to blockchain use.

Blockchain technology does not engross in public existence. Organizations can use it privately to minimize compliance costs. Hence it is ideal for you if your firm is constantly under pressure to exhibit compliance.

Before you begin mining, you should know that blockchain will have a great future only if there is a concurrence between private and public blockchain. This intersection will enhance the collaboration of suppliers, clients, and business organizations in a verifiable, secure and digital manner.

Is Blockchain the Future of Art?

Databases drive the modern world, meaning blockchain will soon play a significant role in transforming professional and personal lives. Besides trading bitcoins, blockchain plays a vital role in the art field.

What is the Association Between Blockchain and the Art Industry?

Art has always been part of society. Most wealthy individuals love art pieces which they obtain from art auctions. However, today, numerous electronic forgeries of art corrupt provenience records, thus leading to huge losses for artists. Like other sectors, the art industry would benefit tremendously from modernization.

Blockchain technology has a lot of optimistic promises for individual artists and art organizations.  Through it, artists would solve most of the problems they encounter today.

Does Blockchain Have Potential in the Art Industry?

Since blockchain records are permanent, they elevate artworks’ security and prevent fraud. Blockchain promotes legitimacy and egalitarianism. This technology is a stabilizer of the art auctions’ inconsistency.

Blockchain can combat antiquity trade and stolen art by rummaging global and domestic art sales to solve legitimacy issues in the art industry. This aspect is valid because blockchain has proven beneficial in other industries. For instance, it helps track down stolen antiquities by recording their movement in the supply chain.

Art collectors can determine the number of pieces available for sale through blockchain technology, minimizing the chances of getting ripped off. If you are an art collector, this information will help you discern the reasonable price to pay for an art piece. Artists can also minimize the number of copies of a specific artwork to remain unique.

Blockchain would enhance the trust of art collectors because an artist can register original copies, thus making unauthorized copies noticeable and worthless.

What are Blockchain’s Applications in the Art Industry?

Blockchain disseminates art models and selling authorities. Art collectors experience hard times buying an art piece, especially if it has one seller. Blockchain is changing this by allowing people to bid and buy globally from any firm or individual.

The art market is no longer as restricted as it used to be since smart contracts help complete transactions, making it impossible for people to get scammed. Once an individual or organization sells a piece to a client, the original file gets deleted from the sender’s computer.

Blockchain enables you to buy art pieces with cryptocurrency. By using cryptocurrency, one does not have to wait for the bank to authorize their transaction, and they can easily transfer vast amounts of funds to their seller.

Blockchain enhances people’s accessibility to art. Before technology, only a few people in certain nations knew where to find good artwork. But thanks to blockchain, things are pretty different today. Art pieces are digitized and traded on the blockchain. They are visible and purchasable directly from their owner by anyone from any location.

Blockchain has made art affordable to many individuals. Most people fail to realize that they may be purchasing items at highly insane prices because a third party is involved. Any individual can afford to buy an art piece through blockchain because some go for as low as $10. Additionally, people will be sure they buy original work from an artist.

Blockchain technology is inventing online galleries, which are ideal for people unable to go to physical art galleries for reasons best known to them. Through this innovation, you can create a Data Access Object which eases art transactions.

Blockchain enables people to learn about the history of artworks. Since no one can alter blockchain’s ledger, it is pretty impossible to copy art providence fraudulently after publishing an original.

Is Blockchain Expedient to Artists and Art Collectors?

Blockchain has numerous merits to the art sector. It is bound to change artists’ and art collectors’ lives for the better. What are the pros of blockchain to the art trade?

1. Blockchain is bringing equality to the art industry. There was a time when good art was solely associated with multi-millionaires but not anymore. It has broken the monotony of art by doing away with the dominance of art galleries and big auction houses. Today, you and I can easily access and afford artworks we may never have been able to.
2. This technology fosters transparency between art sellers and buyers. Gradually, blockchain ownership records are developing, allowing clients to track down artworks’ history by discerning their legitimacy and previous locations. The records are a valuable reference source because people cannot change them to serve ill intentions.
3. Blockchain promotes authenticity in art auctions. The biggest challenge in the art trade is the incapacity to determine the validity of a work of art. Blockchain technology provides entrenched provenance making it impossible to lower or raise the value of artworks on the grounds of ownership data.
4. It connects artists, thus promoting diversity and enabling access to cheaper material and tools.
5. Blockchain guarantees a buyer intellectual property since people can now store and manage artworks in whichever way they please. This aspect means it guarantees one copyright and minimizes internet art theft.
6. Blockchain helps art collectors remain anonymous if they choose to. If one does not wish to reveal their identity, they can display public data on specific artworks and not personal information.
7. Through buying artworks with cryptocurrencies, the speed of buying and selling increases; hence people do not need to wait too long before transacting.

Are there any Cons of Blockchain to the Art Industry?

Although blockchain has numerous merits to art collectors, some argue that it adversely affects the industry.

1. Blockchain technology will slowly do away with physical art galleries, hindering buyers and sellers from physically meeting. There is a special significance tied to physical art pieces, and now this tradition threatens to become extinct. Art is no longer controlled by artists and art collectors but by technology.
2. Some argue that using blockchain to sell and buy works of art is tedious because it calls for negotiating a barrage of technical jargon and acquiring a digital wallet.
3. Since blockchain is decentralized and lacks authority, who will solve disputes? Even though there are minimal chances of disputes, one can never be too sure. Yet since this technology lacks a central authority, who solves issues? How is this different from the traditional way?
4. Blockchain makes art sellers and buyers dispensable because it holds all vital information; the middleman plays a vital role in judging the value of art pieces and researching provenance.
5. Like other internet mediums, the information on the blockchain is vulnerable to hacking, meaning art collectors should not upload all their databases at once on the platform.  

Is Blockchain Here to Stay?

I believe blockchain is here to stay and will transform many industries just as it is doing in the art sector. This technology is highly likely to offer artists and art collectors control since they can determine who sees their work and whether it should be distributed and reproduced.

Since blockchain enhances the accessibility and affordability of art pieces, it attracts numerous art collectors, thus revolutionizing the art industry. It is a powerful technology that will change people’s lives by transfiguring the publishing industry, music industry, and cinema theatre.

In conclusion, I hope you now understand blockchain technology and its connection to art. If you are an art seller or love buying artwork, you should consider using blockchain because you have a lot to gain.

References

https://blockchain.oodles.io/blog/modernizing-art-industry-blockchain-solutions/

https://www.ft.com/content/1c5062d8-900b-11e8-bb8f-a6a2f7bca546

https://www.iberdrola.com/culture/blockchain-applications-in-art

The Mona Lisa: What Makes it a Masterpiece?

The Mona Lisa is arguably the most recognizable piece of art in the world. But, what makes Mona Lisa a Masterpiece?

Her enigmatic smile,- despite being debated continuously amongst historians and art scholars, there’s still great speculation about the identity and the meaning behind da Vinci’s painting.

Enthusiasts come from everywhere around the world just to see her. Thousands of visitors line up daily to take a look at the masterpiece that has been carefully kept for centuries.

There are many reasons for her fame that make up for an interesting story and help explain her enduring popularity. To understand why this work remains iconic after so many years, we have to look at its mysterious origins, groundbreaking art techniques and the influence it still has on other artists and art movements.

So, what is behind that ambiguous smile? Today I will be breaking down and analysing what makes the Mona Lisa a Masterpiece.

Historic Context: Where Does She Come From

Leonardo da Vinci, the Italian polymath and multidisciplinary artist from the Renaissance era who created some of the world’s most iconic works, painted the Mona Lisa over several years during a large period of his life.

da Vinci should have completed the Mona Lisa around 1503. However, records show that the artist kept on working on the painting after 1503, and probably didn’t finish until he died in 1519. When da Vinci left Italy to become King Francis I’s protégé, he took the Mona Lisa with him. Right before da Vinci died, he sold what was to be considered the biggest masterpiece on earth, to King Francis for 4,000 gold coins.

Since then, the iconic painting has been passed on to the hands of kings, presidents, museums and private collectors, – from Louis XIV to Napolean Bonaparte.

She’s finally found a permanent home now. This enigmatic figure has been under Louvre’s protection for decades now, where she currently remains after a dispute between the U.S. President John F. Kennedy and the rest of Europe claiming the masterpiece as a heritage symbol.

The origin behind her name comes from what’s thought to be a portrait of Lisa Gherardini, wife of an Italian silk merchant named Francesco del Giocondo. Mona Lisa’s alternative name is La Gioconda due to who it was commissioned to.

But here’s where things get complicated now: apparently yes, – Mona Lisa is a commissioned portrait of Giocondo’s wife Lisa. And I do believe in that.

However, speculation surrounding the iconic piece suggests that the Mona Lisa is just a feminized version of Leonardo da Vinci himself… But I will dive into that later on, so you might as well keep reading!

Techniques

To create a masterpiece you have to be a master yourself. And Leonardo da Vinci was an absolute genius. Drawing, painting, sculpting, da Vinci was also an engineer, a scientist, an architect and a theorist,- a man of many talents you may say.

Through a series of innovations in technique and practice, which are still taught to this day, this Italian polymath has revolutionized the art world when he painted the Mona Lisa.

Unlike other paintings of the 16th century, the Mona Lisa is a very realistic portrait of a real person. Scholars have attributed this sort of accomplishment due to the artist’s brush and colour blending skills. Mona Lisa’s softly sculpted face shows how innovative da Vinci was in regards to exploring new techniques.

