The Art of the Website (and why human creation still matters)
Your website should be an exhibition
People often talk about websites as if they are purely functional things. A place to upload images, list a bio, or add a shop. But I have never thought of an artist website that way. I think a good artist website can be an art form in itself.
Websites are an art form, but I don’t mean in a flashy or over-designed sense.
A strong artist website has many of the qualities good artwork has. It has formal properties like composition, space and value. It reveals things in the right order using design principles like rhythm, proportion, and emphasis. It lets one image breathe before the next appears. It guides a viewer the way a painting guides an eye.
That is not simply web design. That is curation.
Your website is often the first exhibition someone has with you. Before a studio visit or gallery introduction. Before someone sees your work in person, your website is your first opportunity to curate the experience for collectors, curators and gallery directors.
Just like a curator in a gallery, there are considerations about what to show the viewer first, how much text will you expect the viewer to absorb, what pieces should be edited out, where the desire will build, and where is the appropriate place to try to close the sale.
We are moving into a moment where more and more things can be generated, assembled, and automated. There are remarkable uses for AI, and I use some of those tools myself. But I also believe there are places where human judgment still matters deeply.
An artist’s website is one of them.
Because this is not just about arranging content on a screen. It is about translating something profoundly human (perhaps the MOST profoundly human act, an art practice) into a digital experience.
That takes a level of sensitivity, knowledge and context. It takes understanding art. And I do not mean understanding art in the abstract. I mean years of looking at artwork, thinking about presentation, working with artists, seeing what resonates in real-time, and learning how people respond.
That kind of knowing is hard-earned. It is not prompt-generated or vibe coded (I just learned that phrase LOL).
The best websites are shaped, not assembled.
And yes, AI can assemble your website. Absolutely. But is that the best use of the tool? I’d rather see you use AI to develop the concepts behind your work, or research your ideal buyer, or building lead magnet generators.
But your first exhibition? That very first experience that a viewer has with your work? Don’t leave that up to assembly. This deserves the same thought you would give to hanging a show.
That is what I mean by the art of the website.
If building a website has been on your list for too long, or you’d like help thinking through how your online presence could better reflect your work, I offer artist website design and strategy built specifically for artists. You can learn more about working with me all over this website.
