Google’s Art Project where’s the Beef?

You might think from this title I feel less than enchanted with Googles new ambitious art driven technology the Art Project, http://www.googleartproject.com , which is not the case. The melding of technology with art is something I not only believe is the natural progression of our business and love but exciting to see. Google’s Art Project is an ambitious and worthwhile effort that will give me one more reason not to sell art but simply enjoy it. Here’s the beef: Where is the beef?, or for that matter the cowboy or the Indian? If you want Native American imagery you are much more likely to see an actual Indian painting which is not Native American. The reason for this oversight is the views of those at Google seem to be that real art is either east coast or from one of the major European museums, not western.

I for one am taken back by the amazing imagery of a Whistler painting (there are dozens)

http://www.googleartproject.com/museums/freer/caprice-in-purple-and-gold-the-golden-screen-24

I can even look at his impressive frames for inspiration. Yet not seeing the nostril of a bucking bronco at close range or the cloud formations of a Dixon painting down to the last brush stroke leaves me wanting more. So Google, I like a good piece of art as much as anyone does, but “Where’s the Beef?”

An interesting online western experience can be found at the Phoenix Art Museum’s newly completed web page of Western American art, a collection worthy of Google’s attention. http://www.phxart.org/collection/westernamericanmain.php

A comprehensive collection of both living and deceased chroniclers of the west. Including such standouts as Maynard Dixon, Howard Post, Ed Mell and Robert Henri. If your hungry for western masters there’s plenty of tasty examples for the most discriminating palate.

Howard Post, San Tan Valley, Permanent Collection Phoenix Art Museum
Museum purchase Western Art Associates 2010
Image courtesy of Howard Post