Down, Morpheus by Kehinde Wiley is one of the works in The New Republic. More artworks are on his website that  our top ten artist websites

ART NEWS: Artist websites are becoming more engaging as artists make effort to captivate website visitors. Here are 10 Amazing Artist Websites That Will Captivate You.

BY KAZAD

With the growth of the Internet, artists across the globe are trying to reach a larger audience. From exploring social media like Facebook, Twitter, Google, LinkedIn, and many others to present their artworks, many artists are setting up artist websites.

Artist Websites Market Place

Artist websites serve as a home, studio, market place, and gallery for emerging and professional artists. While some artists use free platforms like WordPress,  Blogger, Tumblr, Weebly, Wix, Squarespace, and several others to show and sell their works, others are using paid platforms.

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No matter what platform artists select to display their work, the important thing is that artist websites are well-structured to captivate visitors. In addition to images of artworks, artist websites also have to include important categories such as biography, exhibitions, and much more.

Beautiful Artist Websites

Below are some of the beautiful artist websites we find very interesting. While there are many artist websites out there, there are some unique elements on these websites that make them our top ten. If you have any favorite artist websites, please let us know.

Banksy  

Banksy Website with one of his works titled Fragile

Banksy’s artist website is an extension of his street art and graffiti. On his website are his poignant creations, including some of Banksy’s famous works.

The website is an opportunity for Banksy followers to see some of his site-specific projects.  One of my favorite of Banksy’s works is a red heart-shaped balloon. On the balloon are bandages symbolizing that this is a tortured heart.

Banksy’s website is divided into categories that make it easy to navigate. Under the Outside category are street art and graffiti done in different parts of the world. The Inside category allows a view of works done in the studio. Banksy is also a studio artist, and some of his studio works are on this website. The simplicity of the website makes it very unique.

Banksy Artist Websites

Banksy’s mystery follows him everywhere, including the internet. In writing this article, we came across different websites that have the name of Banksy on them. Do they belong to him?  That is the million-dollar question. All I can say is some of them have Banksy art on them.  The question continues to be ” Is Banksy Legend of Reality?”

Jeff Koons

Jeff Koons website with several of his inflatable sculptures

Undoubtedly, Jeff Koons is one of America’s top contemporary artists.  He is well-loved and heated by his contemporaries.  On Koons website, the first thing you encounter is an image of one of his Balloon Dogs. On it is the word “Enter.”

Koons website is well-structured and contains some of his most important works. Some of the works on Koons website include his popular inflatable series and Balloons. There are also lesser-known works like Gazing Ball Paintings and Hole.  Some of these works were part of Banality, his retrospective at the Whitney Museum of Art in New York.

Roland Faesser 

Roland Faesser’s website homepage allows a 3-dimensional view of his studio

One of the most captivating artist websites

One of the most captivating artist websites that I came across on the web belongs to the artist Roland Faesser.  On his home page is an image of one of his deer head wall sculpture.  The Studio category is the center of the site. It has a panoramic 3-dimensional view of the artist’s studio. As you move the cursor, the studio moves with it, revealing details of the studio and artworks.

From sculptures to paintings and installations, there is so much to see on this website. It is so much fun navigating the studio with a 3-dimensional view.  The website has a comprehensive CV of the artist, including his educational background, academic history, and projects. You can also see his commissions, public projects,  and photographs.

Victor Ekpuk 

Photography of Victor Ekpuk at work on the homepage of his website

I have known Victor Ekpuk for many years. He is a meticulous and adventurous artist. Victor explores Nsibidi to comment on contemporary thoughts and issues.  Nsibidi is an aesthetic philosophy where sign systems are used to convey ideas. Victor’s website reflects his meticulous nature. Everything is well categorized in a way that makes navigation easy.

When you arrive at Victor’s website, the first thing you see is his now very popular signature. Behind it is the word “Studio.”  The site has several categories, including Paintings, Drawings, and Mixed Media to mention a few.

Looking through Victor’s website allows for a greater understanding of the artist’s career and how his art has evolved. You should see his manuscript series. They blend culture, tradition, and religion.

