Urban Art Association

Hi Levi,

Firstly apologies for getting carried away last night, in hindsight shouting about the new PimpArtworks site probably wasn’t the best thing to do, the honest truth is we’re just excited to finally be online! I’ve been through the threads and deleted all comments off to avoid running the risk of upsetting anyone here. That was never the intention. I’ve posted a single thread as advised.

I do want to respond to your comments though and hopefully clear a couple of things up the best I can.

The PimpArtworks site has only been live for a week now. The model presented is what we would like to think is an open but exclusive platform to help artists get exposure from, as well as encouraging existing talents, without any of the hassle normally involved with getting out there.


- looks like you will be releasing your work in unlimited editions

We did toy with adding the functionality of putting images on limited run basis, however to avoid deterring artists and asking for exclusive rights to resell their works we decided against it.

If we were distributing on their behalf and they are selling elsewhere (which they are completely free to do) any tally introduced would be meaningless. As a workaround what we advise artists to do is simply state in the description what the print run for the work is and as and when something sells on PimpArtworks, or elsewhere, update the description accordingly. Then when the print run is complete simply remove the image from their gallery.

* Artworks can be removed by the artists/photographer at any time, with or without reason. At all time the artist retains full ownership of their own work and PimpArtworks right to reproduce it on their behalf is completely dependant on it being uploaded to the site. *



- they will have ALOT of art posted on their site. This means for each artists to be seen there will need to be huge traffic on the site.


PimpArtworks is currently open submission purely to get awareness out there, but as the community grows and becomes more established we will be getting more selective in order to keep standards up and brand the PimpArtworks name. This has been clearly stated to all artists on there already and will continue to be.

This will also keep the ratio of artists to buyers to a decent level for it to be worthwhile for everyone involved.


- they have 3 twitter followers

I didn’t even know we had any? We aren’t even on Twitter yet. We do have a facebook page though and have 1040 followers on there already (www.facebook.com/pages/PimpArtworks/162590537365)

You have to bear in mind we’ve only been live for 7 days and that’s no bad for promoting a ‘blind’ site to the public. There’s established galleries on there who don’t even have half that amount of followers.


- I would like to see testimonials from buyers on their site

These will come. But I’d like to take the opportunity to state we aren’t new to the printing game and can ensure you that our products are museum quality.

The Acrylic’s on high grade Perspex are seriously something special and I’m not just saying that, and there’s not that many company’s currently offering anything similar.


- Google rankings are very poor

If you can show me a brand new site which after only 7 days isn’t - well, I’ll put their SEO experts on the payroll! But joking aside we do actually have a google pagerank of 2 and for anyone that does know about SEO they should confirm that isn’t something to be sniffed at this early in the game.


- Promotional Videos

Hopefully you liked these? There are plently more things like this planned to showcase artwork in and help get artists exposure.




- so all online promotional activity has driven 600 views of their their videos, these are probably nearly all from this site

Seriously give us a chance. Now we’ve sorted out the teething problems of launching a new site and established that it is a solid workable platform, the promotions will be stepping up properly. We didn’t want to jump both feet first only to find out that there were small bugs in the site that previously testing didn’t pick up.




Lastly the PimpArtworks concept has been setup to help cultivate the Urban & Street scene and give artists assistance and the facilities to get their art out there. It’s stemmed from our personal appreciation and passion for alternative arts and since we were in a position to do something, we’ve done it. And we’d like to think we’ve done it in a way to keep things real too.

It hasn’t just come about without scarifies on our behalf and all we’re asking is if you can give us a chance without jumping to any premature conclusions. You said yourself "the model actually looks good."

The PimpArtworks website - www.pimpartworks.com

I can only speak for myself, I love some of the art on the site, "Consumer Explosion", "Christanas World exit 6" just to name two.

That being said I only have any real interest in art that has actually been signed by the artist. Not a stamp, copy or anything else. I suppose I could even really care less if its a glicee, screen print, mixed media et al.

Just as long as the actual artist has signed the actual image and thereby acknowledges that yes, this is mine and the signature verifies I am pimping this image out for money.

Just what I think.

Thats a good idea pimpart, I would personally find it much more appealing. Honestly there are some on there that I would buy if that works out to be an option.

Harryh

It's just a digital art gallery where artists can showcase their work in?

You must feel exactly the same about the established bricks and mortar galleries too who do exactly the same then - BUT unless you have contacts or you're a big name you're unlikely to be even entertained by them, then they'll charge rent for hanging space whether it sells or not, then take a cut out of your commission which they've preset themselves, all underlined with a contract favouring them every step of the way.

PimpArtworks does away with all that, lets the artist set their own commission, puts them in control of what they sell and when they sell it, has no underlying contract, and does not insist that you have to be a recognised artist already with a following.

Granted we don’t facilitate the sale of the originals but neither do they on their print runs. All we're doing is removing the traditional barriers they've managed to setup and offer artists an opportunity in the form of a platform to get exposure off who may not have managed to get their foot in the door or have the patience to even be entertained by their current dominance.

www.pimpartworks.com

Hi Pimp.
I like the idea man, i like the thought of people being able to buy stuff very reasonably, especially at the mo with the world the way it is. I also like the perspex printing idea, i may have to look into getting some perspex and slapping some paint on there. I havent had a proper detailed look through the site yet tho, so Levi I can't tell you anything more, or give you my views into the limited/unlimited debate.

My main concern would be intellectual property rights/copyright. On the site (in the section where you'd join up) there is a part that says 'Payment type:' and in brackets '* This is how PimpArtworks pay you for any commissions earned'

As far as i'm aware (and i'm not a lawyer so could be wrong), commissions can be tricky when it comes to copyright law. I believe that the person commissioning the work can claim ownership of the copyright of said work. I also believe the company responsible for taking on the commission work, i.e you, can claim copyright.

It is only a slight concern as I havent had a chance to properly look through the site, and you may well have covered this elsewhere. I will also brush up on my copyright law this eve and may be being an idiot (as i say i'm no lawyer), but perhaps you have already addressed this and are able to put my mind at rest.....

I am sure with a few tweeks it could be a very useful site, and a great place to buy affordable art. Even if i dont sign up Pimp I really wish you all the best matey, i can see the work that has gone in already to the site and i'm sure you will do well....