Eight Years of Showing Art On-Line

February 8, 2002

(Published in ArtCalendar magazine)

Back before everyone and their dog had a computer for surfing the Web, it was mostly just geeky academic types who had access to computers and the Internet. I was a graduate student in physics taking art classes in 1993 when, after a sleepless night of feverish inspiration, I created my on-line art show. It was called "Strange Interactions." While I was working on it, I discovered that a group of young artists in Nebraska had started a similar site, called "OTIS" (now called "SITO"), a sort of on-line coop gallery. Back then, the Web was mostly a plaything of physicists and computer scientists, and its more common predecessor was called "Gopher." Strange Interactions and OTIS were Gopher sites. Gopher was like using a text-only Web site, but could still show images if the viewer followed the appropriate steps. It was a good deal more cumbersome than the Web, though.

I converted "Strange Interactions" to a Web site in early 1994. (I've since ditched the name in favor of johnj.com.) That was before Netscape and Internet Explorer - some of you may remember Mosaic as the only Web browser. As far as I know I was one of the first artists (if not the first) to create a one-person art show on the Internet. It's hard to convey the excitement of those times today. When I first created my site, I sent out announcements on E-mail and over a bulletin-board-like system known as Usenet (still in use today). I instantly started receiving hits from countries all over the world. Because there was very little content on the Internet, and lots of bored students with access to University computers, it was a pretty exciting way to show reproductions of artwork. I put a guestbook on my site and got hundreds of e-mails full of enthusiasm and (usually) praise for the artwork.

Some of the responses generated were rather bizarre. A fellow at Johns Hopkins university asked if he could show my work on a video projector at a coffee house, which he did. I got work published in several obscure 'Zines, computer journals (e.g., "The British Computer Information Retrieval Working Group"), student newspapers, etc. A couple in Croatia curating a small, local art museum asked me to send them reproductions for their "collection." I got invited to give a talk to the association of Wisconsin Painters and Sculptors, and another one at an art class at UW-Madison. The excitement was very gratifying, although I occasionally got nasty comments, such as an anonymous, handwritten hate-letter from somewhere in Texas. But by and large it was a great confidence-building experience.

I save all my server logs from the Web site. Based on hit totals numbering in the millions, I'm guessing a few hundred thousand people have at least glanced at my site. Most of these viewers sail away immediately, but every few days someone far away will spend a nice, long chunk of time looking at my work. I use the logs to see what people look at and to see if any of the links are broken. I also learn who is linking to my site.

A few things have helped generate traffic. I got in early, so many sites linked to mine (there wasn't much else to link to in the early days!). I have a section of my site which has photos I took in Antarctica, and these are rare enough to get a somewhat prominent listing in Yahoo!. (Of course, there is a link from my Antarctica photos to my paintings!). I put descriptive text in with every image so that search engines find my pages more easily. Plus, I have (I think) good work. These days there is no substitute for good content. It's also good to have www.yourname.com rather than www.somewhere.com/freepages/yourname, because the search engines give priority to the former (although showing work on sites that feature many artists might be a good way to get new viewers).

In the intervening years since the site went up, I got my Ph.D. in physics, moved to California, worked half-time in physics while painting as much as possible, and am now contemplating taking the jump into full-time art making, at least for a year. During that time, I haven't sold much work directly through the Web, having sold much more through Open Studios and galleries. The Web site did allow me to meet one woman in San Francisco, who, while chasing down someone who was sending her spam e-mail from Japan, stumbled across my Web site. She has since bought three paintings and is now one of my favorite collectors. I think the site is a great resource for people who see a piece in my studio or in a gallery, who are interested in making a purchase, and who want to see a reminder of it while thinking about it.

Nowadays, most artists I meet have Web sites. Showing art online is actually one of the most natural uses of the Web I can think of (the Web was designed and first used to share physics data internationally). It's fun thinking I was one of the first people to use the Web to show art. I wonder what other artists have experienced putting their work online.

I make an important distinction between the images on the Web (though copyrighted, they are essentially free, digital reproductions) and my actual artworks (lovingly hand-crafted, expensive original paintings). I want people to see the originals, but if they see reproductions and if that helps generate interest in my work, that's great too.

The site continues to be very useful to me (incidentally, I pay about $20/month for the server space, and I "hand-roll" most of my pages, using a program I wrote to automatically tweak the look-and-feel of each page at any time). When I'm out in the world, it's great to be able to hand someone a postcard with one of my images with my Web address next to it, and know they can see my entire catalogue on-line. I don't think it's helped me too much to find new galleries (yet). Whenever I send out a show announcement, everyone on my e-mail list can click immediately to see my recent work, and everyone who gets a postcard can look later at their leisure (my Web site traffic goes up noticeably when I have a show). Since a lot of my work has sold, it's really good for me to have the Web site on hand to see what I've done, and to review the strengths and weaknesses of my work as it has developed in the last 10 years. I list all my buyers' names with paintings that have sold, as an acknowledgement to them and to impress people that the work is selling. The site also keeps me organized and honest (the prices I publish on-line are the same as they would be in a gallery). Most importantly, it gives me a place where I can showcase my work and various supporting materials to anyone who's interested. The supporting materials include figure studies, photographs, writings, resume, artist's statement, etc.

The Web site certainly has been a labor of love. Although it's been a big investment of time (and a modest investment of money), it's hard to imagine having a business of any kind, especially an art career, without it.

(The Web site is http://www.johnj.com), featuring paintings, photos, and drawings by John Jacobsen.