Kate Gilmore  

 Works  by Kate Gilmore are well arranged to captivate visitors to her website

Kate Gilmore is a teaser. On her website, you will find images of her performances.  The photographs are just snippets of her work and do not provide all the details.  When you click on the images, they take you to past video projects and performances.  The videos are orderly arranged to allow visitors to find what they are looking for on the website.

Kate Gilmore’s website site is inviting and provides an amazing experience for guests exploring her works. You could spend hours watching videos of her performances.  The videos provide openings for a greater understanding of Gilmore’s creative process and artistic labor. Her works are in galleries across the globe. Here is one of her exciting videos titled Sudden As A Massacre, 2011. The video was shown at Time Based Art Festival, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Oregon.

David Shrigley 

One of David Shrigley’s artworks on the home page of his website

David Shrigley is a funny and exciting artist. His faux-naïve drawings are poignant in the ideas they communicate. On the website of this Glasgow-based artist, there are so many interesting things that tell you about Shrigley and his work. There are art images, videos, published books and so much more.

Shrigley has a cult following and his fans will do anything to prove their allegiance to the artist. The site has photographs of fans with tattoos of Shrigley’s art, a clear indication of their loyalty.  Shrigley’s website also has images of his projects, including details of a skateboard park he decorated. The website’s “help desk” is unusual in the true sense of the word.  There is so much to enjoy on this artist’s website.

Gerhard Richter   

The home page of Gerhard -Richter Artist website. Image Gerhard -Richter

When you visit Gerhard Richter’s website, the first thing you see is this beautiful thumbnail photo montage of his artworks through the years. Each image enlarges when you click on them. This is an artist website set up to educate and inform visitors about the career of this famous artist spanning more than six decades.  Each image is labeled to include the year it was created, and where it was exhibited. Some images even have the year they were auctioned, estimated auction prices, and how much they sold for.

Each artwork on Gerhard Richter’s website reflects his artistic tradition. They show how he uses different media in the creation of the work. There are Photo Paintings, Abstracts, Atlas, Editions,  and Drawing. Others include Overpainted Photographers, Oil on Paper, and Watercolor. A section of the website also shows a collection of prints,  works, and books by the artist.

Gerhard Richter’s website has a fascinating biography of the artist. It starts from a very young age, through his adult life and amazing art career. Additionally, the biography has images that tell the story of the life of this celebrated artist.  You can also read some of his quotes which are very inspiring and thoughtful.

Damien Hirst Website

Damien- Hirst Website Homepage with one of his sculptures

When you visit Damien Hirst’s website, the first thing you see is an announcement of Jeff Koons on-going exhibition going at the Newport Street Gallery in London. For an impatient guest, this could be confusing.  Why are Jeff Koons works on Damien Hirst’s website? The answer is simple: They are there because the Newport Street Gallery where Koons is exhibiting belongs to Damien Hirst.  Any visitor who is able to go beyond that initial shock will find navigating the website very easy and rewarding.

Hirst’s website has several categories that create a narrative. The News category includes news about the artist, his projects, and association with other artists. Additionally, there is information about what is happening at the Newport Street Gallery.

The Artworks category is perhaps one of the most important sections of the website. It includes artworks by the artist spanning many years.  Works like This Little Piggy Went to Market, This Little Piggy Stayed at Home, 1996, and The Immortal, 1997 – 2005, highlights the artist’s fascination with death. The sculptures were made from dead animals Glass, painted stainless steel, silicone, stainless steel, monofilament, and formaldehyde solution. They generated contentious debates when they were exhibited. The main question on many minds was “But is it art?.

Hirst’s website provides the opportunity to see his artworks in great detail. The website also includes a Biography section and a portrait photograph of Hirst sternly gazing at the viewer. There are also several videos of Hirst discussing his works in conversations with artists and art critics.

Edward Ruscha 

Pay Nothing Until April 2003. Acrylic on canvas 60 x 60 inches, one of the featured pages on Edward Ruscha website page. Image: Edward Ruscha

When you get to Edward Ruscha’s website, you are confronted with a copyright warning. If you are able to go past that warning, there is so much to learn on this website.

