For Artists: Great Art on the Internet

When you think of looking at art, what do you think about? Visiting museums? Looking through huge dusty books at the library? Visiting a gallery? What about taking a stroll around the internet? The internet is a fabulous place to find new artists and to learn more about the different artistic movements you’ve been interested in.

Thanks to the internet, many of today’s up and coming artists are able to showcase their work to millions of viewers and really make a name for themselves, all without the need for fervently hoping that a gallery representative takes an interest in them. There are quite a few places on the internet where you can view fantastic art. Here are a few you might not have considered:

Stumble Upon’s Fine Arts Channel. One of my favorite things to do when I’m looking for new artists to learn about is to start stumbling! Stumble Upon has an art channel that lets you narrow down the different types of art and artists you want to encounter. When you choose fine arts, you are taken to the different websites of painters, sketchers, sculptors and even web pages for some of the most famous museums, like the Museum of Modern Art.

Flickr. There are plenty of people on Flickr who simply upload snapshots of their cats (yes, for the record, I am one of them). There are also quite a few very talented artists who choose Flickr to display their artwork. There are photos, sure, but there are paintings, sketches, and photos of sculptures. The great thing about Flickr is that most of the artists who display their work there do so with a Creative Commons license. That allows viewers to print out the images and use them in their homes!

D’Art: The fine art database. Here you can choose from whatever types of fine arts you wish to view. You can also choose which media are your favorites. This is a great site for people who are very picky about the type of art they like to look at. Generalists can fare well here too—they just have to click more buttons.

The great thing about these internet resources is that they do not bother with discussing what art really is. Anybody with a website or access to the internet can display their work via these resources—Stumble Upon lends itself nicely to up and comers who just want their work to be seen. Regardless of your feelings surrounding fine art, you will be able to find images that you like with these resources.

The definition of “art” is hard to pin down. For most people art is something they recognize but cannot define (also known as “I know it when I see it”). The internet is a wonderful place to discover artists that you might not have heard of or explore a type of art that you want to learn more about. There is more to art than what is displayed at a museum, a gallery or in a book.