Offline or Online Exhibitions?

One of the things that has happened as a result of the covid19 situation is that some art exhibitions have gone online this year instead of being held in an actual gallery. I had 3 pieces of work selected for the Society of Women Artists annual open exhibition – usually this would be held in the Mall Gallery in London along with a preview event. I am delighted to be part of this exhibition and I have been weighing up the pros and cons of online vs offline.

There are enormous benefits to an exhibition being on line: people can view the work from the comfort of their own armchair and the exhibition can potentially reach a wider, larger audience, worldwide.

However, the other side of that is it is difficult to get an idea of the scale of the work, or the surface characteristics. Also it is not curated as such and good curation can enhance an artworks attributes. Also the work is presented as a series of thumbnails and if the viewer gets bored after 2 pages they may leave. In a real life exhibition if someone gets bored they will still scan the rest of the art on the way out.

I have recently taken some of my artworks to be exhibited in The Paragon Gallery in Cheltenham. I can’t begin to tell you how exciting it was to walk in to a bricks and mortar gallery again and look at the art – examine it, close up and personal, and really study it. Such a good feeling.

There is no easy answer to this question. We live in a digital world and are very used to looking at anything and everything on a computer screen. There are many on line art galleries, including SUPAgallery that represents some of my work.

Even if you think online is not a good way to view an exhibition it is sometimes the only way at the moment and from the artists perspective I am happy to have my work included in an online exhibition because it is reaching a wider audience.

So for me I think it’s great to still have the chance to exhibit and I will embrace this and other opportunities. Check out the poster below for details of the Society of Women Artists Open Exhibition – it’s on until December 31st and well worth a visit, lots to see and don’t forget to vote in the Peoples Choice Award