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2009-06-26 01:22

Exploring Viral Marketing:
Part I
By Ligaya Figueras.
Aticle published originaly in Art Calendar.

Marketers love it when a product goes viral. It means that someone has picked up on their message, and it's getting passed along to more and more users, generating a buzz of (hopefully, positive) interest. What artist doesn't want to be the object of attention of millions of people?

While viral marketing was primarily accomplished by word-of-mouth prior to the Internet, online viral marketing is a bit more diverse. It uses social media - such as Facebook.com and Twitter.com - as well as Web sites, blogs and e-mail, to achieve a marketing objective, such as building interest in a brand. Online viral messages might take the form of a text message, video clip, image, podcast or ebook that users can easily forward to other sites and users, creating the potential for exponential growth in the message's visibility and effect. How does a viral phenomenon start, and how will you know when it does?

The DNA for a Viral Marketing Phenomenon


For a story to go viral on the Internet, you need stellar content, a network of people and links that make the content easy to share.

What makes for appealing content? News that is significant and timely; things that are free, zany, laugh-out-loud funny or celeb-related. The story, whether told via text, audio or visual format (or a combination of the three), should appeal to common motivators that entice people to check it out. Did something wacky happen in the studio? Is your latest creation absolutely ingenious or somehow tied to current events? Perhaps some celebrity just bought one of your pieces.

It's very difficult to purposely create a viral marketing buzz yourself. You can post a zinger of a photo on your Web site or issue a great news release, but you can't force people to talk about it; you have to let chatter happen organically. (Think of viral more like online referral marketing rather than in a pejorative sense as if you intended to stealthily spread a disease.) Once you become familiar with what's being passed around online in your niche of the art world, you’ll learn who some of the movers-and-shakers are - in particular, bloggers, podcasters and vloggers (video loggers). Those are people who can help disseminate your message to a receptive audience.

Finally, the story has to be easily transferable to encourage sharing via e-mail, blog posts, Web site updates and downloads. Content has to be super-easy to find. The URL, the “home base” for the story, should be permanent - a dead link will kill the virus.

Monitor the Commotion

To know when a story is going viral, you have to monitor it. Where to look? Wherever individuals of high social networking potential (SNP, for short) may roam. Blogs are a favorite place for online social butterflies to share information. According to Technorati.com - a blog search engine - bloggers collectively create nearly one million posts per day, and blogs are represented in top-10 Web site lists across all key categories. In addition, since each blog appeals to a particular segment of the population, once word-of-blog reaches that audience, it has a high probability of being passed along. If you want to know what information is being disseminated about you and your artwork on the blogosphere, join Technorati (it's free) and set-up a watchlist of keywords and URLs.

You could also conduct periodic keyword searches on Google and Yahoo, but it's a lot easier to simply automate the task by creating a Google Alert. After you sign up, you will receive e-mail updates when Google's Web crawler has fetched pages containing recent news, blogs and videos that contain your search terms (your name, your Web site, titles of your artwork, etc.) and added those to its indexer database. For video content, mefeeia.com is the place to go. On MeFeedia, you can search videos, TV, music, Web shows and news video.

That's a lot of monitoring, though, and wouldn't you rather devote more time to art creation than to art chatter surveillance? It’s easier to stay on top of watchlists and other alerts if you keep track of them all in one place. Tools like Google Reader, Netvibes, My Yahoo!, and Bloglines are free Web-based services that allow you to consolidate the information you want into a customized Web page. Place all of your alerts, watchlists, widgets, RSS feeds from news media rooms, blogs and vlogs of interest, social networks (like Twitter, Facebook and MySpace) into the page, and you'll stay updated without having to visit each site regularly.

Conclusion


The Internet offers a whole new playground for marketers because it's fast, inexpensive, and far-reaching. If you want to see yourself and your work plugged online, start monitoring the cyberworld. Identify and follow the places and people - the bloggers, vloggers and podcasters and other e-publishers - whose seal of approval could impact your art career. Then you can take steps to attract their attention and even push along a story as it spreads through the cyber galaxy. In part II of our Viral Marketing series, coming soon, we'll tell you how.

Contributing writer and communications consultant Ligaya Figueras specializes in business writing, marketing and media relations for visual and performance artists, writers, nonprofit organizations and specialty service providers. She can be reached at figuerasl@sbcglobal.net .


 

2009-05-07 18:25

PETER FRANK

The most significant development in art


 

2009-04-06 08:45

Our Artists Participate

"Man's Inhumanity to Man: Journey out of Darkness"

The art of Eva Kolosvary-Stupler, Narine Isajanian, Natasha Kostan and Lark was chosen in the jurried exhibition "Man's Inhumanity to Man: Journey out of Darkness", which is part of the City of Glendale's Annual Commemorative Events. The exhibition is opened on Saturday, April 4th, from 5-8 pm, at the Brand Library Art Galleries, 1601 West Mountain Street in Glendale. The event will run through May 8,

The exhibit at the Brand Library is organized by the City of Glendale and co-curated by Ramela Grigorian Abbamontian PhD in association with the Brand Library Art Galleries. "Art is a powerful agent in society with the ability to awaken our consciousness, transform our minds, and ignite a desire to bring about change," says Abbamontian. "This exhibition aims to do all of these things."

