The history of the arts as been filled with loners, those at the vanguard of society, or subsisting in the underworld of a creative economy largely ignored but for the accumulated critique of a plethora of art historians, dealers and buyers in the ever burgeoning arts market. But things are changing, the stranglehold of the gallery system, the elitist clique traditionally associated with the fine arts, approaches and technologies in both application and marketing, and the art buying public in general are evolving at an accelerated rate of evolution.

The Internet has had a strong part to play in these massive developments, and a great example of one site that has taken advantage of the turning tide of arts appreciation is SprayGraphic.com. Whilst studying a degree in Fine Arts at Brighton University I was temporarily suspended from my course for arguing that the wider public’s opinion, informed or not, would play a greater and greater part in the future of the development of art technique, subject and marketability. I fortunately gained a reprieve after my case was supported by a variety of tutors and lecturers on my and other courses at the Grand Parade Annexe. It seems ridiculous now to consider how controversial my views were, for these days it is almost common knowledge that the narrow minded old guard of the arts are desperately breathing their last agitated breaths.

I have found myself communicating more and more with the founder of SprayGraphic.com over the past few weeks, initially I had placed a few advertisements at their site, but as time has moved on I have found a great deal of kinship in ideology with one of its two founders Chuck Banaszewski. I wanted to bring his and Matt Krise’s unique arts community to your attention for a number of reasons, first and foremostly the purpose and motivation they and I share for the future of the arts.

A quote from Chuck regarding the priorities for the Spray Graphic community:- "My goal is to try to get people to think more about art, pop culture, symbols, fashion, and materialism without telling people the "answer" or what it means. I wanted to provoke thought. At the same time, I have been able to look at all of those things mentioned and really appreciate the opportunity to do so. Its been a cool ride! The T-shirt was such a unique and popular canvas for art today. I thought it was the most effective way to get people to think more about life in general. Sometimes it has been very successful and other times not so good…kind of like life. The social network is at the centre of the art world today, whether it be arts entrepreneurship, artists collaborating, gallery space, performance space, marketing, etc. We have always tried to be at the cutting edge of the art world and I believe we have successfully been doing that for the past year and half with the site."

SprayGraphic.com began as a t-shirt company, however it was soon apparent the demand for an all-inclusive and expansive platform for themselves and artists around the world became more and more of a priority. Making the brave leap from a traditional creative company to a creative community is impressive in itself, however to make such a success of this particular arts social network is by any measure an outstanding achievement.

Chuck and Matt are particularly excited by the global reach of the Spray Graphic community, as this statement from Chuck reveals, "here are artists from over 50 countries represented on the site and it continues to grow with quality work on a daily basis. Basically, we encourage users to create profiles that feature their creative efforts, as well as their activist efforts and their adventurous side. At this time, the site is dominated by visual artists and designers, but we hope to balance that out over time with the addition of music bands, film artists, writers, and art appreciators. In one sentence, Spraygraphic is a free online community for Creative Minds."

If you are from a creative background, and work within any medium and I mean any medium, I urge you to consider joining what is probably the most influential urban and contemporary arts community on the net. Although there are many others online, the fact that Spray Graphic is so all-encompassing in its coverage, geographically, artistically, politically and more should guarantee you will find yourself amongst like-minded artists from every background. A perfect place to showcase your work, garner critique from those who truly understand why and how you create what you create, and the logical layout of the site means you won’t be delayed by the usual rigmarole of joining many general social networks out there.

I run another arts site at ArtShout.net where I showcase art on the net that I and hopefully my readers enjoy and I fully admit that Spray Graphic is definitely on my hit list when it comes to scouting out new artists. In fact it can be rather addictive! Their cornucopian listings mean you can search by artist, project. medium, location, and much more. I’d recommend for those new to the site to peruse the interviews which are for the main part a fascinating read, and a great place to search out the next rising stars on the scene, be it art, design, music, video, writing and even t-shirts awaiting your votes and comments.

I took a quick dip (which is a rarity for me but time is pressing) and picked just a few images to give you some idea of the quality of work being showcased at the site:-

Pop Art by P. A. Leigh

Installation Art by Magdalen Celestino

Paintings by Richard Michaud

Tattoos by Method Art

I’m currently in the process of setting up my account, I rarely join social networks as most seem rather time consuming and laborious to use, bar a few automatic post previews from my blogs, however I urge all artists of every medium and genre to consider signing up with SprayGraphic.com – it could change your life!

Spray Graphic are slowly seeping into the consciousness of the offline world, they stage numerous events, all with a great deal of success. Check out their latest event Live Art at 944 Anniversary Party, and keep up with future and past happenings here. Spray Graphic, creativity unified!

This post is tagged art social networking, artists, new art, new artists, portfolio, Spraygraphic.com, urban art