MySpace for artists
December 19, 2006 11:57 AM   Subscribe

Meet Stuart, the new mySpace-like networking site for Student Artists created by Saatchi and Saatchi. (discovered through the NYT).
posted by jacalata (23 comments total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
I'm not sure about the layout of the site yet, but heck, as a student artist, sure is a cool concept!
posted by flibbertigibbet at 12:49 PM on December 19, 2006


It looks like this is actually a product of the Saatchi Gallery, whose owner, Charles Saatchi, hasn't been part of Saatchi & Saatchi since he and his brother Maurice were ousted in the late 80s.
posted by JaredSeth at 12:54 PM on December 19, 2006


ah - you're right, JaredSeth, I think I just automatically typed the second 'Saatchi'.
posted by jacalata at 12:56 PM on December 19, 2006


Cool site. Thanks for the post. I like this artist, Joanne Mumford, ooh patterns of light on water, one of my fav visuals. Nice. Like Ida Rand. enjoyed her answers in the My Favourites and My Least Favourites; Stuart Hartley's playful geometry; Jayne Archard's lovely painting of textures; Sue Beyer's work; lots to like there...

Like the new art from China as well.
posted by nickyskye at 1:00 PM on December 19, 2006


Ugh, what a horrible interface. I mean the marketing corporitized angle is bad enough but on a sheer website angle that page is horrible

I mean, it's not a seperate site, but "integrated" into their main site. And it's just a list of all the accounts, complete with distorted, pixelated avatar images.

I mean there are things that are wrong with the site that you have to work to make wrong. Like the avatar images.

It's just so lazy. They obviously got sold a bill 'o' goods by their internal IT people.

Also, a social network for artists already exists (example profile)

I mean if you're going to make something for artists, try to make it, you know, artful. This is just garbage.
posted by delmoi at 1:02 PM on December 19, 2006


From the vibe I got from the NYT article -- which I read old school -- in the paper form purchased at Ye Olde 7-11, stated that Stuart started as a novelty for Saatchi, for he was soooooo done with the gallery he thought me might concentrate on the website.

I looked at it and saw that it really was all about the student thing.

I dropped out a long long time ago from SVA and could not imagine posing as a student. Why could they not make it an art network for artist's period.

For some reason I have never been drawn to Deviant Art... but I belong to SITO, an artist collective that has been around since 1995....if not earlier.
posted by RubberHen at 1:17 PM on December 19, 2006 [1 favorite]


The NYT link should go here. Hopefully now I've fixed all the mistakes I made! I agree that it is horrifically ugly and badly designed, which is ironic.
posted by jacalata at 1:25 PM on December 19, 2006


It's good that he's waiting a year before trying to monetize it and profit from it, but you really have to wonder at whether he gets first dibs on talent or anything. Anyone read the fine print? I'm a Rhizome fan myself--been around for years and not run by people who run galleries and sell art for a living.
posted by amberglow at 1:45 PM on December 19, 2006


Oh good. Now all those student artists will have no trouble selling their work.
posted by spitbull at 1:58 PM on December 19, 2006


Waitaminit. All the critisism above means diddly-squat...the NYT article says the one-month old (!) site is gettingtwo and a half million hits a day!!

Is this true? Can this be verifiied? Because if it is, all the rules have been thrown out.

Bad design. CHECK. No web credibility. CHECK. No marketing. CHECK. Sans viral. CHECK.

How did this happen?
posted by mongonikol at 2:06 PM on December 19, 2006


No way is that site getting 2.5 million hits a day. Please.

Also, looking at alexa.com this site is gone up to one of the 2000 most popular on the web, about as popular as metafilter. WTF?
posted by delmoi at 2:16 PM on December 19, 2006


[off topic - alexa.com is cool!]
posted by algreer at 2:53 PM on December 19, 2006


ot, alexa.com *is* cool!

Along with some cool student art the Saatchi site (however badly designed it is) still has likeable art on it. Some witty, brutal stuff, some conceptual.
posted by nickyskye at 3:02 PM on December 19, 2006


I was skeptical about your claims of how bad the design is, but I just looked at it and gee, it really is bad. It appears that you have to scroll past that big splotchy "Stuart" logo on every single page. Strange -- I'd think such a popular site would have a competent web designer on board.
posted by jayder at 3:37 PM on December 19, 2006


I've never gotten into deviantart myself, not after some of the things I've seen posted under the heading of "collage." (At the time, a few years ago, a lot of stuff glued to notebook paper with the general feeling of high school angst - though browsing now it seems, Praise Dog, that the general quality is much improved.)

I'm a member of Projekt30 and have submitted work for the publicly juried montly exhibition a few times, and I must say that going through and jurying is a lot like "Hot or Not" for art. Good times.

Anyhow, this Stuart thing looks neat, except I can't get much use out of it as I'm not a student. Nor am I a high-powered gallery owner looking for art students to push onto the forefront of the scene. Poo.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 4:01 PM on December 19, 2006


ot, wow grapefruitmoon, I love these collages you created! Wonderful.
posted by nickyskye at 5:06 PM on December 19, 2006


The giant banner on every page makes the site unreadable.
posted by interrobang at 5:31 PM on December 19, 2006


So "How do you ask someone out on Stuart?"
posted by LordSludge at 6:03 PM on December 19, 2006


Dammit. This better not suck.
posted by Stuart_R at 6:11 PM on December 19, 2006


grapefruitmoon, I have to second nickyskye that some of your collages are really quite lovely. Wow.
posted by econous at 7:01 PM on December 19, 2006


My-space like? pssht. let me know when it's Face-book like.
posted by wumpus at 8:37 PM on December 19, 2006


and whats up with BORDOG ?
posted by oigocosas at 11:20 PM on December 19, 2006


nickyskye & econous: Thanks! If you're in the Providence area at all, I'm having a gallery show in March. :)
posted by grapefruitmoon at 4:29 AM on December 20, 2006


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