Sfumato was one of them, you can see that da Vinci utilizes light and shadows to model form in a way that reveals the skull below the skin. The veil delicately painted, the hair finely worked on, and the fabric carefully rendered all show intense careful observation.

In addition to its incredible technicalities, the woman’s soft smile is incredibly alluring. There’s also a thing called the Mona Lisa Effect: The resonance of her facial expression depends on the angle from which the viewer approaches it. From one viewpoint she looks cheerful and happy; and from another one, for some viewers, it is difficult to tell if she is simply smiling or not at all.

Although the Mona Lisa Effect is revolutionary by itself, she is also the earliest Italian portrait to include a full-length figure with arms. She is shown resting against a column staring out into the horizon behind her. The picture frame lies on the columns and creates a window effect that looks out over both distance and foreground.

Her Unique Face and Smile

As I said just now, her expressionless gaze can follow you around the room. And her powerful stare continues to captivate all who encounter her.

After 500 years of enduring those who have let themselves be lost in contemplation of her mocking smile, the Mona Lisa still maintains intense eye contact with everyone that lets themselves be absorbed by her image. I have to admit, I’ve been to the Louvre before just to see her and it made me feel uneasy, to say the least…

Art historians have proposed numerous theories for the fascination with Mona Lisa. Most medical hypotheses examine dental problems, facial paralysis and even thyroid issues as evidence of her captivating face.

One theory explaining the Mona Lisa’s smile hinges on entertainers who would have made the model laugh during the painting process, allowing Leonardo da Vinci to capture this unique and slightly stifled smile.

It is also rumoured that there are secrets and hidden symbols behind her alluring expression. The buzzing masterpiece is still a hot topic of discussion when it comes to who the model actually is.

With theories suggesting that the iconic woman could be inspired by random Italians posing for da Vinci, including da Vinci himself. But, despite these side theories, a note written by Agostino Vespucci in 1503, indicated that Leonardo da Vinci told him he was working on a painting to the wife of Giocondo, who commissioned the piece.

Art historians generally agree that Mona Lisa is actually Giocondo’s wife.

Scholars have also speculated that Leonardo created more than one version of the Mona Lisa. In addition to the original commissioned by Gherardini del Giocondo, there is a second version painted in 1513 and believed to be commissioned by Giuliano de Medici. The latter is said to be exhibited at the Louvre.

Becoming an Icon

Due to Mona Lisa’s ambiguous gaze and mysterious face, this timeless masterpiece has been the subject of mocking, idolization, deep analysis and studies, commercial appropriation and meme culture content. People have adopted her as an international symbol of the arts. Her inconspicuous origin has been a discussed theme that has been buzzing for decades.

Mona Lisa is one of the most copied and reproduced paintings in the world. Since its creation, artists have appropriated her image, from Leonardo’s contemporaries to modern painters.

Duchamp took a postcard of the Mona Lisa and added a moustache and goatee. Artists like Warhol, Dali, Basquiat and Banksy have made their own interpretations of her in a variety of styles, including painting her as a dinosaur, unicorn, and even sporting sunglasses and Mickey Mouse ears.

What Really Made the Mona Lisa a Masterpiece

Despite all the theories, speculation, mockery and idolization behind this iconic figure, what turned the highly valuable piece into a Masterpiece was more than just the revolutionary art techniques.

For centuries, the Mona Lisa hung quietly in the Louvre. But, on August 21, 1911, Mona Lisa was stolen right off of the museum’s wall during a heist, shooking up the art world.

Suspicions were widespread as the Louvre shut for a week so investigators could collect pieces of the puzzle. Initially, conspiracy theories abounded, claiming that it was all a publicity stunt orchestrated by the Louvre or perhaps Pablo Picasso had taken it.

After more than two years, an Italian carpenter working at the Louvre back in 1913 was accused of stealing the Mona Lisa from a Florentine art dealer who received information that it was out there. The French police found Vincenzo Peruggia, who admitted he had stolen the painting to duplicate it and resell it, claiming it belonged in an Italian museum rather than a French one.

From the day that Mona Lisa was returned to the Louvre, it didn’t take long for people from all around the world to make pilgrimages and admire her genius.

Since then, the masterpiece has been subject to various attacks. She has suffered an acid attack, a rock being thrown at her and a clay mug too. Who would’ve thought such an enigmatic and mysterious work would cause such a ruckus…

But there you have it. Due to all the hype and the interest, the several cultural resets it has accompanied, the artistic techniques it has shaped and the overwhelming buzz it has made, the Mona Lisa is indeed a masterpiece for all its history, – not just because of its genius, but because it has had an impact in so many different settings and social contexts.

Curiosities

Conclusion

• The Mona Lisa is a painting made by Leonardo da Vinci. It’s thought to be a portrait of Lisa Gherardini, wife of an Italian silk merchant named Francesco del Giocondo.
  
• Unlike other paintings of the 16th century, the Mona Lisa is a very realistic portrait of a real person. Scholars have attributed this sort of accomplishment due to his brush and colour blending skills called sfumato.
  
• The Mona Lisa Effect: From one viewpoint she looks cheerful and happy; and from another, for some viewers, it is difficult to tell if she is simply smiling or not at all.
• It is also rumoured that there are secrets and hidden symbols behind her alluring expression. The buzzing masterpiece is still a hot topic of discussion when it comes to who the model actually is. One theory believes it’s a feminized self-portrait of da Vinci.
  
• Due to Mona Lisa’s ambiguous gaze and mysterious face, this timeless masterpiece has been the subject of mocking, idolization, deep analysis and studies, commercial appropriation and meme culture content. People have adopted her as an international symbol of the arts. 
  
• Mona Lisa is one of the most copied and reproduced paintings in the world.
• Despite all the theories, speculation, mockery and idolization behind this iconic figure, what turned the highly valuable piece into a Masterpiece was more than just the revolutionary art techniques. 
  
• The masterpiece has been subject to various attacks and scandalous theft. She has suffered an acid attack, a rock being thrown at her and a clay mug too.
  
• The Mona Lisa is indeed a masterpiece for all its history, – not just because of its genius, but because it has had an impact in so many different settings and social contexts.

Artists Guide: Making a Living as an Artist

Being an artist looks fun and glamorous, but the average painter, sculptor, and performance artist rarely get to live those eccentric lives we’re used to seeing on media outlets – or at least, most of them.

Sure, fine artists who show their work regularly in established galleries are more likely to earn more. They are established artists, so their work is recognized and highly valuable. Yet, that’s nothing but the tip of the iceberg as far as the kind of work and earnings other artists do.

Artists typically earn their living within four ways: commissioning works, selling finished pieces physically and online, teaching, or taking visual artist gigs for commercial studios.

Artists have also been made icons of poverty and struggling for centuries. But this is often not the reality of the situation… While starving or excessive wealth is considerably romanticized, people often make an adequate living out of the arts.

But let’s go back to the beginning of it all. Before earning an income, what does it take to make a living as an artist?

The Arts Industry

Let’s start with an introduction to the Arts Industry. The arts are not only valuable in and of themselves, but they also play a key part in countries economic success.

Take New York City or London for example, – the cultural capitals of the world. Arts and the Cultural Sector can have a great economic impact via expenditures and receipts from various activities. Like Broadway, Off-Broadway theatre productions, museums and art galleries, auction houses, shows and so on.

It’s a very profitable growing industry that attracts millions and can be linked to the Entertainment Industry, Technology and Tourism. By promoting the creation of new work posts, new businesses’ and constantly adapting to society’s needs, this industry is well adapted and there’s always space for new and upcoming artists.

Unless you want in on the rich and glamorous bit of it like Koons or Hirst… It might be harder to make a living like that then. Believe me, it’s not from lack of trying…!

Education

Although artists may be exceptionally talented without formal education, most visual artists tend to pursue a secondary education.

Most artist’s academic journeys often include a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) or Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree from an art school that is accredited by National Associations or Schools of Art and Design.

For art majors, being critiqued is part of their studies. Having feedback from peers or professors that still practice what they teach will get a prospective artist ahead. Art students also study art history and fundamental techniques of various creative practices, giving them an advantage, – regarding their knowledge of multidisciplinary skills.

Usually, the Universities and Art Schools provide great opportunities to show prospective collectors or future employers student’s work, by typically doing a degree show, a presentation of a student’s latest project, organizing talks and conferences, exhibition events, or by simply showcasing their portfolio.

Experience

What most people don’t know is that most artists have parallel jobs while making art. And that’s actually very beneficial. While taking in other job activities, artists can also gain other skills that are always favourable for future gigs.

Artists income can increase with each level of experience. Exposure and a diverse set of skills and settings make the artist more desirable and interesting to potential clients. It can also make you ready to take on different job positions, – related to your practices of course.

So, if you’re not making it as a full-time artist yet you can also consider starting a career as something else…

A background in visual arts may lead to jobs such as museum technician, conservator or art director, – a position that entails supervising other artists. Their salaries range from $47.35 per hour for those self-employed with five years of experience or more. Not bad, right?

Growth Trend

According to the BLS (The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics), job demand for visual artists is expected to grow by a modest 1% between now and 2029. An estimated 300 new creative job positions will be created in addition to vacancies from retirements and job changes.

However, when the economy reaches a lower point, it will probably be more difficult for freelance artists to sell their work because potential buyers may have less disposable income.

