Larry raises an interesting e-commerce point. What is the meaning of
place in cyberspace? On the one hand, the ability of the artist to reach a
wider audience than his/her local village is enhanced. On the other hand, as
Larry points out, unless someone is able to search in some clever way for
just that villager's art, the small local artist will still be missed.
I think it may raise importance of the artist being even more sensitive
to the physical and social world in that artist's environment. To the
extent that the local environment is unique, it may imbue the artist's work
with something that is also unique and sought after. If the artist exists
only in a virtual environment, then the resulting art work may appeal to
those virtual afficionados.
Brock Hinzmann
lblasch wrote:
>
> Dear Brock and list,
>
> Although I am entering this thread at a late date, I have had
> discussions by way of the RP-ML concerning this in the past.
>
> You said:
>
> >I disagree that the Internet hasn't created 500,000 newspapers; we
do
> >have them. They're called Web sites. It's just that most of them
are
> >read by very few people.
>
> One reason that so many exist but so few are actively visited is
> "Advertising" how do you find a web page unless it's by word of
mouth
> or e-mail? You see it scroll past on someone else's page...or on a
> search engine. Do you actually visit all the pages you get hits on
> when you search for something? If you did, you wouldn't get
anything
> done. So regrettably, 500,000 artists or fabber pages would result
in
> a few being visited by many, and most languishing in obscurity.
>
> I fear that the individual artists will be lost amid the onslaught
of
> commercialized "unique" products that will be marketed by the
> conglomerates. There will always be the customer who shops the back
> alley shops and web pages for the true unique.
>
> The real question is this: Will you be able to command a price
> sufficient to make a living if there is no concept of "local
artist"?
> He's the one in your home town, who you can visit easily. In the
> global village there is no local artist, but there is the potential
> for many more global shoppers. How will they find your web gallery?
>
> The concept of "Starving Artist" has existed for centuries.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Larry Blasch
> Systems Administrator for Engineering Services
>
> OPW Fueling Components E-Mail:lblasch@opw-fc.com
> P.O. Box 405003 Voice: (513) 870-3356
> Cincinnati, OH 45240-5003 USA Fax: (513) 870-3338
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