There is a section reserved for featured works under the work category. Presented as a slider, featured artworks include works by the artist that were done through the years.  Below are other works going as far back as 1958.  This would have been a comprehensive catalog of the artist’s works except that it does not go beyond 2003.

Incomplete as the catalog is, it provides some insights into Ruscha’s career. From his use of words and text to stints with abstract expressionism, Dada, Surrealism, and other areas of art, there is a lot to learn.  The images are correctly labeled to make searching for them very easy.

Ruscha’s website has a scanty biography section that is augmented with other areas. This is one of the very few artist websites with a section reserved for missing artworks.  This section has about 16 works listed as missing.  It ends with an appeal to anyone who knows about the missing artworks to contact the artist or the Catalogue Raisonné.

Olafur Eliasson   Art Website

 Artist Home Page of artist Olafur Eliasson’s website with the golden eye.

Olafur Eliasson is a fun-loving artist who makes effort to challenge our perception of things.  The first work on his website is a piece that keeps going in a spiral movement. The green and yellow colors image spiral in a manner that attempts to hypnotize the viewer. But this is just an example of what makes Eliasson’s website very unique.

Eliasson’s website was created to captivate visitors. As you scroll down the homepage, a golden eyeball floats with you, eyeing every move you make.

This website has a collection of Eliasson’s artworks dating back to 1990.  Each piece has texts that provide an understanding of the process of creation and where it was shown.

There are other areas on this website that makes it intriguing. The most important feature, however, is that it is a fun place to be. You should see Green Light. What do you think?

Anne-Marie Cosgrove  

Anne -Marie Cosgrove Website Homepage with a short biography and her works. This is one of the most engaging artist websites

The first thing you see on Anne-Marie Cosgrove’s website is a short biography about the painter. It reads: “Born in Montréal, Anne-Marie Cosgrove currently lives and works in Toronto, Canada. Process-based, her work interacts with language, narrative, and the frame of the painting.” Under the biography is a detailed CV, including art exhibitions and awards.  There are also Press Links.

Structured Artist Website

A deeper look through the website provides more details about the artist and her art career. The Painting category focuses on Marie Cosgrove’s Paintings dating from 2009 through 2015. The collection reveals the progress of the artist in her career so far.  Another section focuses on her exhibitions and project history.

There is a lot to see under Exhibition. The exhibitions date from 1987 through 2015. This category is detailed in a way that allows a profound view of Marie Cosgrove’s creative progression through the years.  This is a well-structured website.

In addition to all the images and other information, Cosgrove’s website also has a collection of digital and downloadable catalogs of exhibitions the artist had participated in. Although there are few catalogs on the website, this is one of the few artist websites with catalogs and detailed literature.

Kehinde Wiley   

A page from Kehinde Wiley Website featuring some his works and project

Kehinde Wiley’s website is beautiful and presents the artist as a man of style. On Wiley’s website, the first thing you see is an announcement about A New Republic, an on-going exhibition. The show has been to several museums and galleries before arriving at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA. The announcement for A New Republic has the image of Wiley sitting at the center of a gallery with his artworks behind him.

Wiley’s Art Portfolio Website

An excursion of  Wiley’s website reveals several categories, including Work, Projects, News, and Information. Each category is carefully arranged for aesthetics and Information. The Work category provides details about Wiley’s exhibitions through the years in a catalog format. Each catalog provides details about an exhibition, including text and selected images.

The Project category is as attractive as the Work section. The documentation of his collaboration with the Art Project Fund project is very revealing of the artist’s creative prowess. It involved Wiley placing his works on top of New York taxi cabs.  The News and Information categories tie up the whole website.

This is a gorgeous website. It explores different elements of art and repetition to captivate visitors. Without a doubt, this is one of the most engaging artist websites. The effort that went into creating the site not only shows that Wiley is a meticulous artist, but also a brilliant one as well.

Best Artist Websites

These artist websites bring into focus some of the things artists are doing to make their art accessible to a global art audience. Some of them have more than just one website. Banksy, for instance, has two or three websites. Banksy artist websites are full of information about the artist and his work. Many of these artists are also using social media platforms to reach their audience.

These are some of our top artist websites. What do you think Join the art conversation: Share your thoughts and comments.

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