Art vs Content: Choice Art, the Social App for Artists Pt. 2

Episode Transcript:

[00:00:00] Jon: So not only are we trying to build out the community and build these tools for artists to share their work and connect with other artists, but we're also trying to curate it in a way where it's digestible and approachable for maybe just the average person to learn a bit more about our.

[00:00:19] Isotta: this is Art Is… a podcast for artists where we brainstormed the future of the art world and the creative industries.

[00:00:25] Isotta: today. I'm sharing part two of my conversation with Jonathan Smith artist designer and co-founder of choice art, a new community platform that is revolutionizing the virtual gallery, along with the way artists connect with each other and their audiences.

[00:00:41] Isotta: If you haven't listened to part one of our conversation, I recommend you go back to season three, episode 11 in that first half of our conversation, John shares his journey as an artist.

[00:00:51] Isotta: We're counting his cross-country move to San Francisco and the formative role of flicker in his creative and professional network development. We discussed digital authenticity, the issue of art versus content and his exciting new app choice art, which grew out of pandemic lockdowns

[00:01:07] Isotta: today. We'll pick back up where we left off

[00:01:09] Isotta: with John reflecting on choice arts goals, the exciting customised features they're working on and what they have planned for the future of the. I really like choice art. And I really appreciated speaking to John.

[00:01:22] Isotta: So I hope you enjoyed this episode as much as I did also. I would love it. If you took a moment to reflect on who in your life might also benefit from listening to this podcast, when you do please share art is a podcast for artists with them.

[00:01:36] Isotta: So we can continue to grow the show organically and brainstorm the future of the art world ticket.

[00:01:41] Jon: yeah, so my name is Jonathan Smith and I'm a co-founder of choice. This art.

[00:01:47] Jon: one of our main goals that we believe that by bringing people together from around the world and bringing them together through the common language of art, we can broaden perspective and kind of help people see their work in a different light or bring a new passion to their work, which maybe they wouldn't have gotten initially.

[00:02:01] Jon: We're also trying to bring together maybe people who would normally wouldn't have known about each other, this I think can make for better artwork and just richer connections.

[00:02:09] Isotta: . I'm really excited about choice art and the awesome features you guys are developing. How are you thinking about growing the platform on an international scale?

[00:02:17] Jon: like I said, it's still early on. We're just doing a lot of listening more than anything else. we're trying to build tools that empower artists to tell their stories. and we're also trying. To give back. I'm trying to create something that I wish I had after I graduated college and didn't really know exactly what I was doing.

[00:02:32] Jon: And we also do this monthly contest where we give away $1,700 in cash prizes each month currently. Right now, it's the draw this in your style, by the artists lurk, who's a friend of ours.

[00:02:45] Jon: So he made this great painting of the three founders and, there's just a contest to reinterpret it in your own style and a really cool thing we weren't expecting, but we found artists starting to collaborate on a piece together. So we saw this fusion of styles from two artists from different sides of the globe working on this one piece, to enter into this contest, which has been really cool.

[00:03:05] Jon: You know, we're looking into different resources that we can provide artists right now. it's just a monthly little cash stipend, but we're trying to look into different resources that we can maybe promote and get more visibility into different opportunities that an artist might not have known about really.

[00:03:20] Isotta: I love that you, as an artist are working with a technical co-founder on building tech tools to empower artists, to tell their stories. so how are you guys thinking about bringing in art lovers and creative enthusiasts onto the app?

[00:03:34] Jon: Yeah. So we're trying to build these tools again, to have artists tell their story, but we're also trying to make it super light and digestible in a way. So like, you know, a lot of my friends appreciate. They don't necessarily make it to museums or galleries, but they like it when I show it to them.

[00:03:49] Jon: So the stack was an easier way for people to almost like we find a lot of people double screening, add Netflix on during the pandemic and quickly open choice and they kind of swipe through art and it's a quick and easy way to expose someone to. Different artists and learn a little tidbit about them who, you know, might not have the luxury of living next to a museum or a gallery.

[00:04:10] Jon: So not only are we trying to build out the community and build these tools for artists to share their work and connect with other artists, but we're also trying to curate it in a way where it's digestible and approachable for maybe just the average person to learn a bit more about our.

[00:04:23] Isotta: It's awesome. How you're curating the experience to be beneficial for both art lovers or art curious people and artists as well.

[00:04:31] Jon: it's funny. that was one of the things that kind of gave Dan the idea to make something like this, because it can be a little overwhelming or intimidating to walk into a gallery.

[00:04:39] Jon: When you don't know much about the art world or maybe that show or the artist or different viewing rooms, or are you expected to buy a piece? Is it okay to ask certain questions? And I think, you know, that can be a little bit intimidating. And maybe a barrier for people to get out and explore and learn about art a bit more.

[00:04:55] Jon: So again, hearkening, back to that experience that Dan and I had, where we were going to these smaller galleries that were more lively and a bit more fun. We wanted to try to recreate that. So the average person could digest it in a way in. Maybe they become a bit more comfortable through browsing the stack over a period of time and start to learn about different artists that maybe it encourages them to go out to a gallery, maybe go to that artists next show.

[00:05:19] Jon: So that was one of our main goals there, as well as just helping the average person learn about art in a way that's not intimidating or a highfalutin or overwhelming.

[00:05:29] Isotta: it's really important because I think often. there's this. Insularity that occurs in the creative world where everyone just works and knows the same people and there isn't much expansion.

