Showcase of Artist Websites
As someone who keeps myself regularly updated with artists within the art scene (lowbrow/underground/pop surrealism) I find it very hard to find artists with websites that match their work. It is so surprising to see a group of such highly creative people have such sub=par web presences.
I guess part of this goes back to the “my work is so good, that my website doesn’t need to be” mentality that many artists have, but whatever the reason is there are simply too many great artists with sites that don’t match their talent. So I began a search for some of the better (there‘s too many artists out there to call this a best of list) artist websites out there and here’s a sampling of what I found:
Artist: Friends With You
The FriendsWithYou website is one of the few sites I found that’s actually designed…..really well. The typography is clean, the 3d navigation buttons are a great touch, and the use of mouse-interactivity in the flash header is a simple tie-in to FWY’s world of smiley faced silliness. Images in blog posts are greyscaled until hover, and they’re big and splashy. A site that’s very easy on the eyes, as well as easy to navigate.
Artist: Danny Brito
South Florida based artist Danny Brito’s site is clean, easy to navigate, and attractive. The colorful flash header draws the eye center stage and the mini site for Danny’s Polaroid Project features some interactivity to get more information.
Artist: Molly Crabapple
Molly Crabapple’s website is a very simple, heavy on the typography three column blog style site. The site’s graphics are monochromaticlly dull, which makes the colorful blog images in the main content area pop that much more. The is a really clean display of Molly’s work both on and off the canvas. One of the cleaner artist sites I found, plus her Art Monkey Alphabet font is just awesome.
Artist: Task One
Toy customizer Task One’s website is a great parody of Apple site. His innovate use of integrating well known items such as the iPod and Lite Brite into his custom toys has made Task one of the more interesting customizers in the scene.
His website is just as entertaining. He took the clean look of the Apple website and applied his work to it, even mimicing Apple’s iPod ads in a promo graphic for his latest nano custom. A must see site.
Artist: Elite Gudz
A flash based site, the Elite Gudz site features works from a group of graffiti artists such as Phetus and Mr.Den. The site displays their work in a slick package, the navigation animation is not annoying and the site is very easy to browse through.
The Elite Gudz site also links to the Concrete Immortalz site, which features an interactive comic book from the team.
Artist: Babekuhl Shop
Another flash based site, the store section of Australian based design studio Babekuhl features their Babu cloud and related characters. The way the store builds out compliments the sun and rainbow graphics, creating a unique store experience with just enough animation to keep your attention through each transition.
The Babekuhl site is a good example of a flash site that is not over the top with it’s animations and transitions, creating a fun user experience to match the company’s products.
Conclusion
As we have seen, the websites of artists today are as broad in their design and stlye as the artwork itself. Many artists settle with a plain site, usually featuring a simple lightbox gallery of their work.
These few examples show some artists that have made the extra effort, whether themselves or with their designer friend’s help, to give their websites the extra touch that too often is applied only to the artwork itself. Are there artist websites that you feel are unique and special in some way? If so, please share!
Tags: art, creative, design, redesign, website design, writing