Discover new artists and keep abreast of shows with artinasia.com – website review

ASIAN ART WEBSITE TIP

When we come across sources and sites which we find useful, we try to pass them on to you. This time we want to highlight www.artinasia.com, a well-designed eye-pleasing site providing gallery listings and directories of Asian art information.

 Here is what this Hong Kong-based site has to say about itself:

artinasia.com is dedicated to creating a larger marketplace for contemporary Asian art by bringing together a comprehensive directory of Asian artists, galleries, shows, and institutions, so that contemporary Asian art can be found easily by the growing number of collectors from all over the world.Our focus is on contemporary Asian art and artists and galleries that fall into that criteria. We have regular updates from around the world of shows and events that focus on Asian contemporary art.

Although the site contains all kinds of information including art news headlines and a directory of artists and institutions, we think its most useful content is the gallery listing information, that is to say, what is on where and when.

Although aimed at collectors who want to keep tabs on gallery shows around the region, we think the site is useful for a wider audience including scholars, press, trade and other trend-watchers. Just a few minutes spent on the site reviewing the current shows in varous cities, provides a useful broad feel for what is on show and how trends are changing.

If you are squeezed for time – well, who isn’t? – you can subscribe to the newsletter which contains an edited pick of the gallery shows from around the region. This comes direct to your email inbox every week and is a visual treat for art watchers plus a useful discovery tool for collectors looking for new artists.

The site is image-rich and though some might like a little more explanatory text (in an ideal world this would be a pop-up when you slide your cursor over the listing summary), its abbreviated image-dense format makes it a handy resource for checking out what is on speedily.

If you find yourself in a city in Asia as a visitor or resident and want to know what to see, be sure to check out this site. Although not complete, the site provides the most comprehensive coverage we have found. It provides listsings for 21 Asian cities and is particularly strong on Japan with listings for 6 cities. In Hong Kong for example, which now has about 80 galleries, there are 30 event listings as of writing.

Another feature we like is the “where to find”‘ feature. If you have identified an artist you are interested in buying or researching and want to contact the representing gallery, just type the artist name into the search box to fetch the gallery link.

If you have a favourite source of information which you would like to recommend to readers we would love to hear about it in the Comments Section below.

Related posts:

• Top 6 research sources for Asian contemporary art by an Asian art history major – Jan 2010
• Colin Chinnery on future of Shanghai art fair – interview Artron – Jan 2010
• Which museums are collecting Chinese art? New database just released – Nov 2009
• Top 5 sites for contemporary art news by Matthew Larking – June 2009
• Young Chinese Artists – The Next Generation: book review – June 2009

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