Types of Artists

To pursue a career in the arts as nothing but an artist, there are various occupations you might want to consider.

With the right education, volunteer work, internships, and and art major, artists can find success in a variety of disciplines.

Fine arts, crafts, digital art, illustration and multimedia to name a few vocations. They’re all different types of visual arts. Ones more prestigious than others, but they’re all subcategories that fall under the Artist umbrella.

Traditional Artists

Traditional artists specialize in the design and making of handmade objects. These are typically sold to the general public through commissions, shops, online or dedicated craft fairs. However, established craft artists might have work showcased in museums and art galleries.

The role of a traditional/ craft artist is to produce original handmade works from a variety of materials, including glass, paper, fabric, metal, ceramics and wood. Perfect for those who like to create things by hand.

Illustrators

Illustrations can be the pictures used in magazines, books, calendars, and so on. This area is great for those who like to work with a wide range of styles, whether to create work for a fantasy novel, a diagram in a medical text or to draw portraits in courtrooms.

There are many different methods creators use to make illustrations. Some artists work for media companies or do their own freelance illustrations.

Illustrators work is usually based on commissions by companies or private bodies. There are agencies you can work in, publishing companies for children’s books for example, or you can also produce editorial or authorial illustrations for magazines or posters.

Multimedia Artists and Animators

Multimedia artists and animators create films, video games or other special effects for specific companies.

They may specialize in just one aspect of the production process, such as creating only special effects for movies or designing background graphics.

Some multimedia artists and animators do their work by hand, sketching characters on paper with a pencil; while others use only digital tools to create something like fully digital NFT artworks. These artists are usually hired to work for companies, however, most creatives in this do freelance work.

Fine Artists

Now, the most “prestigious” one: Fine Art. Fine artists are often known for producing realistic depictions of people or objects. They usually specialize in paintings, sculptures or prints. These artists work with traditional materials like graphite, ink or acrylic paint; they may also use clay, stone or other classic materials too.

Fine artists work in all types of settings, including studios and outdoors. Formal training is not a requirement for artists because talent is innate (,- or not, but I’ll discuss that another time), however, and as I mentioned before, many artists do still prefer formal training to sharpen their skills.

Artists may sell their work privately, offer it through an exhibition gallery, or work for an organization that owns the rights to their artwork.

Most fine artists are self-employed by trade. Though many have other jobs on the side as well, it’s more common to see fine artists practising full time rather than other artists.

Salaries and Prospects

Artist’s Anual Income

The BLS does not break down data on wages earned solely through the sale of artwork. Still, according to their data, back in 2018, the average annual wage for fine artists is $53,400.

On the other hand, traditional and fine artists earned around 10% of a salary of $32,210. This means that 90% earned more than this amount. So, if 90% of the artist’s salary is $70,210, this can only mean that 10% of these artists earn more. In 2018, almost 60,000 individuals were employed in the fine art/ craft artist sector.

Economic Prospects

The state of the economy affects a fine artist’s ability to find work and earn enough money for basic living expenses. In an economic downturn, it is more difficult for artists to sell their work because buying art is optional.

The BLS predicted that the number of jobs available for artists would grow slower than average, with a growth of almost 10% from 2010-2020… But we were not expecting a sudden global pandemic… So now things are a little bit different, and if numbers were low before, right now they are at their ultimate low.

So here’s my advice to you considering the tough times we’re all going through; As a professional in this industry, if you want to make it as an artist and support yourself through your work, you need to balance a parallel job… Trust me, it might take a while until everything’s back on track again.

Disadvantages of being an Artist

Right, so we’ve discussed some of the most important options, prospects and requirements to consider before jumping in on the decision of becoming an artist and making a living from it.

Few artists are lucky enough to be born with natural talent that can lead them to a stable career and reliable source of income. But unfortunately, many artists spend years continuing their education or perfecting their skills only to find themselves searching for a steady paycheck from a different source of income.

Making a living as an artist is more about passion than it is about the benefits. And here is why:

Unpredictable Income

The popular term “starving artist” became coined because most artists can’t support themselves through art alone.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports showed that only the most successful artists are able to live on their artwork. Back in 2010, you would only be considered an artist if your salary was less than $9.10 an hour and if you had at least one other job. Thankfully tho, now it’s advisable that you take on other side jobs, it helps you gain experience.

Inconsistent Scheduling

Artists looking to make a living off of selling their art often have to work very hard. They must take time out of showcasing their art in galleries, visiting museums to show their work, or working from home.

Multimedia artists who similarly work from home also need to put in about 50 hours per week and maintain creative and dependable reputations.

Lack of Support

Artist employment is largely impacted by the amount of charity that goes to the arts. Although charitable donations are declining, and while interest in this occupation has persisted and led to a larger window of qualified candidates, income levels have decreased.

This will lead to a continuous battle for prospective employees trying to get sponsorship grants or gallery display privileges after this year of economic recess.

General Downsides

Making a living out of this notable profession can definitely be challenging, it’s important to not lose focus. If you want to become successful in this field, you’ve got to be ready to face a lot of obstacles.

Learning to be a professional artist is about gaining natural talent that can be transformed into profit. For those who already make a living as an artist, it’s necessary to keep improving their skills each time in order to maintain their place in the industry.

The exposure to materials required for the job can potentially have harmful impacts as well. The BLS notes that although most studios are properly ventilated, artists should be careful about their daily exposure to paint and ink fumes which is a concern to have.

Always have a plan B or a side job with a more consistent pay that can both benefit you financially and in terms of acquiring skillsets that you can later use on your creative process. You’ve got to be prepared to accept badly paying jobs too, to gain visibility and exposure.

Conclusion

• Arts and the Cultural Sector can have a great economic impact via expenditures and receipts from various activities. It’s a very profitable growing industry that attracts millions and can be linked to the Entertainment Industry, Technology and Tourism.
• To make a living as an artisit, its not obligatory but getting a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) or Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree from an art school that is accredited by the National Association on Schools of Art and Design, can be considered essencial.
• Artists income can increase with each level of experience. Exposure and a diverse set of skills and settings make the artist more desirable and interesting to potential clients.
• ine arts, crafts, digital art, illustration and multimedia to name a few vocations. They’re all different types of visual arts, – ones more prestigious than others, but they’re all subcategories that fall under the Artist umbrella.
• Most fine artists are self-employed by trade. Though many have other jobs on the side as well, it’s more common to see fine artists practising full time rather than other artists.
• According to BSL data, the average annual wage for fine artists is $53,400.
• Making a living as an artist is more about passion than it is about the benefits.
• Making a living out of this notable profession can definitely be challenging, it’s important to not lose focus. If you want to become successful in this field, you’ve got to be ready to face a lot of obstacles.

Digital Art vs Traditional Art: Which one Is Better?

The Digital Art vs Traditional Art debate has been ongoing for quite some time now… Ever since the introduction of digital platforms and mediums, art has adapted and adopted many different forms throughout the years in order to fit the ever so changing times.

Digital artists have always stood by their work, claiming that digital art is every bit as “real” as traditional works. Traditional artists, on the other hand, consider digital art a form of “cheating”, “fast and easy art”, and “fake”. Some might even say that digital creators don’t make enough effort to be considered real artists.

It’s a controversial topic with no clear answer yet… However, for every valid argument that supports traditional art over anything else, digital art is the industry’s preferred medium for commercial products and here is where the line gets blurry…

Is Digital Art Actually Easier?

Some people in the art community see technology as a threat to originality and are concerned that it will replace traditional artmaking. This idea can certainly be worrisome for some artists and art institutions like museums and galleries who rely heavily on traditional works.

Of course, not all artists have the same opinion on the subject. Some traditional artists are receptive towards digital art. Others see digital art as: “Computer, draw me a person,” and a portrait suddenly appears on their computer screen. This is certainly not how digital artists work most of the time…

Digital art can be easier sometimes,(- and I will list you the pros and cons later on) but it’s not easier from the knowledge and actual skills perspective. Digital artists must understand drawing and painting fundamentals, composition, techniques, colouring, etc.. and those are only a few skills that come from knowledge and experience and absolutely no software is a replacement for any of those criteria.

So it is definitely not true. Digital Art isn’t necessarily easier, because some artists can take longer amounts of time and effort working with different softwares and mediums than those who only work with traditional mediums.

Is Traditional Art Dying?

The question has been asked a lot especially recently with all the NFTs hype going on. But my answer is that traditional art is not dying and it probably will take decades for that to ever happen.

It is true that while the traditional commercial industry medium is physical art, a large part of it has turned to digital media. Still, galleries, museums and auctions houses still see a lot of value and profit in traditional works.

Many people want a “real” painting on their walls. And it is in fact, a different experience that digital art can’t quite recreate yet.

Just like traditional artists, digital artists employ the same kind of skills but just with different tools. Using a computer to draw does not lessen the effort involved in creating art; it is simply done in a different manner from what many are used to.

Traditional vs Digital

Both digital and traditional art are similar in many ways, but also very different. To compare the two more closely, here is what each has to offer:

Traditional Art Pros

Traditional art is defined as any artwork made using physical media.

Skills
Obviously, it’s not just for traditional artmaking that you need a good set of skills. But it’s where you start. In order to to succeed in any art form you need to learn the basis of art-making which begins in a traditional setting.

Colour theories, composition, drawing styles, graphic and stylistic expressions, techniques, experimentation with materials, textures, brushes, pencils and so on, you only get to understand and gain the fundamental knowledge a posteriori.