[00:05:40] Isotta: the interesting thing that you just said about how, someone who maybe walks into a gallery would feel, uncomfortable or not sure of how to proceed or what questions to ask, not to sound stupid.

[00:05:50] Isotta: I've had so many conversations with emerging artists who say that about technology. And how they're oh, they're really like, they're really interested in crypto and NFTs.

[00:06:00] Isotta: And they know that those articles and websites weren't made for them in mind. And so they're not accessible. And so I think the fact that you guys are. Reverse engineering. The app to be for multiple perspectives is really smart. And, we'll allow people to feel much more comfortable from the beginning.

[00:06:18] Jon: And that was one of the big things that we really liked what we were seeing on club clubhouse early on was that knowledge sharing aspect of it and in a very digestible and casual way. And we wanted to encourage that, but with a visual representation as well. So our hope is that with some of these channels that we just.

[00:06:37] Jon: People will start to forge these communities and really get into knowledge sharing and sharing the process and, a peek behind the curtain, as opposed to just this high fidelity piece that you would probably expect to see on other photo sharing sites.

[00:06:51] Jon: I really see so many use cases. Developing, which is really great because Actually I work predominantly in large scale outdoor sculpture. So it takes such a long time to make a piece. And then when you finally finish, it's like, wow, all of the work that went into it, you know, just. It has vanished. Yeah, that's, another thing that we've been thinking about. And I think what excites us about web three,you know, when you think about the creator con, when you just talked about the long process of what goes into creating a sculpture, it just reminds me of how long it takes some of these professionals to create.

[00:07:23] Jon: These pieces of artwork that are just so commonly saved and shared across the internet. And to a certain extent, it starts to devalue how hard it is to create like high quality professional artwork. And I think one thing that we're trying to strive towards is again, showing a peek behind that curtain, the process that involves, but also attribution there's.

[00:07:43] Jon: So,so many times where an artist's work is just repurpose and reuse across the internet without proper credit. And that's something that's really important.

[00:07:52] Isotta: Personally, I have never studied marketing or have any experience with marketing.

[00:07:57] Isotta: And like this whole launching of a product is just so new to me. and so I was wondering, if you could share any thoughts or feelings you have around the runway of marketing, a product like this, and kind of introducing it to both creatives and creative enthusiasts,

[00:08:13] Jon: Yeah. as you probably know, that is the million dollar question. That's, something that I'm trying to learn myself as we go through this. I think the last year Dan and I have spent just heads down designing and developing this application and it's been mainly through word of mouth and sharing it with friends that we've started to gradually grow the user base.

[00:08:30] Jon: But recently we've been reaching out to some of the artists on our platform who have a pretty large following on other social media.

[00:08:37] Jon: that's kind been the best marketing that's worked so far.

[00:08:40] Jon: It's just word of mouth. And then artists turning on, their audience to the app. It's just an easy way to access their artwork and then maybe have a deeper conversation about it. But that's been, I think the main driver so far again, it's very early on, but it's mainly just getting other artists in there showing their work and starting a conversation to get the.

[00:09:01] Isotta: how are you hoping for things to develop in a positive way? what are you seeing that you're excited about and hope to see more.

[00:09:09] Jon: yeah, I think right now, what we're most excited about is this launch of the feature channels. So we've been speaking with a lot of different marketplaces and voices in the art world who take more of an editorial approach and do these artists spotlights. I think they're excited to start using channels because rather than just a blog entry.

[00:09:30] Jon: Or a podcast, it has this visual element to it. So we're going to start to introduce a whole new line of programming and do an artist spotlights where an artist will get to talk about their work. Maybe share some pieces that inspired them when they were coming up and be able to save that and then have an artifact to then put it on your website and do with it what you will.

[00:09:50] Jon: So we're really excited to start to drive the programming angle of the application.

[00:09:56] Jon: you know, again, the talk of web three seems, very exciting. If you think about it and like, you know, back in the late nineties, early two thousands, you had web 1.0, which is very, almost like Wiki driven. Right. It was very much readable. But it was great. You can, there was a lot of knowledge being shared and then you start to get into web 2.0, which that documentary on Netflix, the social dilemma, I thought did a great job sort of explaining that, but you had all these interactions, With the advent of flash and JavaScript. Take action on a page and people could see how interested you were, how long you watched a video or what you liked. And didn't like, then in a way, we became the product. And I think with a web 3.0. In relation to the creator economy. We're very excited to start to have, as individuals own more of, of our data and especially more of our creative output.

[00:10:46] Jon: and again, NFT is very early on and it's almost somewhat like a receipt for it in a lot of ways. but I think in its maturity in the next couple of years, we're very excited to see just how that involves artists.

[00:10:59] Jon: So we're reaching out to people right now, and I encourage anyone to download choice@choice.app right now, and take a look at channels. You can claim a hashtag and own a space in there. And we're just really excited to see what people do.

[00:11:13] Jon: So I think I'll make it super simple. So if you just go to www.choice.app, and you can download the app there and the apple app store or Google play, and there's also a link to all of our social channels.

[00:11:26] Isotta: Thank you for listening to Art Is… a podcast for artists. And this episode I'd like to thank John Smith for sharing his work and ideas with us. Please leave art is a podcast for artists, a rating and review on apple podcasts. It really helps others find us. You can support the work I do by subscribing wherever you listen.

[00:11:44] Isotta: And by donating to the podcast, the link to do so is in the episode. Okay. That's it for now. Thanks so much. And see you next Wednesday.