2020: Virtual Reality
If there was words to encapsulate what it has been like for most of us living through 2020 it would probably be something like most of us feeling like we are living in a virtual reality. There have been benefits to the way life has gone (goodbye 2 hour commute) but there are some negatives too with many people experiencing the newly coined condition “Zoom Fatigue” or just purely missing the social connection with family and friends.
As an artist I have still been actively going to my studio and physically working through the creation of artwork. But then I was hit with the conundrum of how to get the word out about my art and also how to market it. Every October, for the past few years I have had a solo exhibition but this year was going to be very different because a large scale busy art exhibition was not going to be a possibility due to Covid. So instead, I mixed it up and held an online exhibition in conjunction with DesignYard Gallery in Dublin.
PIGSY Online Art
The online and virtual aspect of the art exhibition was a new phenomena and it had me wondering how it would play out. I wondered who would see my art and how it would be seen along with whether it would be enjoyed as much as at a real life exhibition. As we know there is always a great buzz on opening night of an exhibition with loads of visitors thronging the gallery to enjoy a glass of wine and be the first to see an artists new body of work. Add in, of course, the fact that art show openings are also great social events (which is what makes them so enjoyable) where you generally bump in to at least one person that you know! So with all of this in mind it really was a concern of mine as to how the online art event was all going to play out.
So I need not have been concerned. My art got seen by many and the response was great! With videos shown all over various platforms including Youtube, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter it was enjoyed by lots of different people who really engaged with it and gave great feedback. In actual fact I think it was seen by more people than who might visit an actual physical exhibition along with playing to a very different audience.
Art Collecting from your couch!
And after that the outcome of the online art event happened, and this is where I think the real positive is. Art was bought by collectors. Albeit the sales happened in a different way to a physical exhibition, in that an online exhibition never closes and it runs for 24 hrs. One piece of art sold at 1am on Friday night here in Spain and in regard to this one I imagine the collector and his wife looking at my art over a glass of wine in front of an open fire after a busy week of work for both of them. They may not have ventured out to a physical exhibition preferring to stay home and relax (and with lots of places on lockdown and most restaurants closed there probably is not a whole lot of reasons to be venturing out) - however, the online exhibition gave them the option to relax in their home but also, as bonus, the opportunity to enjoy art safely in the comfort of their own cosy home surroundings. A great result for them, for sure!
Art direct to your doorstep
And then the next thing that will happen for these art collectors is that in a few weeks they will receive a large brown box in the mail direct to their doorstep which they will unwrap to find their very own PIGSY art work, in the flesh, ready for hanging in their chosen spot. A great end to a virtual art experience that started from their couch and whereby they will receive the real life art piece which they can now enjoy in physical reality for generations to come!
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