Organized into three sections, the exhibition includes over 40 artists and includes over 70 works in a diverse range of media including painting, sculpture, photography, and installation. Accompanying the exhibition will be a fully illustrated, color catalogue and essays by Dr. Abbamontian and UCLA Professor Paul Von Blum which describes the exhibitions themes and purpose.

The goal with Journey out of Darkness is to educate the viewer about the various inhumane events that have taken place yesterday and today, with the hope of avoiding and preventing them tomorrow. It is an exhibition of contemporary reflections of these events by artists originating from throughout the world and now residing in Southern California.

The first section of the exhibition, Faces of Inhumanity, presents the different forms of inhumanity experienced in human history In the second section, Scars of Inhumanity, the works included address the repercussions of such atrocities, whether physical, mental or spiritual. This section of the exhibition also attempts to uncover the various coping mechanisms employed as the victims aim to live with the effects of inhumanity. The final section of the exhibition, Humanity's Triumph offers an alternative to inhumanity and visually suggests hope, recovery, unity, and survival.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:
Music & Poetry Event: Wednesday April 15, 7 pm - 9 pm
Olivier Messiaen's "Quartet for the End of Time" will be played by the members of "Ensemble Green"

Day of Art and Thought: Saturday, April 18, 11 am - 5 pm
11 am - 12 pm Gallery Walkthrough with Guest Curator Ramela Abbamontian
12 pm - 1 pm Artists' Question & Answer Session with artists including Sophia Gasparian, Lark (Larisa Pilisky), Poli Marichal, Hessam Abrishami, Arpine Shakhbandaryan and Mark Vallen.
2 pm - 3 pm Gallery Walkthrough with Guest Curator Ramela Abbamontian
3 pm - 4 pm Multi-disciplinary Panel Discussion with Prof. Paul Von Blum (UCLA Senior Lecturer in African American Studies, Communications Studies, and Art History), Levon Marashlian (Professor of History, Glendale Community College), Angelo Allen (Lecturer in Art Department) Pierce College
4 pm - 5 pm Effects of Genocide on the Arts, lecture and piano performance by Vatche Mankerian, Institute of Armenian Studies, USC.
Follow link to http://www.ci.glendale.ca.us/MansInhumanitytoMan2009.asp for additional information.


 

2009-02-28 22:14

Our Artists Share

From Ione Citrin


Ione Citrin became a finalist of the The Richeson 75 International Pastels Art Competition juried by Terry Howell Stanley,
Artist & Director of Richeson School of Art & Gallery & a committee of art professionals from Jack Richeson & Co.


 

2009-02-24 03:04

Our artists participate in:

"Women Artists on Immigration"
Crossing Borders, Confronting Barriers, Bridging Identities"

Art pieces by Dwora Fried and Lark selected by MOCA curator Alma Ruiz for inclusion in Women Artists on Immigration" It was a time-consuming and difficult task for Ms. Ruiz, to evaluate 298 submissions for this show in a broad range of media from 125 artists throughout California. In the end, she selected only about 40 pieces that spoke powerfully to her on the subject of immigration.

WHEN:
February 20 March 7, 2009
OPENING RECEPTION: Friday, February 27 from 7 to 9 PM

WHERE:
Korean Cultural Center Art Gallery, 5505 Wilshire Blvd. Los Angeles, 90036

For more info about this show, please click here:
Women Artists on Immigration

Also please visit WCA blog - waoi.blogspot.com


 

2009-02-24 02:51

Our artists share

From Annemarie Rawlinson

Hi Lark,

Thanks for inviting me to your show. I am also participating in an exhibit I would like to invite you to: The L.A. Assemblage Group was founded in 1994 and started out modestly: driven by a desire to network with other assemblage artists, a group of artists agreed to meet monthly and share know-how, critique each other's work and help one another. Since then this group has grown into a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic group of currently 16 artists who share a passion for assemblage art. At least once a year a group show is arranged to share the joy of showing currently "politically correct", "green" artform.

In February, ABC network (Channel 7) will bring a feature about San Pedro's "First Thursday" Art Walk. Part of the feature was filmed at the Loft Galleries and Studios . It will air on "Eye on L.A.", end of March or beginning of April, usually showing on Saturdays at 6:30 pm - please tune in!

The Loft Galleries and Studios present: "CHANGE-D", The L.A. Assemblage Group
February 5 - March 21, 2009, 401 S. Mesa, San Pedro, CA 90731
www.the-loft.net

Receptions: "First Thursday", March 5, 6 - 9 pm, Saturday, March 14, 2 - 5 pm

Directions: Go to the very end of Harbor Fwy. (110 South), left on Gaffey, left on 4th Street, cross Pacific - the Loft is a yellowish, large warehouse on the right corner of 4th & Mesa.
Parking on the street or on Parking Lot at the corner of 6th Street and Mesa.

For additional viewing please call Annemarie Rawlinson at 310-832-9767.
We hope to welcome you at one of our receptions!

