DeviantArt




DeviantArt's "Fella" mascot by Axertion

 www.DeviantArt.com

The next time you have a few minutes to spare, or a few hours alone with your computer when you'd like to make that time seem like a few minutes, try visiting the most radical art gallery in the world today. That may sound like an overstatement but a few minutes at www.DeviantArt.com will convince you otherwise. No, it's not some artsy porno site, though it sounds like it could be; and if you're really looking for that type of thing, you may find some art, neatly categorized for your browsing convenience, that borders dangerously close to internet porn. Actually, the site name refers to computer applications that were modified by artists, hackers, and computer geeks way back in the 1990s to suit their own tastes, or who “deviated” the applications from the original designs. As the site grew, members in general became known as “deviants” and their creative submissions as “deviations." A deviant artist is one who stands apart as an eccentric. nonconforming, individualist or maverick. It does not, in this case, refer to a sexual deviant.  



Sample Deviantart opening screen

When I referred to Deviantart as the most radical art gallery in the world, I could just as well have added that it has the largest permanent collection of any art gallery in the world, over 265-million images (a figure that is now probably outdated). I could also mention that the domain had (as of March, 2013) 26-million members (including myself) and 40-million visitors, per week but those figures are, no doubt, equally outdated. I mention them simply in comparison to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, which had during the same time period roughly 5.24-million visitors per year. Of course, comparing an online "museum" to one of brick and mortar is "apples to oranges," but it also underlines the fact that such stone art mausoleums are rapidly becoming anachronisms in this day and age. Despite their own online presence, the limitations of such venerable institutions as to place, pace, and space are rapidly coming to outweigh their virtues.

Compilation by Alansolis d4anhky

You need not own a PC to visit the most radical art gallery in the world.
You can do it from you Android or iPhone as well.

The company operates an online social network for artists and art enthusiasts. They offer an Internet art community that allows emerging and established artists to exhibit, promote, and share their works within a peer group dedicated to the arts. Users may upload to various categories of art works, such as digital arts, traditional arts, photography, artisan crafts, literature, film and animation, flash, designs, as well as interfaces, customizations, cartoons and comics, fan art, resources stock images, community projects, contests, design challenges, journals, and unfinished work. The company was founded in 2000 by Scott Jarkoff, Matt Stephens, Angelo Sotira (its current CEO), and others. It is based in a nondescript office building on Hollywood Blvd. in Hollywood, California.

The main entrance to the most radical art museum in the world.

I've purposely not posted any images from DeviantArt for the obvious reason that there are simply too many of them with a quagmire of copyright issues in that there is no review for potential copyright and Creative Commons licensing violations. Thus, when a work is submitted to DeviantArt, potential violations may remain unnoticed until reported to administrators using the online mechanism available for such issues. Some members of the community have been the victims of copyright infringement from vendors using artwork illegally on products and prints. Therefore, posting original art to DeviantArt is something of a balancing act between the advantages offered by such exposure and the risks involved in any loss of copyright royalties. The site also offers such additional features as "journals", "polls", "groups" and "portfolios." And, unlike the Met in New York, which charges adults $25 and seniors $17 to get in, at DeviantArt admission is free and the doors are open 24/7. They have no cafeteria but the restrooms are convenient.