http://www.booooooom.com
Recently, blogs have become a medium for curators to showcase other people’s art. One Japanese Canadian artist, Jeff Hamada, decided to step into the Internet to do this in 2008 in his blog called Booooooom. When I clicked the link to view his website, I was a bit perplexed. This was not because the blog is wildly explosive as its name implies, but because it was quite the opposite. The actual design and graphics of the page are really minimalistic. Besides the large “BOOOOOOOM” on the top of the page, its straightforward design allows the viewer to fully fixate his or her attention to the art that is being displayed. Most posts are very informal as they only have concise captions that include the art’s name. Other captions include a few sentences where the blogger explains why he or she finds that particular piece interesting and why you, the audience, should explore that artist’s creations.
Under the site’s large title, there are numerous categories one can click on such as “Art,” “Design,” “Projects,” and “Photography.” This blog curates countless styles of art; from collages to typography to animation videos, it does not have a limit to its variety. On the side of the page is a small bar showing how many followers the blog has on other platforms of social media: Instagram, Facebook, Google +, and Twitter. From the 6.7 million followers it has on Google +, it is clear that this blog gets a lot of traffic and has a large following. In fact, there are many comments dispersed, usually from supportive viewers complimenting and praising the art or the artist that is being curated. The blog clearly functions to support art and not only display it. It even has a list of about twenty other recommended sites!
I found this blog to be the most welcoming from the bunch that I surfed through. This is partly due to the fact that the bloggers do not make themselves visible as the curators. Besides the one to three daily posts being authored by “Jeff” or “Staff,” there is not much information about these mysterious curators. This vague anonymity, in my opinion, makes the art more honest and timeless. In fact, I noticed a trend that the authors prefer to display handmade-looking art rather than digital art. For example, on the blog this week, there were two posts about street art. One on how there is an artist who paints on pieces of trash and leaves his artworks on the street for people to find, and another on high school seniors who painted their parking lot. Every piece of art that is curated has a story or a message that captivates the viewer’s attention.
I think that this blog is worth following on all its social media outlets. Not only does it exhibit absolutely beautiful artworks, but it has introduced me to an immense range of art I did not think I had any interest in. Its supportive followers and endless amount of variety is what makes this site a refreshing place to visit. As a person who has never been introduced to art on the Internet, Booooooom is a sublime place to commence my journey.
-Tasneem Ahmed