Annemarie Rawlinson, LAAG Founder


 

2009-02-12 21:55

Interview with Peter Frank

discussing the results of our Art Without Borders on-line competition

Lark: Peter, this is the second Larkgallery Online exhibition that you participated in as a Senior Juror. What difference do you see between the art submitted for the first and the second competition?

Peter: Its a greater stylistic variety this time, greater competence and more imaginative, distinctive ways of working.

L: I noticed that some of the artists attracted your attention right away, although not all of them became winners. Id like you to share with us your point of view. For example, about Linda Kunik.

P: In Linda Kuniks work my eye was attracted to the sense of transformation, dynamic change and metamorphosis.

I liked the approach of Sheryl Walker: because it could be the beginning of a landscape or a constellation of the stars. And although it seems unfinished, its very complex and has a dramatic emptiness.

Glenna Jennings art is part of her photographic research of social commentary and has this drama and poignancy. She makes keen observation of the rural middle class. She is also a very interesting story teller.

In Ruth Dutoits art its engaging to see her round or octagonal shapes, symmetrical sometimes like a clock, but yet her art has a lot of interesting asymmetrical elements

L:Did you take into consideration the spiritual content and emaning of Ruths art?

P: Its definitely clear that she had in mind mandala design and that her art is orchestrated cosmologically, but there also a lot of earthlike details and sense of humor.

In the case of Alexander Saibetdinov my attention was attracted to the composition. For example in the painting titled Time there is an oddly empty space with unusual interruptions in the upper left comer. It is a realistic painting with surrealistic moments.

L: What did you think of Alexanders philosophical approach?

P: His philosophical approach is apparent in this picture. He puts a viewer in a space that situated between dream and reality.

As for Annemarie Rawlinsons work, well, lets look at her Guitar Its a funny, surprising, beautiful and very logical object. It seems like a big guitar giving birth to a little guitar, but its more than that. We wonder, Is it the soul, or is it just another aspect of the same guitar?

L:I expected you to be more interested in art techniques, styles and how each artist produced their work than in ideas.

P: My interest is in the relationship of content to form. How technique supports whatever it is the artist wants to do or say.

L:Lets talk about our four winners, beginning with Ali Matin, our Third Place winner:

P: I found his group photographs fascinating, particularly the way he uses light as an inflective, as a path to highlighted elements. I was also taken with the way these figures disappear into the overall pattern of the image, because they are covered with mud or something like that. When Ali Matin gets close up to faces, you can really see them. You can get an understanding that this is a ritual that is meaningful not only to a group of people, but to individuals. When you look at his photographs, you want to know more about these ceremonies. What he seems to be doing is documenting practices of various religions in Iran, and this project is fascinating.

L: Christopher Mercier shared Third Place with Ali Matin

P: I know that Christopher Mercier is an architect. His paintings seem to be rough and exclusively composed and arranged like almost architectural elevations. From one angle they seem to be projections of a wall in a room, from another angle theyre structured like a whole building. From a third angle, theyre very attractive paintings in their own way, they stick out from the wall with their high relief and clashing colors, providing pungent dissonances.

L: Its not a predictable conversation.

P: Exactly. I like the unusual contours of his work.

L: Do you think that it's the coarseness of his paintings that attracts the viewers attention?

P: Its not only the coarseness, its the liveliness. His art is physically heavy, but at the same time moves with remarkable grace.

L: What gives it such grace?

P: The composition, how he arranges his forms, the movement of the lines. He also submitted a very good selection of his artwork.

L: Olga Abramova won Second Place

P: Her depiction of rocks gives us a very close and sensitive look. For example, in her picture Chashethnik you can see erosions or mysterious punctuations that make you wonder about this rock and want to know more about its history.. She masterfully uses color and her realistic approach has very soft edges, because of her use of pastel of course, but also because she exercises a highly atmospheric perception.

L: I like her loving attention to prosaic details and how she is romanticizing her stones.

P: Yes, the stones in Olgas pictures look hard and at the same time they have a very liquid surface. That gives them sensuality, especially in association with the pair of sandals in the painting Etretat. The warm depiction of these sandals makes you wonder whose sandals they are, what they have seen and where theyve been I also like the choice of subjects in Olga Abramovas paintings. When I looked at her website, it was interesting for me to see that she has a series of works about Finno-Ugric myths, motivated by the ancient mythic beliefs of the Finnish people.

L: Amy Longcope won First Place

P: Amy Longcope displayed a strong combination and balance of gesture and structure in her art. She seems to be a forceful and assured abstract painter. Its hard to tell from on-line images how good her technique is, but I like her color coordination. Also the presence of her work seems to be very strong. Its like you walk into the room and these paintings right away attract your attention. They are strong and vibrant. The other interesting thing for me about Amy Longcopes works is their organization around a high horizon line, but I do not get a feeling that they are landscapes. Due to her calligraphic and painterly gestures, her use of different shapes blobs and drips, it doesnt feel like a landscape space. It is more schematic and arranges itself on a plane, toward a clearance in a coherent fashion.

L: In addition to painting techniques, Amy seems to layer a lot with collage

P: Yes, the texture of her surfaces is sophisticated and the layering is among the strongest aspects of her work.