Saturday, May 19, 2007

GIT YER ART BLAWRGS ON!!!!

I would say we have a nice little art blog in the works here. In cooking terms, I d say its marinating. Not that I'm an expert or anything, but I have been toolin around the old art blog-o-sphere for a few years now, mostly as a participant/commenter/peanut gallerist.

So whats the deal with artblogs? Well, for me, they have been the artnerd equivalent of jailhouse porn, meaning that, until recently, I havent been able to find too many flesh-N-blood art relationships around here so I have been gettin some from the old double click. So, just on a mushy, emotional level, artblogs have helped me from feelin' lonesome (especially those nights when i turn the lights low, get out the linseed oil, and have me some hot, art chat session with someone who "says" they're an artist... " Hey baby! Wut R U Wearin'....to the art opening?" oh yeah!!)

Um...okay that was wierd, anyway, this post is about the benefits of art blogging and some of my favorite ones that dont suck. I already mentioned the sense of community one gets from art blogging (not as rich as a real community I know, but hey you take what u can git). But, also, one can learn a great deal from reading and participating in artblogs. Market info, career tips, details about certain art scenes, lots of images and info about shows and other artists are just some of what you can learn. Most of the information is extremely current, wide ranging, and many of the views expressed are extremely insightful. Some say that artblogging has or is replacing traditional art journalism, especially with newspapers (even the NY Times) cutting their arts coverage very drastically.

How do I know that? I read it in an artblog!

In addition to all that, artblogging can be a really great promotional tool! I was offered a solo show in LA after the gallery owner visited the link to my portfolio website found in my blogger profile. So I made some random, probably assinine, comment and got to go to L freakin A! Stardom is just a click away my friends!!

Okay so there are also some benefits that arent so random and chance-ridden. Each of the major and many not as major art cities have multiple art blogs. Keeping up with these is a great way to scope out the different scenes, discover new galleries that may dig your work, all that. Sometimes you get insider info on certain players in the scene so that if you were to try to enter that scene with your work, you have some info to go by (who's who, what's what, etc). And its possible to make some really great connections in those cities- people who could show you around and introduce you to others whom you wouldnt normally have access to.

So here are some of my fav art blogs:

Edward Winkleman-- run by a gallery owner in NYC, some great inside info, tips, and random stuff
Modern Art Notes- a DC based one, LOTS of info bout museums and crap
Critical Miami- get the scoop on those wacky Miamians!
Detroitarts- Heres a secret: Detroit ROCKS! They are a good model for us Jacksonvillians, i think.
Bad At Sports- The super funny and informative podcast about the Chicago scene. Great to listen to on yer ipod in the studio or wherever.
Fette's Flog- Run by this sooper cool girl I met in LA! She and her husband really get around and document TONS of LA shows. Most of this blog is images of these shows. Check out the archive and just sit back and be amazed. THIS blog shows the diversity I think Jax should aspire to- urban art, conceptual, painting, everything!
Vernissage TV- Wonderful video tours and interviews showing ALL the artfairs and TONS of european art stuff. Very cool!

So thats a good start. I bet sum of you cats have some fav-o-rite ones also and some ideas about artblogs in general.. so what are they? Come on, times a waistin'! I got to get back to my OTHER favorite artblogs. Now now, JaxCAL (that IS still the name right?) dont be jealous! I still love you too!

(You have to be very sensitive to artblogs' feelings)

3 comments:

Byron said...

I'm a virgin to art blogs. I'm a bloggin fool though. I do like the idea of this one having all contributors as administrators though. Power to the people sort of thing.

A lot of blogs I don't feel like really posting on their sites but if I had the option to it would be interesting. Make me feel like I'm part of a community. That's why My Space is really cool. Being able to comment on others pages.

I don't mind the name JaxCAL. If the google thing is an issue it's not that hard to get to the top of the rankings. jaxcal.com would be pretty easy to beat I would think.

I think the .org domain is good for this sort of site too.

I did see a lot of art blogs off of http://chelseaartgalleries.com/bloglist/
that I've visited but I don't check them regularly.

thanks Mark. I'll check those out pronto. Have you seen chelseaartgalleries.com. Pretty extensive.

I do think this art blog could be something pretty special though if we all continue to contribute. I have gotten a sense of community through this in the last few weeks that I haven't felt in Jacksonville before. So that can't be a bad thing.

I'm pretty proud of all everyone contributing and making this what it is even though it's not even a month old. It's been pretty interesting to watch it grow.

Byron said...

http://www.artfagcity.com/

Your post made me look around a bit. I remember reading this one a few months ago and enjoying it.

It still seems quite enjoyable.

Anonymous said...

Here's my favs.

artnet Magazine


WPS1 Art Radio

Flavorpill NYC

Art Letter (Chicago)

The OC Art Blog

Artopia