Online Art Galleries

Quintet, 6x6, Oil on Gessobord, available here.

Today's post comes courtesy of Sharon Butler (phew, three down now, twenty-eight to go), who sent me a press release the other day announcing the formation of a new online marketplace for art launched at the Bridge Art Fair Miami. Obviously, the internet has been affecting the way galleries do business in the last several years, but it looks like this crappy economy will serve as another nudge to shifting the art business even further towards more online art galleries.

The relevant links to our recent project (smooth how I got that into the post today, huh?) are here and here. I frittered a good half a day browsing through these sites and while I enjoyed looking at the art, I did get my computer overuse headache in record time! These sites are probably most useful when one is looking for something or someone in particular.

I am off to paint now!

Palo Alto, Calif. And Miami Beach, Fla. (December 2, 2008) - The New York Art Exchange (www.nyaxe.com), an online marketplace for buying and selling of contemporary fine art, launched officially today at Bridge Art Fair Miami. The New York Art Exchange (NYAXE) is enabling the art community to capitalize on new digital mediums through technology by connecting artists, gallerists and collectors via the World Wide Web.

"We are thrilled to debut the launch of the New York Art Exchange online ecommerce platform at the Bridge Art Fair Miami event," commented Catherine McCormack-Skiba, CEO and founder of NYAXE. "It's been my vision for years to make great art accessible to a broader audience through technology and the internet. I'm excited that we can empower gallerists and artists to expand the awareness of their fine art and help them connect with a new audience of buyers on a global level."

Today's launch of NYAXE will connect collectors, artists and gallerists together, allowing buyers to quickly search through thousands of works of fine art on the site and navigate through numerous curated pieces of works.

Gallerists and artists can create a personal and customized branded online gallery storefront to begin selling on the NYAXE marketplace. The storefront gallery allows artists and gallerists to sell the following: an original piece of artwork, a digital version of the work (e.g. jpeg), or an on-demand version of the print on merchandise (e.g., poster, note cards, Giclee for example). Storefronts can be organized into categories such as watercolors, original works, sculptures, to make it easy for art collectors to find what they are looking for.

"Having a store where I can connect to collectors and appreciators is very exciting," remarked Mark Enger, artist. "I live in a small town and with my NYAXE gallery storefront I can reach collectors of my work in cosmopolitan areas that are thousands of miles away from me. NYAXE empowers me to reach buyers I would not otherwise have had an opportunity to reach."

There are five different levels to choose from in building a NYAXE gallery storefront. A basic storefront is free for the first five listings, and each level provides more advanced features and marketing capabilities and cost effective pricing structures. The various tiers of service are designed to enable artists and gallerists to try their hand at ecommerce to build a basic store at a low cost. Artists and gallerists subsequently can upgrade to higher tiers if they wish to expand their offerings. Subscription fees for NYAXE sites are very affordable and storefront pricing tiers.

NYAXE also offers a Trust Escrow/Buyer Satisfaction program -- NYAXE collects the cost of the funds from the buyer and distributes the shipping money to the artist to send the item first. Once the buyer receives the item, the buyer must be satisfied with the purchase, or a full refund less the shipping costs will be given.


The New York Art Exchange and myartspace partner with Bridge Art Fair

The New York Art Exchange and myartspace, both owned by parent company CatMacArt, and Bridge Art Fair collaborate and partner at the Bridge Art Fair Miami event (December 2 - 7).

Myartspace, the premier online venue for contemporary art and a social networking site with more than 50 thousand users, is co-sponsoring an artists' competition juried by a world class panel from Bridge Art Fair, SF MOMA, San Jose Museum of Art and Whitney Museum of Art. Fifty finalists will be selected and three winners will have their work represented at the Bridge Art Fair at the Miami event.

"We are delighted to be partnering with myartspace on this juried competition," said Michael Workman, director and founder of Bridge Art Fair. "We look forward to having selected winners' artwork displayed at Bridge Art Fair Miami and believe myartspace and the New York Art Exchange is offering the art world a fantastic opportunity to enter the new digital medium art space.

In addition, NYAXE and Bridge Art Fair are sponsoring a media lounge and digital gallery at Bridge Miami Wynwood. Designed by Greenlab Studios, the sleek lounge features a digital collection of select NYAXE's art work displayed on high-resolution screens installed throughout the lounge. NYAXE invites fair?goers and media representatives to available computers, create online galleries, check email, network, rest, and enjoy a complimentary beverage in the contemporary and exclusive surroundings. You can find the NYAXE media lounge and digital gallery at the Wynwood hotel.

ABOUT NEW YORK ART EXCHANGE

The New York Art Exchange (www.nyaxe.com), the premier an online marketplace for selling, buying and exploring contemporary fine art, is a complete ecommerce solution that empowers artists/gallerists to reach new customers and extend their brand and presence around the world via the internet. Nyaxe.com is created and run by CatMacArt Corporation. www.catmacart.com.

ABOUT MYARTSPACE

Launched in 2006, myartspace (www.myartspace.com ), the premier online venue for contemporary art, is one of the fastest growing and diverse communities on the internet. Its members include more than 50,000 artists, collectors, galleries and other art enthusiasts around the world. Membership is free and artist can upload an unlimited amount of work including images, music and video. Myartspace is created and run by CatMacArt Corporation. www.catmacart.com. Come visit us at the Bridge Art Fair Miami event (December 4 - 7) at The Catalina Hotel, booth number 108.

