Celebrating World Art Day with the .ART community

From its very launch, .ART has been building a community that is driven and united by an inherently human desire – to create. While the DNA structure of humans might be astonishingly like that of some animals, and while we are doomed to occasionally display animalistic instincts, art – in all its forms – is what sets us apart from the rest of the animal kingdom.

With Picasso alone having produced over 50 000 (!) artworks in his lifetime, it seems like an impossible mission to estimate how many pieces of art exist in the world. However, there is an answer that will always hold true: today there are more artworks globally than there was yesterday. Considerable debate is now centred around the price of art, making it a challenge from both ethical and financial points of view. What we seem to forget, however, is that there is a tendency that transcends the exclusive art market as it is: we are learning to acknowledge the wider definition of an artform, attributing value not only to the well-known mediums such as painting, photography, sculpture, etc. Anything is an art if you’re the master. As Charles Bukowski wrote in one of his poems, “To do a dangerous thing with style is what I call art. Bullfighting can be an art. Boxing can be an art. Loving can be an art. Opening a can of sardines can be an art”.

For almost five years now, .ART adopters have been a testimony to this. Painters, photographers, writers, musicians, pilots, scientists, coffee enthusiasts, furniture makers, craftsmen, models, sustainability warriors… the list goes on. To celebrate this World Art Day, we would like to illustrate the all-encompassing width of .ART’s community by showcasing adopters that take artform into the future, creating new definitions, understanding and acceptance for it.

The art of music

Image by Mikes-Photography from Pixabay

“There is no noise, only sound”, said John Cage, composer and music theorist. One would guess that Melissa Gueiros (MELG.ART), an interdisciplinary Brazilian artist focused on drum art, agrees. She aims to merge music with visual arts and answer the eternal question of “who am I” through it. And we also believe that the American soprano, Lauren Urquhart (LAURENURQUH.ART) would maybe have an answer to the question that Melissa Gueiros has. Being hired as one of the ensemble’s youngest ever members, she definitely felt like moving to Europe was a turning point in her career — she has, since then, developed a speciality in singing new music.

The art of comics
Are you a Marvel fan? Do some of your best childhood memories come from books like Tintin, Batman or Archie? Comics have been often mistakenly considered to be for kids only or regarded as low art. This is all changing now, with names like KAWS, Kenny Scharf and Takashi Murakami finding inspiration for their work in comics and cartoons. At .ART, comics are represented by numerous artists including Justin Castaneda (WHENUWERELITTLE.ART), winner of the 2015 S.P.A.C.E. Prize for Best Web Comic. There’s also PRETTYWEIRD.ART, “the love child” of Bird and Ethan Mongin. Illustrators and storytellers collaborate on paintings, graphic novels, and on projects ranging from magazine illustrations to clothing design. Their love for science fiction, horror and all sub-genres of metal are perceptible in their spectacular illustrations.

The art of NFT

Let’s face it: NFTs are the great divider of the art world. “This too shall pass”, you might say, but the craze seems not to be slowing down – yet. With .ART’s mission is inherently linked to innovation and tech, we are curious and appreciative of all adopters, including the crypto trailblazers. Some of them have once-in-a-lifetime domain names, like BLOCKCHAIN.ART and LIMITEDEDITION.ART, while NFT liquidity pool ALL.ART has outdone many by being a three-letter website name. Some projects have already made headlines: Launched by the renowned digital artist Pak, BURN.ART allows users to burn NFTs to receive ashes ($ASH – Pak’s token) in return. All in all, dozens of cryptocurrency projects are finding a home with .ART every day, proving that this, too, is an art form.

The art of calligraphy
Calligraphy and lettering are forms of art almost as old as the invention of the written language itself. A practice that requires a balanced mind, it lives on in a world full of noise and distractions. Turkish adopter Tolga Girgin (TOLGAGIRGIN.ART) has an interesting life to say the least. An electrical engineer by day and a visual artist by night, he began sharing his calligraphy and lettering works in 2014. And for those who would like to learn and happen to be based in New Delhi, there is CALLIGRAPHIA.ART, an institution for the people who want to master the art of handwriting. Be it a student struggling with the challenge of poor handwriting or a retired person who is passionate about writing beautifully, Calligraphia takes on all challenges.

The art of poetry

Image by Thought Catalog from Pixabay

As with many art forms, there have been many claims made about the art form through the years, most of which have been refuted. Is poetry dead? It is boring? Far from it, actually: many poems have become cultural icons. These days, poetry is also taken to the Internet equipped with .ART website names. Shamanic (SHAMANICVOCAL.ART) is a Beatboxer, MC, Spoken Word Poet and Singer-Songwriter living in Japan. Luxembourg-based friends Flame and Davide (LETZWRITE.ART) was compelled to create a platform where they could share their poetry, and discuss the role that poetry has to play in our modern, digitalized world. Running Dog (RUNDOG.ART) is an online arts publication platform producing articles on contemporary art, which aims to provide a platform for experimental modes of art writing. Thanks to their graft, you can have access to a range of quality work by poets, critics, film scholars, musicians, and fictions writers.

The art of makeup
Makeup is an industry worth more than 530 billion dollars, with popular trends helping it grow each year. Makeup goes far beyond today’s trends, however, as it dates back all the way to ancient Egypt. The .ART community is no stranger to makeup artists. Samantha Coles (SAMANTHACOLES.ART) is both a makeup artist and a hairstylist living in Australia. She has worked red carpet events, including The BRIT Awards and has a host of celebrity clients like David Beckham, Ruby Rose, Snoop Dogg and Rebel Wilson. Sol Kellan (SOLKELLAN.ART) is a Mexican costume creator and makeup designer. She designed the characters’ costumes for Jesus Christ Superstar 2019, directed by Nick Evans. She also designed costumes and makeup for Natalia Lafourcade, Chula the Clown and Sampo Kurppa, to name a few.

The art of ecology

Image by ejaugsburg from Pixabay

As we know, every day should be Earth Day and despite the multitude of projects and initiatives striving to address the issues of the crumbling ecosystem, we are still behind. Needless to say, .ART is thrilled to host a plethora of projects which put ecological issues on its agenda. To begin with, there is WORLDBIENNALE.ART, is a worldwide travelling innovation laboratory for the contemporary arts with a strong focus on sustainability and responsibility. The Institute for Land and Environmental Art (ILEA.ART) is an international research centre dedicated to Land and Environmental Art. It supports the practice, study, and mediation of artistic interaction with nature, with a particular focus on the Alpine landscape. Catherine Coulson (CATCOULSON.ART) uses her artwork to explore the ecology, biodiversity, and conservation, and contemplate our connection with nature. Curious about the relationship between aesthetics and emotion, Catherine Coulson uses the mediums of photography, poetry, gouache and mixed media sketches to demonstrate thought and responsibility in its themes and materials.

Want to know what else is art? There are many more articles on the blog that tackle the art of … (dance, jewellery, outdoor photography, stage design, origami, circus, printmaking… and many many more!) Discover them and the fantastic artists that are part of our community! And while you are there, especially if you are in the art of astrology, taxidermy, cookie making, and cake decorating – in short, if you are making art and featuring it on .ART – send us a line at media@art.art and share your story with us! Be creative and original!