Guest Blog Post: Online artworks and the stories behind them, by Lindsey Davis

Last month a new art gallery popped up online, seemingly just one among the masses. Artsia represents works by more than 500 artists from around the world, and each one has been individually vetted and evaluated by a team of international curators, resulting in thousands of professionally created works that you can scroll through endlessly online. We’re hoping this level of curation will set us apart, and our blog component lets you get to know the artists and the stories behind the artworks. Below you’ll find a snapshot of the kinds of works we showcase, and the wonderfully talented artists who brought them to life: Aixa Oliveras’ “In the Dreaming” is an oil on linen work that could be mistaken for a photograph: a simple scene of a girl laying on her bed facing the wall, her hand outstretched into strips of light filtered in through the window shades.

Aixa commented on the piece for us, saying, “In regards to that painting, it’s one of the first pieces that I consider to be part of my personal work, since before then I was taking figure drawing and painting classes with two artists who had a local art studio in Old San Juan – Luis Borrero and Amber Lia-Kloppel. I took classes with them under a scholarship program that they were offering at the time. It’s also a special piece to me because it’s one of the first paintings where I felt that I was able to paint skin tones successfully. “Neil Hamelin’s acrylic work “Floating Proud” was made this year, featuring a thick strong tugboat across the water, looking double the size because of it’s reflection in the water. Neil wrote that this old tugboat was brought to the shores of Penticton, BC in Canada to undergo restoration. He continued, “I was drawn to this image due to the sense of pride this old tug seems to portray. It is tied up out in the water, windows smashed, paint flaking, but still remains perfectly afloat, with a sense of capability and eagerness to return to work upon the open waters.”

See more works and the stories behind them at Artsia.com.
I’m Lindsey Davis, an arts blogger in New York, also working as editor for Artsia.