Artkrush Heart Artblogs

Remember January '04 when Art in America published a piece on art blogs? [Art in America Heart Artblogs, NEWSgrist, December 23, 2004]. This year ArtKrush, that nifty bi-weekly online gallery-cum-e-zine that made it through the 90s, currently published by Flavorpill, has a feature on the art blogosphere. You can sign up to receive Artkrush by email here. Read the full issue, which also covers the vissisitudes of Rhizome : Media [books:multiples:DVDs].

The rapid rise of the blog phenomenon has dramatically influenced politics over the past few years, and now blogs are changing how the art world communicates. Interactive sites, which are devoted to contemporary art and offer news, reviews, gossip, and links, have made art openings as easy to follow as the stock market. The freedom of the blog format also allows "citizen critics" to weave social commentary and personal anecdotes with spontaneous photographs, videos, and relevant links.

In New York, some art journalists have left print to become prominent bloggers. Tom Moody's site is chock-full of photos, artwork, and funny commentary about new media art. James Wagner, who runs ArtCal with his partner and fellow art-blogger Barry Hoggard, defines his own mix of politics and art criticism on jameswagner.com. Overseen by the artist Joy Garnett, NEWSgrist melds art and activism for the digerati. John Perreault's Artopia is notable for its un-bloglike reviews — long, thorough, and full of entertaining tangents.

In LA, art.blogging.la provides a miscellany of West Coast commentary and traveling reports from fairs and blockbuster shows. San Francisco's hybrid ezine/blog Fecal Face hits readers with loads of video and an inexhaustible link list. The prolific and peripatetic Tyler Green writes Modern Art Notes from DC but files reports from across the country and often dialogues with other blogs, such as Iconoduel, out of Chicago. Down south, Miami-based newcomer the Next Few Hours offers a local perspective on the city's burgeoning art scene, and collector Erik Schneider covers notable museums and galleries in Atlanta.

Although this form of instant criticism is still very much an American phenomenon, the blognosis for international art blogs is good. You can catch different accents on the Sydney-based site the Art Life and Diary of an Art Pimp, out of Melbourne, as well as the UK's Londonist, Things magazine's blog, and Art in Liverpool, the last of which showcases events and opportunities from this future cultural capital. Meanwhile, Artforum's Scene & Herd has become the must-read gossip column of high-profile international shows. (JK)