Imperfections
Traditional art’s uniqueness is one of its most cherished benefits. Sure, you can scan the artwork and modify an existing copy as your own, but then it’s no longer considered an original piece.

Moreover, those imperfections and unintended strokes are what make traditional art so beautiful and individualistic – they give each piece a sense of exclusivity almost.

Practicality
Creating traditional art doesn’t depend on technology. If you don’t have a connection or internet access, you can keep working…

Senses
Traditional artwork comes with a different type of beauty that can’t be reproduced digitally. It is touchable, it has textures and unique colour mixing that we can’t enjoy as much over a computer screen.

Traditional Art Cons

Lighting
A traditional artist’s work as a physical object requires light. If an artist were to paint in the middle of the day, their work will be noticeably different at night because of how light changes.

Medium Limitations
Although you are working with the actual medium, all of them come with limitations on what they can do: such as how one material interacts with another or limited color options, impossible blending nad running out of supplies

Permanence
Traditional methods are typically unforgiving. There is no “undo” feature, and the line you put in can’t be made unpermanent.

Messiness
Working with traditional medium can be inconvenient and messy, requiring long hours of cleaning up, washing, putting things away and setting up and preparing all the materials one might need to start making an artwork.

Digital Art Pros

Digital art refers to the creations of artists who utilize technology in their work. Unlike traditional arts and crafts, digital artwork is typically created on a computer using various software programs.

Adaptability
Digital art does not have any limitations in what your finished work can look like. You could use a regular brush, or even watercolour brushes inside of an art program, and still be able to go back and change things from the original drawing.

Flexible Resources and Tools
Some artists feel like using these is cheating in a way. But do you think if a traditional artist could make use of them, they wouldn’t? You can flip a canvas, resize it, rotate it, shape elements, copy and paste things, smudge, adjust colours, and so much more…

Cheaper
Although it may seem that traditional art supplies are cheaper, they aren’t in the long run. Whenever you purchase an art supply that runs out quickly, you will have to keep making more purchases. That money really adds up! With a digital tablet, it won’t matter how much your work progresses because of its longevity and there is no need to constantly spend money on more materials.

Safer
There are many ways to protect your digital files on a computer, including copying them to an external hard drive, sending the file by email, and storing it in an online hosting site like Dropbox. However you choose to store and protect your digital works, remember that anything can happen: rain, dirt or greasy fingers can ruin the project you poured hours into.

Digital Art Cons

Laziness
The ability to undo mistakes, something that traditional artists have never been able to do, has changed how digital artists apply their medium. That can mean that the artwork is not the best version of itself.

Aesthetics
Some people like the “digital” look of digital art. Others think all digital drawings are boring and lifeless.

Unoriginality
In traditional paintings, the original work is typically worth thousands and millions of dollars. However, there are usually limited copies—prints costing $10-$200. With digital art as its is easier to reproduce, it becomes a point of contention whether digital art is real and valuable or not.

Printing
Although the digital art you have on your computer may look great, it will not resemble what you get when it is printed.

Can they be Interchangeable?

In addition to those who exclusively use digital mediums, many artists also blend the two approaches as their art practices. It’s actually very common to use digital tools in the making of a physical object.

Some professionals in the industry do not disdain digital tools, rather they prefer traditional methods like oil painting or sculpture which both take a great degree of time and practice.

Yet, physical art should never invalidate digital work that can serve as a tool to prepare pieces that have a traditional finishing. Digital softwares can complement traditional works by helping artists be more precise and rigorous with designing and sketching out an artwork.

Who Wins?

While it is true that digital art can allow certain features to be completed much quickly and easily, (- for example, a gradient in traditional art may take more than half an hour to create compared to the minute or two on most digital drawing softwares) it doesn’t mean that the work takes any less time nor does it negate its inherent value.

Sometimes digital art is seen as “less than” other forms of art, but in the end, there are more career opportunities for those who work with digital media.

In response to what has been said thus far, these 2 mediums serve as different yet the same. No one should put one or the other into a category of “better” art.

Ultimately, we need to look at the work that artists are trying to convey and how they executed it rather than whether it was drawn digitally or traditionally.

Conclusion

• Some digital artists claim that digital art is every bit as “real” as traditional works.
• Some traditional artists consider digital art a form of “cheating”.
• Some people in the art community see technology as a threat to originality and are concerned that it will replace traditional artmaking. This idea can certainly be worrisome for some artists and art institutions like museums and galleries who rely heavily on traditional works.
• Galleries, museums and auctions houses still see a lot of value and profit in traditional works. Many people want a “real” painting on their walls. And it is in fact, a different experience that digital art can’t quite recreate yet.
• Digital Art isn’t necessarily easier, because some artists can take longer amounts of time and effort working with different softwares and mediums than those who only work with traditional mediums.
• Digital softwares can compliment traditional works by helping artists be more precise and rigouros with designing and sketching out an artwork.
• Traditional Art will not be replaced by Digital Art.
• It’s important to look at the work that artists are trying to convey and how they executed it rather than whether it was drawn digitally or traditionally.

Is Art Truly Subjective? The Debate Goes On…

We all have our own culture, values, and opinions that undeniably end up defining and influencing our taste and preferences on different subjects. Art is without a doubt subjective… Right? At least it’s what we’re told. But, honestly, if art is so subjective why were some white canvas chosen to be displayed in the biggest museums in the world and others aren’t? Who decides and defines good art vs bad art? Are famous artists more skilled than the average one?

Perhaps if my favourite colour is black but yours is blue, it doesn’t make my preference any better than yours, because it’s only a personal preference. However, if I say that Basquiat is the best artist in the world but you say it is Warhol, there’s enough records and documentation that prove that Da Vinci might be classified as the greatest of all time.

Art always brings up a lot of conflicting opinions. Nothing is that black and white, and specifically when we talk about art. The value we give to art can definitely be subjective.

There are a lot of circumstances that go into our perceptions of whether art is good or not. So, without further a due, let’s dive into a few of them.

Subjectivity… To some extent

Art is subjective because we see things and interpret what we see differently than one another. Consequently, popular opinion can be highly manipulated by the amount of fame of one particular artist, the amount of mediatic exposure and recognition, and the social trends going on when following the latest events in the art world. It’s inevitable, opinions will change over time and so can our perception of art.

Even if we consider the appreciation of an artwork relative, if an artist wants to be featured in a museum, the process is quite objective:

– Recognition; the artist must have participated in tons of exhibitions, nationally and internationally. Without exhibitions, there’s no recognition and without recognition, there’s virtually no interest in displaying works of artists that haven’t been exhibited anywhere.

– The artist’s works have to ignite the interest of collectors besides the general public. The artworks cultural, social and political context needs to be relevant and appropriate, otherwise, there’s no public nor private investment.

Lastly, the artists must have a certain level of media coverage surrounding them. Without it, there’s also no recognition and without recognition, – again, there’s no interest in their work…

Why Subjectivity is Good in Art

Ok, so for example, at Mariana Custodio we only focus on contemporary art and even inside contemporary art we focus more on abstract expressionism than on figurative expressionism, still that doesn’t mean that figurative art is bad or less worthy, that is only our personal preference. The fact that we all appreciate art in different ways is what gives artists the freedom to create whatever they feel called to create. 

How awful would it be if we decided that there’s only one type of art? We wouldn’t have so many amazing styles or nor creative movements. The fact that we can all unanimously decide what types of art we like allows room for many more art styles to coexist, giving us the opportunity to learn about what we like and what we identify the most with.

Liking Something vs It Being Good

Just because I enjoy looking at a painting doesn’t mean that I think that its aesthetic and technical quality is good. I can enjoy a lot of books but, – again it does not mean that I like them all or that I think the quality of each one of them is great. The same applies to music, movies, fashion and of course art.

When a work of art isn’t judged by experts, where are can we assess objective criteria that tell us whether art is good or bad? I don’t know if you’ve experienced the same but I’ve never gone into a gallery to find a selection with all of the criteria and the necessary requirements for an artwork to be considered good. Some will say that the fact that it’s in a gallery to begin with, is the ultimate evidence that it’s good… However, we’ve all seen some questionable works in galleries… In this way, subjective responses bleed into the “objective” state of things. So we can’t exactly rely on institutions to be in charge of evaluating and deciding what is art and whether it’s good.

So, when we don’t have objective standards to use when we form our opinions of art, how do we decide what is good art?

How Do We Decide What is Good Art

We are constantly shown different opinions, perspectives, criticisms, and more. We are constantly challenged to defend our points of view and to stand up for causes we believe in. We are continually discovering new artists and deciding what we value in the art world.

It’s particularly difficult to unanimously and universally come to a decision about art when everyone has a different opinion about it… If everything we like, hate or feel indifferent about has been shaped by our life experiences, it’s nearly impossible to weed out everything that could have influenced the reasons why we like a piece of art and simply look at it objectively. So, should we worry that subjective opinion is influenced by the world we live in? Wouldn’t this mean that we’re forming opinions with a very particular perspective on our own experiences? The answer is yes…!

