Why is this site called called Art-Discontent?
It's a pun for 'Artist Content', an acknowledgement that the art content comes second in this site (and the artist's perspective on their practice/art first), and a reaction against the veneration of art solely from its mysticism. I think art is richer and deeper from explicit conversation. If your art relies on obfuscation to be interesting, then I'm not interested in it.
Why did you make this site?
I saw this webpage and thought that it would be neat to create interesting, professional web articles for artists who might not usually get that opportunity. And then it evolved into wanting to be an archive of philosophies about young practices-- not every person pursuing fine arts is going to "make it" in the art world (the majority of these interviews come from people who are a year or two out of undergrad). I think it would be a shame to lose so many thoughts about art, and so this website is trying to keep a record of that.
How did you make this site?
I used Gatsby as the framework to build this, Contentful for content management, and Netlify for deployment. You can see the codebase here. I also used the react-multi-carousel because I didn't want to write a carousel component. If you want advice for building a site like this, you can contact me, but there's already a ton of content and tutorials on the Internet for things like this.
There's some whack bug in this site.
If it's on Internet Explorer, I won't care. If it lets you hack into the site, feel free to do so. I am well aware that there are Safari bugs and on mobile (esp tablets) the layout needs a lot of adjustment... it's still a work in progress. E-mail me at mtruong68@gmail.com if you think I should address the bugs.
Can you publish me?
Send your portfolio and artist statement to mtruong68@gmail.com, and I'll let you know if I'm interested in publishing an article about you. You also don't have to be a fine artist; illustrators, graphic designers, UX/UI people are welcome (but still send me some sort of statement about your perspective on art). I'm more interested in publishing unique perspectives about art, but the artwork matters as well. I also am more interested in writing about relatively unknown artists.
What did you learn from making this site?
- The responsibility of writing about another's practice is heavier than first expected.
- There are many ways for an artwork to emerge from a practice.
- Artists process the world using art.
- Creation is compulsive for artists.
I have another question for you.
Just e-mail me-- mtruong68@gmail.com.