I love this idea and I'm sure you'll figure out the pricing stuff eventually. I have to admit the whole focus on price kind of throws me off a bit. Whenever I go looking for pretty things, be it art or furniture or decorative objects I rarely start by looking at the price – I look at the thing itself and if it strikes a nerve then I figure out things like "can I afford this?"
To that end, I'd like a view where the focus is the art itself. Not who made it, not what it costs, not even the name of the piece. Let me discover that as I go, show me full screen pictures I can swipe through on my screen, and tap or click to learn more about the piece. Make the art the focus and put everything else in the background, Not even showing it till I'm interested in learning more. That's what I love about going to galleries – the art takes center stage and if you want to learn more there's a tiny sign next to it, and if you want more still you talk to whoever works there but the art comes first. I feel like your site is trying a bit too hard to make a sale. I absolutely agree that artists should be paid for their art, and I'm happy to pay for art that I care for, but ultimately I just want pretty things. Show me the pretty things first, then let's talk business when I find something I like. I'm sorry if this comes off as too callous!
Also – and this is probably a really difficult problem to solve – I don't really know what I'm looking for in art. I just know some things I like, but probably not all. I love Monet and other impressionist painters, but I also love old Japanese woodblock prints like the great wave. I'm also a huge fan of cubism and I can't get enough of art nouveau. I'm not a huge fan of abstract art, but I like some. I love evocative photography, especially in black and white. I feel like maybe my taste profile fits a multi-spoke radar chart, where each data point is a relative preference rather than a binary I like this or that type tick box filter. I'm not exactly sure what I mean by all this, just that your search does nothing to help me, and I'm probably not gonna spend too much time looking at page after page of stuff that may or may not be interesting to me. I would 100% subscribe to a feed that fits my profile though, and especially so if it's smart enough to also understand other types of art I don't know about, but perhaps might fit my profile anyway. I guess what I'm saying is, if your site could be my personalized art dealer, there's a good chance I'll spend more money then I probably should.
> To that end, I'd like a view where the focus is the art itself.
This is something we've been trying to figure out! If you have an account, you can view this: https://artinres.com/recommendations -- you're randomly shown one work at a time and you can like, dislike or skip. We use the data to recommend you additional artworks, and soon we're going to roll out a digest / news feed of new recommendations for users.
> I don't really know what I'm looking for in art. I just know some things I like, but probably not all. I love Monet and other impressionist painters, but I also love old Japanese woodblock prints like the great wave. I'm also a huge fan of cubism and I can't get enough of art nouveau. I'm not a huge fan of abstract art, but I like some. I love evocative photography, especially in black and white. I feel like maybe my taste profile fits a multi-spoke radar chart, where each data point is a relative preference rather than a binary I like this or that type tick box filter.
I'm very much with you on this. In my experience, taste has less to do with discrete, obviously-nameable qualities like a certain color or subject matter, and much more to do with the way the parts fit together to make a cohesive yet surprising whole. That said, we had to start somewhere -- and the filters have been pretty useful to a portion of our users.
Like you mentioned, as more people use the site, we're building up the ability to recommend art to people and we anticipate that being a rewarding way to discover new art.
To that end, I'd like a view where the focus is the art itself. Not who made it, not what it costs, not even the name of the piece. Let me discover that as I go, show me full screen pictures I can swipe through on my screen, and tap or click to learn more about the piece. Make the art the focus and put everything else in the background, Not even showing it till I'm interested in learning more. That's what I love about going to galleries – the art takes center stage and if you want to learn more there's a tiny sign next to it, and if you want more still you talk to whoever works there but the art comes first. I feel like your site is trying a bit too hard to make a sale. I absolutely agree that artists should be paid for their art, and I'm happy to pay for art that I care for, but ultimately I just want pretty things. Show me the pretty things first, then let's talk business when I find something I like. I'm sorry if this comes off as too callous!
Also – and this is probably a really difficult problem to solve – I don't really know what I'm looking for in art. I just know some things I like, but probably not all. I love Monet and other impressionist painters, but I also love old Japanese woodblock prints like the great wave. I'm also a huge fan of cubism and I can't get enough of art nouveau. I'm not a huge fan of abstract art, but I like some. I love evocative photography, especially in black and white. I feel like maybe my taste profile fits a multi-spoke radar chart, where each data point is a relative preference rather than a binary I like this or that type tick box filter. I'm not exactly sure what I mean by all this, just that your search does nothing to help me, and I'm probably not gonna spend too much time looking at page after page of stuff that may or may not be interesting to me. I would 100% subscribe to a feed that fits my profile though, and especially so if it's smart enough to also understand other types of art I don't know about, but perhaps might fit my profile anyway. I guess what I'm saying is, if your site could be my personalized art dealer, there's a good chance I'll spend more money then I probably should.