We put a lot of value in trying out new things, seeing the world, and meeting new people. And those are the first steps that will get us closer to deciding whether an artwork is good or bad. This is a very democratic process, opinions on subjective matters are formed when we take a look around, when we compare, analyse and experience different scenarios. What you experienced in the past and what you choose to expose yourself to now plays a great role in the way we, as a community, seek out art and form opinions about it. If we don’t see enough, we might not have enough information to make valid and informed opinions…

Popularity Influences our Opinion About Art

Artists with more visibility are usually the ones that make the most impact. Therefore, when something becomes popular, it usually increases in likability. A lot of that comes from the amount of exposure they already have. When something becomes popular, it gets people talking. Given technology these days, this can really favour artists that understand how to use social media…

Right, so naturally, a specific artwork is more attractive when people know it exists. You can’t like something or decide the aesthetic value of a piece when you don’t know exists. Once visibility spreads and something becomes popular and mainstream, people will simply gravitate towards it. Without questions to ask, it’s easier to accept what comes to us, we tend to agree more on what is easier to hear or is more convenient at the time. It’s very common to believe we like a piece of art more than we do just so that we can have a deeper communal connection to a group.

How Artists Themselves Influence Subjectivity

We often feel a lot of loyalty towards the artists we know and admire. Oftentimes we tend to support them and their work despite actually considering if what they produce is good or bad. We tend to become biased in relation to what we know we already like. We have empathy towards people we admire so we regularly favour them and put them on a pedestal even if we don’t like what they’re making.

So this is definitely another aspect to have in consideration when evaluating art. If an artist already has a following and an established fan base, it’s more likely that the artist’s work is considered good and valid, despite any technicalities their work might have against it.

When thinking about the style art that you like, look to your absolute preferred artist as a hub. What other artists alike come out from that hub? A lot of times you’ll see that your favourite artists sent you down a pathway of discovery with other artists in that style. It’s not a bad thing, but just a way to see how your subjective perspectives can get biased more easily.

The Dilemma

To foreground subjectivity as the most appropriate response to a work of art threatens to overlook the fact that tastes and preferences do in fact change over time, just as morals and public standards change too. Yet, subjective taste has a historical dimension, even if we prefer to think it doesn’t…

In art, we tend to place lot of emphasis on originality and creativity, right? But with the neverending shift in traditions and cultures, there are many examples of artistic “revolutions” that have failed to meet with the tastes of society at the time, only to be subsumed into the conventional appetites of later generations. For example, the Impressionist paintings of Monet and Cezanne. One critic back then complained that both of their paintings were half-finished sketches.

The ways that people look at the world around them — at works of art or anything else — are prone to influence from so many other spheres, from political upheavals to technological advances. What counts as “knowledge”, “proper behaviour”, “judgement” and “good taste” never stay the same.

Will art ever become an objective subject? Porbably not. In retrospect, no; it’s almost impossible to value an artwork as good and valid forever.

Conclusion

• We cannot help but unconsciously build a criterion for what counts as valuable: for what type of work we think should be shown in galleries, what the art market should treat as valuable, who should win art competitions, and all the other practical ways that some artists’ work rises to the top whilst other artists’ work disappears without a trace.
• At the end of the day, our subjective opinions are built by personal experiences and cultural background.
• The unique thing about Art is about developing our own subjective opinions on why we love specific artists. Without subjectivity, art would lose a lot of what makes it so great in the first place.
• If an artist already has a following and an established fan base, it’s more likely that the artist’s work is considered good and valid, despite any technicalities their work might have against it.
• Artists with more visibility are usually the ones that make the most impact. Therefore, when something becomes popular, it usually increases in likability.

Why Is Art So Important: The Role of Art in Contemporary Society

It seems remarkably apparent and ridiculously conspicuous the effect art has in society. I mean, yes, it’s pretty obvious – communities need art to grow and to thrive economically, culturally and socially. Art influences our opinions, it helps us installing values and transforms experiences across space and time.

But art can’t repay the public subsidy… Right? Art represents an investment on which there is virtually no return. So, the real question is why does art matter and why is it so important to us?

Why Does Art Matter?

How Art Affects Society

Right so, where the arts start, jobs follow. The arts stimulate the growth of the creative sector in the economy. They play an important part in the strengthening and shaping of the ideas of the marketplace. The creation, management and distribution of art employ many.
Not only it’s economically viable, but arts also help in fulfilling self-expression. Research studies from Newcastle University, back in 2013, revealed that attending art exhibitions and viewing contemporary art stimulates multiple cognitive perceptions of the elderly.
There is also a demonstrable, positive correlation between schoolchildren’s grades in math and literacy and their involvement with art-related activities.

How Art Affects Individuals

Painting, sculpture, literature and other arts are often considered to be the repository of a society’s collective memory. Art preserves what fact-based historical reports cannot: how it felt to exist in a particular place at a particular time.
Art, in this sense, serves as communication. It allows people from different cultures and different times to engage with each other via images, sounds and stories. Art is often a vehicle for social change. It can give voice to those who feel politically or socially marginalized. A painting, a photograph or even a simple drawing can stir emotions in those who encounter it, inspiring them to rally for change.

How Does Art Contribute to Economic Development?

In the US, the creative sector employs more people than the fast-food industry. The arts are growing faster than the overall economy, posting an average annual growth rate of 2.6%. A slightly higher value than the US’ overall economic growth of 2.4%, in 2015.
Using the United States as a reference again – by 2016, the US reported having exported nearly $20 billion more in cultural goods and services than any other country or continent did. Although most of these products are essentially visual media, independent artists and organizations contributed about $3 billion in just exporting.
Museums and Galleries alone added $6 billion.

But it’s not just the bigger cities and less developed areas that are benefiting from the creative sector. Almost half a million workers in rural areas in the US are working and practising creative and cultural-driven jobs.

The Value of Art

Despite its monetary value, arts shouldn’t be solely defined as if they were just another economic advantage to be uprooted. That way, the arts would be put in a level of activity where measurement of effects, predictability of results and direction of activity are rated as conditions of success. Consequently making cultural and artistic goods as grounds for profitable investment. Which… Puts us back in the bind of instrumentality.
So, is it possible to redefine the importance of art as a whole while simultaneously consolidating the fundamental importance of its economic benefits?

The short answer is yes. The long answer is: The value of Art cannot be predicted or quantified. To reduce Art into this condition is to deny the possibility of a changeable outcome. The prospects of funding Art allows far greater benefits than the direct and immediate fulfilment of the self – which isn’t profitable financially speaking.

But Arts connect society to its past and people to its inherited ideas. The Arts challenge those connections to find ways of exploring new journeys. The arts are evolutionary and revolutionary; they listen, they revive and they guide.
They resist the homogeneous, strengthen the individual and are independent in the face of the pressures of the mass, the bland, the undifferentiated.
For how big or small investments in this sector can be, the return is so far beyond palpable. Arts true value lies in transforming research into ideas. Real art might fail every measurable objective set by economists and politicians. But art is always art, no matter its variable outcome.

Conclusion

• Art motivates us to communicate ideas in ways that politics or science simply cannot. It has the power to rehabilitate marginalized structures and improve systems creatively and socially.
• The Arts affect us individually and as communities. It betters people’s lives by helping to instigate meaningful perspectives, it stimulates us cognitively and helps shape ideas in the marketplace.
• The arts stimulate the growth of the creative sector in the economy. The creative sector is employing more people than ever, and less developed areas are benefiting from cultural driven activities.
• Despite its monetary value, arts shouldn’t be solely defined as if they were just another economic advantage to be uprooted. Real art might fail every measurable objective set by economists and politicians. But art is always art, no matter its variable purpose.

If in finance the term Blue Chip comes from the infamous stock market and it refers to a stock that sells at a high price – due to public assurance and confidence in predicting a long record of steady earnings, in the art market, the same thing happens when it comes to artists and their respective artworks.

If an artist whose work price exceeds 1M euros while showing consistent years of sales, it will, without a doubt, be confirmed at auction that this artist is a Blue Chip.

The works of Blue Chip artists not only have great economic value but, these renown art pieces represent a safe and reliable investment because their value will remain stable over time, despite the ups and downs of the economy.

So, without further ado, we will be going over 5 Blue Chip living Artists whose market value seems – quite frankly, unstoppable.

KAWS: The Cool Underground

It is no coincidence that some critics compare Kaws to legends like Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring. What do they have in common? All of these artists were born in the United States, they all started their career in the streets, and became Blue Chip while alive. 

Born in 1974 in New Jersey, Brian Donnelly, aka KAWS, is a multidisciplinary New York-based artist. KAWS began his career as a graffiti artist in Jersey City and, by the 1990s, moved to New York to pursue a formal education in the arts where he graduated with a BA in Illustration in 1996.

That same year, he began working as a freelance animator for one of the Walt Disney Company animation studios, where he painting backgrounds to some of its best-known animated series such as 101 Dalmatians, Daria and Doug. 

This impressive start, led him to have a very distinctive and successful career path. With almost immediate recognition, KAWS quickly and easily became one of the most renowned contemporary artists up until this day. Having exhibited in internationally acclaimed museums and galleries, being held in permanent private and public collections to partaking in multiple published books and collaborating with well-known institutions, brands and celebrities, KAWS’ impressive work is a mysterious fine line between commercial and Fine Art.

Hence his style being slightly controversial… KAWS’ work isn’t exactly as traditional as one would expect when hearing the words ‘Fine Art’, so, instead, ‘The Cool Underground’ would be the best way to describe him.

AUCTION RECORDS:

In 2019, THE KAWS ALBUM (2005) sold at auction for an impressive 14.8 M US Dollars, breaking his previous auction records of 2.7M US Dollars, back in 2018.

