At the end of each month we will select a small number of artists to feature in our new publication, Eyes on the Crowd. These artists will also receive an invitation to sell their work in our curated gallery. This months theme is the figure and after much deliberation and debate here is the selection…
Click on the artists below to see more of their work:
The work of Finnish artist Antti Laitinen kindles some humour. In 2008 under the title ‘Voyage’ he rowed his own desert island down the Thames (watch the video).
Building a paradise somewhere it does not belong is a repeating theme in Laitinen’s works. “The will to build oneself an own independent micro-nation inhabited by a single citizen – I would consider themes such as these to be the starting point for my works, not climate change”, he says.
“Not that it’s wrong to interpret my works from that point of view. There is no one right way to read an artwork.”
His work ‘It’s my Island’ was featured at the Earth: Art for a changing world at the RAA. There I watched his 3 month struggle to construct his own island in the cold Baltic Sea. Complementing these partly slapstick films were idealised photographs of his new territory. Utopian visions poking at our natural urge for our own palm paradise.
Social media is no longer a platform for just big brands and corporations. It has become the soapbox of the online world, to help spread the word where artists can use social media to send messages and forge intimate connections with their fans. The good news is that there are plenty of free tools out there that can help you turn your artistic passion into a full-fledged career if you learn how to use these tools to your advantage. Regardless of your talent and experience, you will have to market yourself in order to sell your art.
Enters Flickr, the best photo-sharing tool on the net, with millions of people from all over the world visit the site everyday for inspiration!
Here are our top 5 tips for a killer Flickr stream:
1) Tell a story with your photo-stream
Flickr isn’t just for photographers and it’s absolutely fine to take pictures of your artwork or upload them onto the site. Go crazy with behind the scenes shots of yourself painting, sketching, thinking, but most importantly always tell a story! Update your photostream often and make sure that your photos are set to the “public viewing settings” for maximum exposure opportunities.
2) Tag, tag, tag!
Dedicate some time towards optimising your images by uniquely naming your photos, adding tags and descriptions this can go a long way towards increasing the traffic driven to your images. The finer your images, the better!
3) Challenge yourself to your limits
If you’re a photographer, you might want to join Flickr’s photographic challenges; there are plenty of groups you can join depending on your interests, such as Happy Blue Monday, Powerful Pink Tuesday or It’s kind of Magic. Start joining and uploading your best images to these groups which will help you generate traffic from users who are likely to have an interest in your photos. Flickr’s your oyster!
4) Networking is the new black
Don’t overdo this, but by adding contacts who share a similar interest and by adding some their best images as favs you are increasing the chances that your own images will receive fave votes and comments. This will help your images to rank highly for competitive queries within Flickr as they will be viewed as being more interesting.
5) Recommend and get recommended
Do you have any idea how important testimonials are for a good “career” on Flickr? Think about it: how important are testimonials in general, in areas like marketing, advertising, and so many others? They’re the lifeblood of so many businesses! They can help you tremendously AND you get the chance to let other people do the bragging for you!
Ladies and gents, the “starving artist” cliché is no more!
