First rate art is in danger of being left behind in this new age

of the global Internet highway. The World Wide Web is like

Walmart or Home Depot coming to town. Art galleries as

they now exist, are going to become the Mom and Pop

version of selling art.

Chances are if you are an established artist, and look for

your medium or subject matter on the Web, some very

web-savvy artist will show up, sometimes repeatedly on the

first two or three pages of a search engine and your name is

no where to be found.

This can change, but established artists and the galleries

that represent them need to start thinking differently about

their approach to the Internet. And galleries need to help

every artist they represent have their own website. This will

make a revolutionary difference in how first rate art is

represented, because right now really good contemporary

art is hard to find on the Web, and because of this fact, really

good contemporary art is in danger of becoming irrelevant

or worse, obsolete.

Every artist needs his or her own website, and every artist

needs to get his or her own website now.

There are several myths I would like to dispel.

1) Websites cost a fortune.

Websites do not have to cost a fortune. There are lots of

good people involved with the Web who don’t have a huge

overhead who are good at designing websites.

Good websites for artists can be designed for $500 or less.

You can get a domain name for under $10 and have it

hosted for under $100 a year. This is one of the best

investments in your career you will ever make.

You also do not have to pay a fortune to get your website on

search engines. For a presence on the Web, you need

patience, information and knowledge (more on this on Art,

Artists and the Web: Part 4).

2) My gallery is in charge of marketing and I don’t need a

website in my own name.

Every artist needs a website with a domain name that

includes his or her name--"www. yourname.com" or "www.

yourname artist.com." What artists do not need is a website

that includes the gallery’s name--"www.

gallery.com/yourname."

Websites need to be easy to remember and Web visitors

are going to pay a lot more attention to an artist that has

their own domain name. Web visitors usually skip over

websites that are hosted by galleries and pay almost no

attention to artist’s pages on gallery sites.

3) If I have my own web page, then the gallery or galleries

that represent me won’t be able to control the direction that

the gallery would like to go in.

The artist and gallery can work together in creating the

artist’s website. However, it can’t feel as if the gallery is

holding the artist hostage. There is nothing worse than

finding an artist you really like on the Web, seeing a couple

of picture and a link to the gallery. Web visitors never go

back.

The artist’s website can be an excellent promotional tool for

the gallery. There is no reason why an artist’s website

cannot promote both the gallery and the artist.

If the gallery is concerned about an artist having an email

address of his or her own, there is an easy solution. The

person who sends the email gets an automatic reply saying

their message has been received. The same email

message can be forwarded to both the artist and the gallery,

and together they can decide how the email could be

answered.

Established artists need to become conscious of the new

way people are viewing and experiencing art. There are

literally billions of people out there who don’t know that you

or your art exists. They associate your subject or medium

with artists who show up on search engines. They don’t

care about what gallery you may be associated with, they

care about who shows up on the Web. If you don’t start

showing up on the Web very soon, not only will no one know

who you are, they won’t even care.

But, great art doesn't have to be left behind. Artists and the

galleries that represent them can join the new global

Internet highway, have fun enjoying the ride and be part of

the new global art revolution. Start now and start right away.

© Mary Baker 2005

Mary Baker is a contemporary realist painter, whose studio

is in Newburyport, Massachusetts. This New England city,

north of Boston, has been the inspiration for the artist’s

realistic oil paintings. Mary Baker is a professional artist and

has shown in New York art galleries.

You can visit Mary at her website, Mary Baker Art, at http://www.marybakerart.com, see her beautiful paintings and read her articles

on a variety of subjects including, Art, Artists and Money,

Creativity, Tips on Breaking the Creative Block, Why Buy

Original Art and the four part series on Art, Artists, and the

Web.

A list of articles can be found on her Site Map and

Mary's paintings can be seen on every page of Mary Baker

Art.