Jeff Koons: The Rich Uncle

If Kaws was compared to Basquiat and Keith Haring, then, the best way to describe and compare Jeff Koons would be to mention Andy Warhol, right? Well, both of these artists were able to transform daily, mundane objects into the most prestigious and iconic Art to ever exist…

Uncle Jeff (- he does give off the cool rich uncle vibes, doesn’t he? It can’t be just us…!) was born in York, Pennsylvania. From 1972 to 1976, he studied Art and Design at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore and the Art Institute of Chicago. Jeff Koons rose to prominence in the mid-1980s as part of a generation of artists who explored the meaning of art in a media-saturated era. After moving to New York, Koons took a job at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), working as a receptionist at the membership desk. He attracted attention by wearing polka-dot shirts, big bow ties and, occasionally, an inflatable plastic flower. Before he had the economic means to support himself solely through art, Koons worked as a commodity trader on Wall Street.

But, not even the most normal 9 to 5 jobs could stop Koons from becoming one of the most acclaimed artists of this Century.

AUCTION RECORDS:

The famous Balloon Dog (Orange Sculpture) was sold for $52M US dollars in November 2013 at Christie’s.

Breaking some of his own auction records, he is currently the most expensive living artist. His rabbit created in 1986 was sold in 2019 on Christie’s for 91.1M Us Dollars.

Banksy: The Martyr

Banksy began his career as a graffiti artist in the early 1990s, in Bristol’s graffiti gang DryBreadZ Crew. Although his early work was largely freehand, Banksy used stencils on occasion. In the late ’90s, he began using stencils predominantly. His work became more widely recognized around Bristol and in London, as his signature style developed.

Banksy’s artwork is characterized by striking images, often combined with slogans. His work often engages political themes, satirically critiquing war, capitalism, hypocrisy and greed. Common subjects include rats, apes, policemen, members of the royal family, and children. In addition to his two-dimensional work, Banksy is also known for his installation artwork. 

Why the Martyr you ask? Banksy has chosen to remain anonymous and for the most part, to just be able to paint graffiti on other people’s property without their permission, rather than to paint it on canvases or his own property… 

He chose anonymity over his intellectual property rights, now that’s something you don’t see every day.

AUCTION RECORDS:

In 2019 at Sotheby’s, his enormous painting ‘Devolved Parliament’ (2009) smashed its high estimate of £2 million ($2.4 million) to sell for £9.8 million ($12.1 million).

Daniel Arsham: Hot Young Talent

Daniel Arsham has the power to mix and match different artistic fields, always in an outstanding way. Raised in Miami, Florida, he moved to New York in 1999 thanks to a full scholarship. After graduating, Arsham moved back to Miami and started an exhibition space called “The House” with several artist friends. It was during that period that Daniel met Emmanuel Perrotin and one year after that, Gallerie Perrotin started representing him.

Some of Arsham’s more recent endeavours are in the fashion world, including collaborations with Adidas Originals and Kim Jones of Dior.

Hot Young talent is definitely the best expression to describe him once we don’t see many people achieving what he achieved in such a short period of time.

Damien Hirst: The Sugar Daddy

As one of the Young British Artists (YBA’s) Damien Hirst gained popularity from using Death as a reoccurring theme in his works. His most recognizable and iconic art pieces consist of dead, dissected animals preserved in formaldehyde. 

His most famous animal piece is called The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, and it’s a 14-foot (4.3 m) tiger shark immersed in formaldehyde in a clear display case.

The Shark is undoubtedly saluted as one of the crucial works of British art in the 1990s and has become a symbol of Britart globally. It was then sold for a New York investment banker for 12M dollars.

We decided to name him as a Sugar Daddy because… Well, because his dating life and relationship choices can be seen as questionable – to say the least.

AUCTION RECORDS:

In one auction, the artist dubbed “Beautiful Inside My Head Forever,” and surprisingly, the art piece exceeded all expectations, grossing 200.75$ million over the course of two sales in the span of 24 hours, becoming the most expensive single-artist auction ever.

Conclusion

• Blue Chip artists are called Blue Chip because, just like in Finance, Blue Chip means a good, strong, consistent and solid investment.
• Blue Chip artists are usually well-known artists that are bound to set exponential growth sales at auction houses.
• Artists that are Blue Chip tend to be famous and recognized for iconic art pieces that shaped and marked history in the most critical, controversial and polemic way possible.

Getting into the contemporary art market can be messy especially for who doesn’t know much about this area. So, how to buy contemporary art?

From collectors who are addicted to buy emerging artists without a plan, to new collectors who think that shipping art is easy ( until their artworks get lost or arrive damaged on customs ) I have seen it all. Please, do a favour to yourself and do not buy Contemporary Art before you read this guide. Here I’m going to explain you the most important topics. From planning to tax benefits all will be explained in order to make you able to buy contemporary art with a purpose.

How to buy contemporary Art

If you are here, you probably aren’t the one who shelled out almost 1 million for that Cecily Brown on Thursday night at Sotheby’s. And the stratosphere of next month’s art auctions at Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips with works expected to break records, is most likely out of your league too. Still, there are more down earthed ways to get into the art-buying / collecting game. Moreover even if more affordable doesn’t mean that is somehow easier.

Be aware of what you are going into

If you want to start buying some contemporary artworks just because you like it and it’s your taste, GREAT. Therefore, If you are someone who wants to start buying art and have some interest in investing not so great. If you are someone who wants to be a proper art collector stop here for 5 seconds and breed deeply. Collecting art with the intent of a return can be like the stock market. I’ve seen lots of cases when collectors call me to fix their mistakes as if I’m somehow a mess fixer. That’s totally fine. Moreover if they would have follow some of my advises I would have save them A LOT of money, time and headaches.

Draw a plan

Rule number one, you need to know what you want to buy and do a plan about it. An “art collector” who has a random range of artworks is not a collector or even an art enthusiast. That person is actually an addict. Sometimes I get really frustrated when people think that buying art is easy. Therefore, somehow I often get calls from that same people to fix some sh** that they did. I don’t believe in karma but…

Did you ever realised that the best art collections have somehow an invisible aesthetic that makes all artworks look “cool” together ? Proper art collectors hire art advisors and curators in order to achieve that appealing “look”. There is some really hard work behind it.

If you want to start buying art define what you want. Are you more into abstract, conceptual, minimalism, pop art or photography ? If you are starting now choose one category before jumping to another one. Let’s pick photography for example. Now that you decided your 1st category you must learn everything about photography. Its History, more important photographers, more important and expensive photography works, what are the top art auctions selling in the field ? If you follow this line, you will be able to not only draw a pattern and understand who is who and who is worth what in this field. You will also start developing a more professional taste.

Taste is a skill

For who doesn’t know I was 22 years old when I moved from Lisbon to London. At the time and going to an arts university I thought that I knew ‘something’ about art. Therefore during that year I could only like and understand old masters works. Pointless to say that I used to go every Friday night to the National Portrait Gallery to have drawing classes and even did my art history final project about 17th century Dutch Painters. Until I started going to Tate Modern, Whitechapel Gallery and I realised that I didn’t understand contemporary art, and perhaps because of it I didn’t actually like it. For someone who spent the year having classes at the National Portrait Gallery anything beyond portraits was out of my league.

As someone who gets intrigued when doesn’t understand something I started trying to understand what is contemporary art. I read books, spent endless hours researching on google in the hope to have an EUREKA moment. Eventually being into the artistic field and in London, I ended up going to a lot of contemporary art openings. Blain Southern, White Cube, Annka Kultis, Sadie Coles, Alison Jacques, Gagosian you name it, I’ve been there. My Sundays started being at Tate Modern instead of the National Portrait in order to try to understand “why”. And finally, after one year I had my EUREKA moment.

So, short story long, if you don’t get contemporary art, that’s fine, you will have to spend time learning it. If you already understand contemporary art, GREAT, but don’t forget that you will need to be always learning. What is contemporary art now won’t be in 2030, the trends of 2020 aren’t same of 2000. Never take anything from granted.

The Categories

There are various types of painters out there, therefore they are usually divided in emerging, established and blue chip artists. You must know about it to do the best choices according with your budget.

Emerging Artists

An emerging artist is someone who’s in the early stage of their career, someone who’s caught the eye of an art critic and/or gallery, but hasn’t yet established a solid reputation as an artist amongst art critics, art buyers, and art galleries.

An artist who has specialized training in his or her field (not necessarily gained in an academic institution), who is at the beginning of his or her career, and who has created a modest independent body of work. Examples: Maria Luísa Capela, Maria Rebela, Gabriel Vorbon.

Established Artists

An artist who has created an independent body of work over a number of years and who has received regional or national recognition through publication or public presentation of his or her work. A Mid-Career Artist has had a significant number of solo exhibitions at significant galleries and museums, located nationally or internationally, rather than locally.

Examples: Nikki Hill Smith, Robert Solomon

Blue Chip Artists

An artist who is at a mature stage in his or her career and who has created an extensive body of independent work. An established artist has reached an advanced level of achievement by sustaining a nationally or internationally recognized contribution to the discipline. Their work’s value has been decided through consistent years of sales, and confirmed at auction.

