Art F City: A New York City-based Blog
At the first glance of Art F City, one can casually assume that it is just another cliché blog that discusses art and exhibits from just about anywhere. However, this New-York based blog transcends the trend of mere reviews reflecting upon popular, mainstream art; it seeks to promote the work of up-and-coming artists and writers who have been relatively under the radar of the public eye. Accompanied by a panel of writers across the world, Paddy Johnson, Art F City’s Editorial Director, and Will Brand, the Director of Technology, faithfully author and edit its blogs. By incorporating enlightening commentary and relevant criticism, Art F City doesn’t fall short of capturing its audience’s attention.
From the get-go, Art F City embraces a trendy, hip design, encompassing a fresh vibe. With zebra print stretched along the sides of the pages and bold titles and subtitles scattered throughout, the blog website instantaneously caught my eye. Yet simultaneously, it has almost an ascetic look to it as well without flashing too many gaudy, over-the-top effects. I loved its directness in formatting; there was no confusion as to the subject matter of the discussion blogs or the several ways that Art F City spread itself on various social networks. In fact on the “Features” page, there are many subdivisions “We Went To” and “Emerging Artists Summer Series” that make the search process all the more easy.
Many of the photographs or paintings found on this website evoke their audience to observe more carefully due to the angle they was taken from and the complexity and uniqueness of their design. Each post differs quite a bit from its predecessors. For example, in the same day, there was a post discussing the “macho-ness” of Matthew Day Jackson’s exhibits while another noted the “soul-cleansing” experience that one can attain as he attends NYC’s Art Book Fair. Every day, at least 2-3 posts make their way through to being published on this blog website.
The language of this blog website is very straightforward and without any superfluous fluff. It conforms to a conversation-style to easily relate to its audience. I didn’t have to resort to a dictionary to fully understand what the posts were talking about. At some point, colloquial exclamations such as “Woohoo!” and “That’s what’s up!” appeared. That kind of fearlessness to use basic, everyday lingo made me love this blog website all the more!
Since I’m still a newbie to the art world, I can claim with a possible bias that this website teaches me much every time I scan through its posts. Aside from intriguing criticism, this website also includes relevant news about new developments and unfortunate hiatuses that occur in this seemingly-esoteric-but-not-quite world of art. Yet as it informs me about upcoming autumn events and about museums that display photographs of dressed up dogs, the website doesn’t cease to humor me with its occasional sarcastic tone and refreshing jokes.
Not only are the blog posts themselves lighthearted, but the commentary that follows imitate the website’s direct, uncensored content. Many of the witty comments are from other famous sites such as the New York Times and The Observer.
While this blog website cannot boast in having over a million viewers, it still manages to reel in a substantial audience of 125,000 monthly page-viewers and 1.625 feed subscribers. This gives evidence to its relative popularity in the world of blogging. It has received many awards and praises, indicating its success on a more public level.
When I see all these attractive aspects in retrospect, it’s quite definite that I’ll be visiting this blog very often! 🙂
I think it is interesting how Art F City is titled the way it is. One would have thought the blog’s title would be “Art Of City”. The unconventional title is indicative of its unconventional blog.
Another thing I noticed is how the equal sign is emphasized on the title of the blog, which makes me think how it shows their support of giving new artists a chance to be exposed.
This blog definitely compiles a well-rounded, intriguing, and interesting array of the arts of New York City. I also noticed that the layout of the blog is also very modern yet simple in that all its recent posts are shown first and each has a picture before the post to catch the attention of its readers. It’s also very easy to follow along and find different areas of art in the city because of the categories they have on the site. One thing I also found interesting was how this blog also had “Sound of Art” section, which is not apparent in many other blogs. As it was mentioned in this review, it opens the eyes of the readers to forms of art that aren’t given much attention otherwise, but are certainly deserving it.
It’s great to finally see a blog for new artist’s out there. With so many growing artists, it’s hard for some of them to get recognition. I find it interesting, that instead of trying to understand the artist better through their artwork there was a subsection in the features that tried to explain the artist through their stuff, which seemed like unique way to relate to the artwork.
I’ve never been the type of person to get excited about art, but this blog has the ability to change that. I agree with Jessica when she said that this site is beginner-friendly if someone does not have that much experience in the art world. The authors refrain from using elaborate terms to describe certain pieces; instead they use common language so that their site can appeal to everyone. My favorite thing on this blog, though, is their “STUFF” section. If someone does not understand certain artwork, “STUFF” provides him/her with the opportunity to understand the artist instead. Overall this blog is intricately thought out and a fun, informative read.