Searching for where to buy art on the web can sometimes lead you down a very limited path – the biggest galleries, the ones with the largest google AdWords budgets, or simply the most popular flavor-of-the-month artists on this week’s trendiest up-and-coming art-selling platforms. Is there a better way? I’m sure you know which answer is coming…
Search for Amazing Art – and Journey Down the Rabbit Hole
My first search brought me to a website I’d never heard of before who had been searching Instagram for artists that didn’t have millions of followers – some of them didn’t even have 10,000. And yet the pieces they managed to find via this technique were simply breathtaking. It’s important to support these kinds of artists because getting your own Eden Gallery Online Exhibition just isn’t going to happen overnight – building a following can take some artists years, so be sure to follow the artists you like when you find them, like, and comment on their work!
So, what did I find? From pictures that you won’t be able to believe can possibly be a painting (in mid-stroke, just to add to the drama of the photograph), to the most amazing murals you won’t believe weren’t created by professional artists. From finished paintings of intricate objects such as the human eyeball (with stunning additional details you’d miss if you didn’t go looking for them) to three-dimensional pieces such as sculptures that are finished – and yet somehow not, to blending of sculpture with conventional two-dimensional artwork painted on unconventional surfaces.
I won’t spoil the rest of the list incase you stumble on this one yourself, but, it had me wondering – where else can I find amazing art? It existed long before the internet did – and some might wager it will exist long after the internet has gone too!
Exhibitions
Art exhibitions are opening in their droves once again in the last few months of 2021, and exhibitions come in many forms. When exhibitions are held in commercial galleries, most of the exhibits will be for sale, and so entrance to the exhibition itself is usually free of charge. By contrast, when a museum holds an art exhibition, they will usually charge extra on top of the fee for viewing the museum (if any) to cover the huge costs of transporting and protecting works for the duration of the event.
A common type of museum exhibition is a retrospective, which will look back at the works of a certain artist or those produced during a specified period. Whilst you usually won’t be able to purchase the works on display at these types of events, they provide endless sources of inspiration and will help contribute to your wider knowledge of art, where certain styles came from – and where you may want to look for your next piece.
Art Publications
Whilst the art periodical and magazine markets aren’t what they once were, the category certainly has not yet been decimated in the same way that some other once extremely popular ones have now been. Entire publishers have been put out of business due to the rise of the internet, while some art magazines can still reach the size of a small phonebook!
ARTNews
By far the oldest source of art information you are likely to find anywhere on the web today, Artnews began over a century ago in print form – an art magazine with a heritage that includes former contributors such as Alfred Barr (Founder of MoMA), Alduous Huxley, Jean-Paul Sartre and William Carlos Williams.
The print publication is still alive and kicking too, although with only four volumes per annum today, I imagine this is mainly for posterity and true devotees of the art world than simply those seeking the latest amazing artworks.
Don’t let that put you off visiting their website though – most of their content is now published online, continuing a 120-year-old legacy of finding and sharing the best new artists, as well as a source of genuine criticism and news for the digital age of art.
The ARTNews Top 200 Collectors
I couldn’t help but feel this deserved its own subsection – ARTNews also publishes an annual list of the top individual art collectors from around the world – not simply based on who has the deepest pockets, but on interviews with curators, dealers, auction houses, museums, and of course the collectors themselves.
The top 200 is notable because finding collectors who seem to have similar tastes to your own can often be difficult, and this huge listing provides much more for art fans than, say, the Forbes Rich List does for … well anybody, really!