Examples: Andy Warhol, Baquiat, Damien Hirst

The Hidden Costs

Be aware of the hidden costs

Lots of newbies who start buying art do some big mistakes, especially in the beggining once they aren’t aware of the hidden costs. Tax, shipping, insurance, storage and framing are all extra costs that add up to the artwork final price. Of course that you can always try to decrease this by trying to get artists from your area or developing nice relationships with galleries near your area that can take care of this for you (with a cost of course). Moreover I’ve seen people who tries to save some money in the beginning ending up spending the double after. First and foremost you must calculate your budget, and after calculate the price of the painting you want PLUS TAX. After calculating it, add the framing cost, shipping cost and insurance and just THEN you have your final value.

Don’t ever ask a painting without invoice

There are a lot of buyers who ask and artists (mainly young) who acept this. To me this only shows a lack of respect for the arts. No person in this world can run a business if all clients ask for its products without invoice.Plus if someone buys an artwork without an invoice one day in case of resale that same artwork is worth 0! Of course this request happens more in some countries that others (usually less developed ones), but still happens more often than I wish. If you want to start buying art or even becoming a collector just know that you can actually have Tax benefits from buying art. Obviously this benefits vary from country to country but they exist and knowing how to take them can be useful and even more motivating for someone who wants to buy contemporary art in a proper manner.

My advice, get an art advisor for this or a lawyer specialised in art. Any other individual even if a lawyer or an accountant not specialised in the field won’t be able to. Even if they tell you that they can do it for you ( they probably will ) unless you like to waste money and time don’t go for it. This is only my humble opinion of someone who is in this for a while and saw quite a lot.

Negotiate with limits

Ok, lets get real, everybody likes to know where they spend their money. Fine. But have in mind that artists don’t eat, breathe or get money from the sky. I often get pissed off when I have clients asking me to negotiate with artists to an extreme level. Artists and galleries can actually do you a better discount if you:

a) Buy more than one artwork

b) Are a regular

This has no big science, but don’t expect to walk to a gallery or to an artist studio for the 1st time and try to bargain like a Middle Eastern. That is rude. Plus, if you get someone like me in the other side, the only discount you will get will probably be an invitation to leave. The end.

Get an art advisor

Okay, let’s get real, what is your level in the game? If you are starting and your budget is not that big honestly no need. You will learn with time and you can always in worst case contact me for an eventuality (self promotion I know). If you want to play this with the big boys please, get an art advisor. When we are speaking about the high end market small mistakes can cost a lot. Having an art advisor taking care of that for you will save you some headaches plus you will learn from him how to buy contemporary art. If you don’t feel like getting and art advisor, and looks pointless to you let’s do a bet and email me when you need a mess fixer, because sooner or later you will.

Art Auctions

If in fashion all fast fashion chains copy the high end ones, here there is no difference. Do you want to see a pattern about artists who are worth it? Follow Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips auctions RELIGIOUSLY.

Do your homework. Study the auction catalog — including price estimates — and visit previews for a close-up look at the art on offer. Set a budget and stick to it.

Interested in going to an art auction ?

If you never been, again I advise you to get an advisor or a friend who is in the field. If not, sit and watch a few times before buying something. Auctions can be overwhelming. There is a show-business element to the proceedings, and big names in attendance. You can’t always tell what’s happening — or who’s bidding. That’s because some buyers prefer anonymity so they bid over the phone or from private boxes above the auction room. Also, the bidding can go fast, with auctioneers throwing out several figures in succession to jump-start the process. If you are newbie, just watch. If you are a bargainer look at the contemporary art day sales. There you will find works by many of the same artists in the evening sale, at a fraction of the price.

Conclusion:

• Be aware of what you are going into
• Plan, plan, plan
• Focus in a category first
• Be aware of the hidden costs in order to calculate your invoice
• Never ask for an artwork without invoice
• Hire an advisor if you are serious about it

You may also be interested in:

• Why is (some) Abstract Art So Expensive
• How to collect art (when you know nothing about it)
• The art collector’s mind: What are they looking for?

Art competitions are everywhere. It doesn’t matter where you are in the world, for sure there is at least a few around you. There are local, regional and even universal art competitions. Even if they differ in terms of artistic knowledge in order to apply, all of them have something in common.

Everybody applies with same goal (win), and all of them keep appearing newly over and over again. But, can art competitions be a complete waste of time? Honestly, it depends.

Are art competitions a waste of time ?

Consider the Benefits

If you are a student what is in it for you? A scholarship ? And if you are not a student? Perhaps international exposure? Like everything in life we must always consider both sides before taking any decision.

Art Competitions can bring a lot of benefits to emerging artists. An award from the National Portrait Gallery in London, for example, can bring exposure for an artist who lives in a remote place. An art competition that has as award a scholarship can provide someone the possibility to study that otherwise wouldn’t. Therefore, before jumping into art competitions for the sake of it, everybody must check what is in for them.

Are art competitions a pointless waste of time?

Actually can be. I know some artists who end up suspending their creativity because they only focus on produce artwork for shows and awards. The main problem here is the disappointment that comes if they don’t get the place. Have in mind that competitions have usually a thematic and rules in order to participate. Again, I advise every artist to do a list of pros and cons before deciding if they must participate in an art competition or not. Time is precious and no one wants to be burning it for the sake of it.

The pros

Learn and grow

Artists can obviously learn and grow from art competitions. New experiences even if bad ones always make us evolve and learn as human beings. In order to grow as professionals, we must know that only focus on work it won’t get us anywhere. When I speak here about learn and grow I mean it in the emotional sense. Artists need to learn how to deal with emotions, even if negative ones, and art competitions can be a great exercise that stimulates resilience.

Motivation

Some artists work better under the pressure of something. A commissioned artwork, an art fair, a gallery exhibition … you know, deadlines. To some artists, having a date to finish a project can actually boost their creativity in order to produce more and better artwork. Motivation is an important point in everyday life, and to some artists is the chase of something that boosts their dopamine ending up motivating them more.

Goals

Our goals aren’t static. As we grow we start having different goals. Perhaps because we achieved our inicial goal, and now we have a different one, or even because we realised that our previous goal wasn’t the right “direction” to be. Competing can be a good lesson about goals that obligates us to look deep inside our desires and life options.

Exposure

Artists know the importance of exhibiting their works. More than being an important opportunity for sale, the more that an artist exposes his works the more he/she will become known and respected in the art industry. Art competitions can provide artists with certain exposure not only locally but also internationally that otherwise wouldn’t.

Network

Competitions can give artists the opportunity to meet new artists, collectors, gallerists, patrons, advisors etc. In this business (as in any other actually) networking is one of the most important things. Who you know can have a huge impact in your career as an artist. Applying for an art competition can make artists do contacts that otherwise they wouldn’t even if they don’t win the competition. I saw artists who didn’t win certain competitions doing better in their careers than those who did. Only because the ones who didn’t win focused much more on networking and making new contacts. Who you know as an artist can be more important than anything else. Period.

Galleries & Patrons

As we spoke about network let’s now focus on Galleries and Patrons. Galleries are always trying to get fresh blood capable of impress (perhaps the next Picasso) and patrons are looking for pretty much the same. Getting out your work in art competitions can make your work arrive to the eyes of a big patron or gallery that otherwise would be impossible.

Self Confidence

Even if competitions can have a bad impact on ones self esteem, they can also have a really good one. Imagine an artist that got the opportunity to study art abroad under a scholarship thanks to a competition. Can you imagine the serotonin and dopamine boost? Competitions aren’t to everybody, therefore when an individual is able to win one is just the best feeling in the world.

Consistency

It is no new that sometimes artists have problems with consistency in their artworks. Moreover the more competitions that one applies the more he/she develops consistent work. Artists need to have a certain style that makes the viewer capable of identify him or her just by their artistic style. Consistency is only possible after a lot of practice and mistakes.

Creative Direction

Once art competitions have topics, that restriction can teach artists how to be creative inside that topic. The more different topics an artist tries the best he will do in the future. More practice will eventually result in a better creative direction.

Resilience

Well well well, resilience. If for some people the chase of an art competition can be a downside for others the chase and resilience capacity is what motivates them. The artistic field is not an easy one and everybody must be resilient here in order to survive.

The Cons

Wrong focus

Sometimes artists who are competing will only focus on shows and awards suspending their creative development. Such wrong focus can make artists doubt of themselves when in the end the only wrong thing here is the importance that they are giving to the competition. Some artists work better without any deadlines and making pressure with themes or dates will make them feel bad. You should/ must know yourself and know what it works better to you.

Unmotivation

Some artists will get discouraged if they don’t win the 1st place of a competition and that will make them unmotivated to produce more work. Therefore relying only on motivation is a bit unreliable. It’s quite common to see some artists thinking that if they get motivated suddenly they will become great artists.More established artists know that only motivation is not the way to go, and even if unmotivated they are able to spend days, weeks or even months producing work

“An amateur waits for inspiration to strike, a professional just gets to work”

Discouragement

For some artists, realising they have worked very hard and not gotten the prize can be discouraging. If you get discouraged easily maybe art competitions aren’t for you. Be aware that this can happen. A bit like motivation, discouragement is quite similar. If you want to be a great artist you need to develop a certain barrier that will make possible to you keeping producing work even after receiving 10000 no’s.

Self Worth

Well, probably everyone in a certain moment in life had doubts about their self worth. Life isn’t static and doesn’t always goes as planed. Therefore I see a lot of artists doubting of themselves for no reason. Be aware that applying for an art competition can have serious impact on your self-worth not just as an artist but also as an individual.

Depression

Is no new that some people are more prone to depression. Actually some people stop creating all together because they either didn’t get into a show or didn’t get an award. Of course that depression is a much more serious topic and losing a competition all alone won’t probably make anyone depressed. Therefore we must always count with the “last drop’, someone that is already depressed and applies for an art competition and doesn’t get it can more easily develop depression.