ABOUT BRIDGE ART FAIR

Bridge Art Fair, the Independent International Exposition of Art and Visual Culture, is a transnational art fair organization currently staging events in Berlin, Miami, New York and London. Bridge Art Fair currently presents a combined total of nearly 300 galleries and over 2,000 artists at four expositions throughout the year. Visitors will discover a truly global selection of contemporary work from every imaginable medium, including but not limited to painting, prints, photography, sculpture, installation, drawing, film, video, new media, and conceptual art. In the short time since the premier of Bridge Miami Beach in 2006, total sales of nearly $30 million and more than 100,000 visitors have confirmed Bridge as a leading voice in the global art market.

Mixed Results

Queen Ann with Blue, 6x6, Oil on Gessobord, 2008

A few weeks ago I wrote a post about the challenge of working from some nice photos that I had taken of wild flowers on the side of our road.

And because I know you are all just waiting on the edge of your seat to find out what happened with them, today I will put you out of your misery.

I had mixed results. The one above was probably the best one of the three that I started. It also took the longest, was wiped down the most (8 times and I know because I counted) and is responsible for a bruise on my right foot where the corner jabbed me like a dagger after oops, the stupid thing slipped out of my hands while I wiping the 7th color try off. I was tempted to fling it across the room after all that happened but that always causes more problems and so I decided to give the stupid painting one more shot.

Needless to say after all that drama I wasn't too keen on doing the next one, but I tried anyway and it simply turned out ok. The third one? I didn't even bother with it. Sometimes it is just really good to move on. I had a whole batch of other flowers that were working better and so I focused on them which made me feel better (they can be seen here).

Not sure if I will do more flowers for now. They can be fun, yet they can also drive me crazy and that is totally the last thing I need right now. heh.

Wildflowers

So I did okay yesterday. It took me a little longer than it should have to get down to work, but I finally did. I worked on underpaintings of flowers based on photographs of my garden flowers that I took last summer. I struggled a bit so I didn't get as much done as I would have liked, although it was a good start and I am not complaining. I did more yesterday than I did all last weeks. Super proud of THAT. heh.

In late July I took some photos (see above) of a patch of beautiful wildflowers at the side of the road and they have been at the back of my mind ever since. I actually think the images are too nice to use as reference as they have their own thing going on, but I have decided to try and paint them anyway. Usually I like to work from bad photos, that way I am not so tempted to capture the photographic beauty. If the photo is bad, or at least really simple and basic I must either find my own beauty in it or make it up.

If these paintings show up here next week, that means they turned out. If you never hear about them again it means they failed miserably and will immediately go to the sand down pile. Just so you know.

Returns

Slight Slant, 2007, Oil on Panel, 14x18

So naturally, the very day that I started to feel very full of myself about how well the art thing has been going lately, I had a bit of a reality check. One of my galleries is sending back all of the recent flower paintings I did in August because they have not generated any interest. They were originally painted for a local group show, ahem, where none of them sold either.

I am choosing to see the good in this situation though-the gallery was willing to try new imagery by me, which is always a plus and another gallery I work with has requested flower paintings, so I can send the work off to them (third time is the charm?). I know that the markets are all different and that what sells in one market may not sell in another. I go through that all of the time with the barns.

But that said, it does still sting a bit to get them back, knowing that they didn't appeal to this gallery's visitors. Kind of dashed my fantasies about an immediate sell out of inventory, ya know?! I admit to secretly hoping for that every time I deliver new work to a gallery.

And for now anyway, it's taken a bit of the wind out of my sails, concerning the four flower underpaintings in my studio that are waiting for their color.

PS. If you'd like to see the flower paintings, they can be seen in the blog archives in late July and early August.

My Flowers

Pink Bee Balm, 2006, Oil on Panel, 16x20

In response to Peter's comment on the previous post, I thought I'd put up this piece that I did last winter. I am really happy with it (and it is currently at Multiple Impressions in Soho, if anyone in the area feels inclined to go see it), so much so that I have felt a bit intimidated about doing another flower painting. I would have gotten over that if I had been able to focus on the subject matter, but I haven't had the time to do that for the last few months.

However, this is how the pressure of a gallery show really comes in handy for me. I'd probably put off pursuing painting flowers for another six months if it weren't for this upcoming show.

Floral and Fauna

The stack of rocks in front is our attempt at camouflaging the septic tank opening.

Mostly just pictures of my bloomin' garden today. I have to work in the studio all day and try to finish up some large pieces (four 24x38, and one 48x60!) so that I can prepare them for delivery by next Wednesday.

Also, I have to get ready for a community event that I am doing tomorrow (more about that on Monday) and begin a number of small pieces for a local group show in August called "Floral and Fauna." Which brings me back to the flowers. My back flower garden is looking great right now so I thought I'd get a few shots, both for reference for the paintings, and to, well, show off a bit. Heh. Actually, I still think the garden looks a bit too sparse, but I keep reminding myself to wait before adding more plants. The garden will fill in over the next few years.

I am not a very patient gardener though.