Five Artist Sites We Like

Photo courtesy the artist

John Lurie, "Man in Park With Meter" (2005)

Photo courtesy the artist

Ted Adams, "Cheese Doodle Massacre"

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Of course, some artist sites are better equipped than others: Some are ready to receive credit card or PayPal payments, others offer framing and delivery options, a few just show you the work and supply an email address. Our experience, however, is that neither the quality of an artist’s work (nor the potential for bargains) is necessarily reflected in the technical capabilities of a site. Some clunky sites have very strong pieces.

The good news is, a lot of wonderful work can be seen in cyberspace. (There is also a great deal of unbelievable garbage as well, but we’ll leave you to discover that for yourselves.)

Here are five sites we have judged to be “award worthy”:

1) Site of the Week (and winner of our Mixed-Media Award): John Lurie’s site, JohnLurieArt.com, where he sells large, limited-edition prints of some of his favorite paintings, is accompanied by a mesmerizing soundtrack of his own composition (in addition to being a visual artist, Lurie is also a Grammy-nominated composer and founder of the Lounge Lizards). Currently, nine prints (inkjet on archival rag paper) are on sale, in editions of 25; generously sized at 21" x 30", the $500 price tag seems more than fair for such works as Obscure Presidents and Sally Field on the Water and Man in Park with Meter.

2) Special Award for “Fidelity to an Absurd Vision over More Than Five Years”: Meredith Allen’s photographs of melting ice pops held by a disembodied hand against backdrops of sea and sky, taken between 1999-2004: Something close to genius here! The artist (b. 1964) has an MFA in photography from the State University of New York at Buffalo and has been showing her work in galleries since 1987.

3) The “Wow! I Didn’t Know Anyone Was Still Painting Like That!” Award: Cesar Santander’s photorealist paintings of toys, donuts and condiments. Buyers on the hunt for ultra-bargains be warned: Santander tells visitors, “Even the smallest paintings take about two weeks to produce and therefore there is nothing on this page priced under $1,500.” The artist has an MFA from the Pratt Institute.

4) The Artist-Entrepreneur Award for “Having Discovered the Wackiest Niche”: You can commission Brooklyn-based Taliah Lempert to paint a portrait of your bike. (And based on the number of bike paintings displayed on her site, apparently a lot of people are eager to memorialize their two-wheelers). In a weird homage to this art, a lot of people also seem to base their bike tattoos on Lempert’s paintings. Even the City of New York has recognized her talent: the Dept. of Transportation used one of her paintings for the cover of a map of cycling routes. Prices for custom bike portraits range from $600 for a work on paper to $3,000 for a painting. You’ll also need to go without your wheels for 5-30 days. The artist has an MFA from the New York Academy of Art.

5) The “Lost-and-Found” Award: Ted Adams’ photographs of objects left behind on the streets and sidewalks of Philadelphia.