Top place or nothing

In competitions one person has to win the top award(s). It is “everything or nothing”. The way competitions can make artists feel pressured can be damaging. Everything or nothing can be hard to digest.

Jealousy

In a few painters “not winning” results in jealousy. Ok, that is totally understandable. Moreover the problem becomes when an individual can’t control this feeling all together and can actually become paranoid.

Stress & Waiting time

Art competitions have strict deadlines. 1st you have to apply according with their dates and then wait and wait and wait until the results are divulged. Sometimes this takes a few weeks, others can take months. During this waiting period some artists start developing stress and anxiety related to the competition. In this case, art competitions can be a big waste of your time with serious repercussions in your mental health.

Costs

Here we go again, money, money, money … Some art competitions can actually be free in order to participate, moreover others require a fixed fee, or a fee for every work sent. Even if this fees aren’t usually high I advise you to calculate them. Canvas, paint, pens, pencils, shipping, fees etc are all expenses that artists have in order to participate in art competitions. I advise artists to calculate it all upfront in order to don’t have bad surprises and don’t end up with a bigger expense on materials than the 1st prize can actually cover.

Judgements

If you are competing then of course you will be judge… not everybody deals well with negative comments. There are so many different art movements, mediums, and ways of working and even more diverse opinions about what is good art and what is bad art. One person will like an art work and the other person will dislike the same work. Art should not be about the number of votes you can win.

Conclusion:

• Art Competitions can bring a lot of benefits to emerging artists
• Art competitions can make artists meet important people that otherwise wouldn’t
• Artists who work better under pressure usually do better at competitions
• Competing can suspend artists’ creativity
• Art competitions can be a waste of time
• Art competitions can have a negative impact on artists’ self worth and motivation.

You may also be interested in:

• Why do artists make self portraits?
• Are Art Universities Actually Worth It?

Making an abstract piece of art might look easy… Some even say it’s so easy, that they could make a brilliant piece of abstract art themselves.

However, the concept behind what makes good abstract art is beyond making it. Furthermore, to everyone who thinks that with using only a brush, paint, and a canvas they can create anything close to the next big Franz Kline, go ahead – I encourage you to try it.

Abstract art is about the meaning, the context and concept rather than the aesthetics and visual appeal. If you were to copy an abstract painting, for example, the purpose behind your artwork would be almost non-existing. Without any meaning, purpose, intention, expression and skill, Abstract Art wouldn’t be as exceptional as it’s considered to be.

In this article, I shall be talking about what determines good and “bad” abstract art and how you can then spot the difference between the two.

What is Abstract Art?

Abstract art is a key style of the Modern Art movement. Founded in the 20th-century, it represents an important cultural and artistic shift during Modernism. Abstract Art is, essentially, a departure from one reality to another. It sums the socio-political change artists from that era were going through and it represents a rupture from traditional, conventional and is also a critical reflection on the naturalist-classicist cultural conventions that were the norm until then.

The viewer perception of this style is as one of a gateway from the reality. Although total abstraction has no connection to our knowledge, some partially abstract works can keep us in the conscious realm. One could say abstract art is about artists portraying how they feel. Abstract Art is not about representing real life but about representing and emulating real life emotions and sensations. Depending on the artists, Abstract Art has also become about the process of creating an artwork itself without relying on any objective visual representation.

Unlike other styles, Abstract does not portray objects as they appear in the real world. Before the emergence of this style, artists focused on representing society and their respective communities and – quite frankly, mostly nature and naturalist landscapes and subjects were at the centre of what was considered good art. Abstract artworks experiment with the use of texture, tone, and light perception. It’s a breakthrough from the traditional ideals and it’s basically a search for new visual experiences. With abstract works, artists can express their emotions through experimental techniques rather than expressing themselves through portraying particular objects or scenes.

Sometimes, abstract expressionism is showed as the best example of abstract art. However, abstract art covers other art movements as well: neo-Dada, conceptual art, neo-expressionism, installation, performance, video and pop art – all these important art movements have ties with Abstract Art.

Most notable and well-represented abstract painters include: Wassily Kandinsky, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Franz Kline, Piet Mondrian, Helen Frankenthaler, Agnes Martin.

What Makes Good Abstract Art?

It isn’t easy especially for art newbies, to tell the difference between bad and good Abstract Art. Even for art experts, it can be difficult sometimes. But, we can now all agree with this: Good Art is about intent. It doesn’t matter if we are talking about hyperrealism, pop art, abstract art, etc. Good art is made with the purpose of conveying some sort of message and concept.

More so, there are definitely some more aspects to look at when you want to differentiate good from bad art.

Meaning

Nowadays, abstract paintings are about the portrayal of ideas that represent some sort of socio-political utopia. This shift started in the late 1940s when the visual and interpretative aspect of an artwork shifted inwards towards the existential self. The first form of abstraction was less politically explicit than those of the Constructivists. By the ’70s, and, thanks to the Nozkowski paintings and ideas, artworks then became about a subjective perspective and open interpretation.

Among the most stunning features of abstract expressionism, the extensive use of ‘theory’ is very much present. If we look with attention, the most well-perceived artworks in the world, have an extensive context behind them. Emotions, whether positive or negative, are expressed in the canvas. If the artwork was made randomly without meaning, then it lacks personality.

Abstraction requires a narrative that allows the artist to express themselves on another level. Emotion, sensations and memories are necessary in order to create something with meaning.

Consistency

When you watch a movie or read a book, there is a coherent wire that connects the storyline together. With abstract expressionism and other art forms, the same happens. If an artist shows you a portfolio with random graphic expressions and different stylistic languages, it probably means that they’re still developing their own style. So, in that case, there isn’t much consistency. And the same goes for a unique artwork. The flow of an artwork altogether must feel consistent, cohesive and strong.

Texture

Abstract art requires layers. Actually, lots of layers. Usually, there is an underpainting that will transform until the end due to the layers creating different textures.

Colour

Colours that don’t stay together nicely or aren’t pleasant visually, lack something, and that is usually skill. Professional artists of this style know how to mix and match colours properly. Colour pallets are highly studied before the creation of any masterpiece.

Complexity

The more an artist produces, practices and studies, the best they get at using new techniques. Opposite to what you may think, the techniques used in this style aren’t easily replicated. Inappropriate paint strokes will tell you if the artist is an amateur. Experienced artists are confident and make every mark and stroke intentionally.

What Makes Bad Abstract Art?

Bad abstract art can be easy to make, but it’s not that easy to spot. You can be looking at a great copy of a Pollock or Franz Kline artwork that is great as a copy, but bad regarding all the aspects mentioned above on the importance of an authentic context, purpose, skills and techniques.

Bad abstract art can also be spotted by how the colours, texture, and complexity (un)match together. The way that a brush marks itself in a canvas is also important and requires skill and a good eye to understand.

How to Appreciate Good Contemporary Art

Don’t Just Look and Walk Away

When I started working in this industry, I used to write press releases for art exhibitions and art galleries. Most of the time, not many people would actually read the press release. Sometimes people would come up to me and tell me “I don’t understand that”. So, I would tell them to read the paper and then get back to me. It was truly amazing to see how their perception of the artwork changed after reading it. It was as if they had a “Eureka” moment. So, if you are interested in knowing more about abstract art, don’t forget to read the press release in the next exhibition you attend.

Don’t Insult the Artist

“My kid could have done that”. This is one of the most usual comments you hear when visiting an art gallery or museum to see abstract art. In the beginning, I used to get a bit upset and angry when people would tell that about any of my artists. Over time, I started understanding that people who say this don’t understand art and, furthermore, they never asked their kids to paint that either. Again, if you think that you can copy an abstract artwork, go ahead and then dm us if you were successful. Chances are that you will not be successful in doing so.

Don’t Take the Title Too Serious

Most of the time, abstract artworks will have vague titles. This has a reason: Artists want you to interact with the painting in order to create your own meaning. More so, don’t completely ignore the title. It’s better to find an equilibrium point.

Do Let the Painting Interact With You

Have you ever notice that some museums have chairs/benches in the middle of the rooms? They are there for a reason. To let the painting ‘speak’ with you. Observe the colours, the textures, the ambience… What makes you feel? Good, bad, angry, mad…? Paintings can confront you with your own emotions.

Why is Some Abstract Art So Expensive?

More often than I wish, I’m surprised with comments diminishing the worth of abstract art. Most people don’t understand how a picture that has no figurative elements can be sold for such high amounts. As an example, we have a piece of Willem de Kooning sold in 2015 for 300 million. Yeah you read it correctly 300 million.

Abstract Art is sold for big amounts as any other style sells for big amounts. There is demand for it. Factors as conspicuous consumption (the spending of money in acquiring luxury goods and services in order to display economic power). Art investment and market speculation also play an important role here. Once some people buy art as an investment, some artworks will get more and more expensive over time. The artworks that are able to make it to the high-end market are also the ones with the best quality according to the market trends and forecasts. If you would like to know more about it, check the artworks sold at Sotheby’s, Christie’s, Phillips and Boham’s.

Conclusion

• Abstract art is a key style of the Modern Art movement.
• Good abstraction requires a narrative that allows the artists to express themselves on another level.
• Bad abstract art is easier to do, however not that easy to spot.
• Your kid couldn’t do that.