How old is art? Art, in its many forms, has been around since the dawn of time. From cave drawings to elaborate computer generated “paintings”, as long as there has been life, there has been art. Why, then, do we need websites for artists to promote something that is already a part of our daily culture? Why do we need a place to promote something that always has been and always will be?
To answer those questions about websites for artists, we need to go back in time. Before the Internet (if you can imagine such a time), before space travel, before airplanes, and before you could just go to your local store when you wanted a new shirt or a chocolate bar. Go back to when dinner meant you chased or grew your food, designer clothing was made by hand because there was no other choice (animal prints were all the rage) and artist’s tools consisted of charcoal, and something sharp for etching. Here we find some of our earliest art in the form of cave drawings. None of us were around at that time so we cannot say for sure, but it is pretty reasonable to assume those living in that time period toured the neighborhood caves to check out the different styles of cave art. (Tuk-Tuk’s pre-Saber tooth tiger attack art was far more enjoyable than what critics determined to be his angry, one armed phase). Yet, despite the distractions of getting or being dinner, inventing the wheel, hunting and gathering and making fire, there was art. The drive to beautify our world was imprinted our DNA as was the desire to share it with those around us.
Fast forward a few centuries and you have the Impressionists, many of whom were old or dead before their unique style of art was fully appreciated. Back in the time of Monet and Renior, people simply could not fathom a sky being any color other than blue or a flower being a breezy spot on a canvas rather than an intricate, petal-by-petal rendering. Nevertheless, these artists kept putting their work out there for the world to see despite being ridiculed and scorned. Imagine what websites for artists would have done for those fine painters. Even if the locals did not enjoy their work, it would have been Facebooked, Tweeted, Pintersted, Tumbled, blogged about, You Tubed and most importantly of all – viewed by such a diverse range of people, that somebody, somewhere would have appreciated their art and turned them into the Justin Beiber of the day. (Talent + You Tube = Success.)
We could go year by year, century by century highlighting the struggles and triumphs of each great artist of their respective time periods, but you will see the same theme repeated over and over again. Art was created, people viewed it. No matter what is going on, from hunting with spears to reading a Kindle on a bullet train, art shows up in one form or another, is enjoyed, critiqued, and viewed. It has always been and will always be a vital part of our culture and society; and that is where websites for artists come in.
Websites for artists are places where artists in any medium can post their work. This is of vital importance to an artist because there are hundreds – if not millions – of very talented artists. These artist lack one thing that Warhol, Michelangelo, Monet and even Tuk-Tuk had in common: recognition. What makes one artist better than the other (ok, besides talent)? The one that people actually know gets the glory. The one that people have never heard of gets Kraft dinner.
Websites for artists allow struggling artists to preset their gifts to the world in a medium that allows for millions of viewers 24/7. Websites for artists gets them noticed, appreciated, and gives them a place to point to when they boldly walk into (sneak into?) that party where the talent scout is the guest of honor so when they have got his or her attention (dressing up as a waiter, causing a diversion by bringing their supermodel girlfriend in the plunging red dress, etc) they can slip that scout a note with their website on it and perhaps become the next big thing.
We always have and will always have art. We always have and will always have artists. How fortunate in this digital age that artists can have websites for artists so they can share, promote, and show their work on a global stage. Goodbye selling and busking in the art district. Hello great big world.