About

The Blue Neon – a minimalist (online) art gallery

ABOUT THE BLUE NEON

What else do you need to know?

Why the need for an 'about' section?

We pondered the necessity for such a section for a long time, scared that it might shed too much light on the whole concept and offset the balance of our carefully carved mysterious approach (yes, we probably overthought this). It seemed to us that if we had to justify ourselves, we would have already made an error, an admission of guilt; how wrong we were. Anyway, our inner fight is over and find below the answers you were probably looking for.

What is The Blue Neon?

An hybrid art concept at the crossroads between a gallery and a marketplace. A place to discover art based on chance, moderation & diversity. A place to contemplate art with the slow looking feature. A place to acquire art.

What does it mean exactly?

10 artworks are presented to you in an interactive way, from at least 5 different mediums (painting, sculpture, photography…), no more. Randomly picked up from our curated catalogue, every connection to this place generates a new selection of artworks: the wheel of art. We also implemented an option to contemplate and fully engage with an artwork: the slow look feature. In the end, you can acquire the artwork(s) you like.

Who is BLUE?

The citizen of The Blue Neon. Our entity through which we speak and discuss with you, the visitor. We don’t express ourselves as a team (except when contractual clarity is required), don’t promote our skills, don’t show how we look, don’t abide by the traditional corporate marketing rules. BLUE helps you navigate The Blue Neon and pilots the journal, where it answers all your questions and dives deeper into the philosophy of this place.

How different are we from other online art galleries?

We believe that an endless choice distracts us from engaging genuinely with art, traps us in an echo chamber and prevents us from exploring our curiosity. In The Blue Neon, we don’t want you to scroll for ages, looking for the perfect artwork and waiting to be struck by one (even out of boredom). We limit your opportunities and give you instead the possibility to value each one fully.

What is our goal?

10 to 27 seconds: the average time spent looking at an artwork in a museum or a gallery (and drastically less online). We expect you to slow down during your visit here, discover unexpected artworks, contemplate them and find beauty in what is in front of you. Though it doesn’t replace the brick&mortar experience, we do hope that coming here from time to time allows you to explore new horizons without the distraction of infinite choice. In short, we favour this mantra: reclaim your attention.

How does it function for the artists?

They play along to the same rules as the visitor. Aware that given the random selection, we can’t promote them directly. But once one of their artworks appears on the wheel of art, you are more likely to connect and engage with it. On their side, we also limit their capacity to only upload 10 original creations, establishing a sense of fairness among them. This implies that the commission they receive from us is significantly higher than in any other galleries, online or not.

Why the need for a blog?

We don’t hold in great esteem the recent, contrived & fast communication strategies, i.e. you won’t see us on the main social media (except empty shell account to contact some artists). Our idea of slowing down in front of an artwork contradicts the very features of these addictive AI-based platforms that fight for your attention and undermine your hormonal balance. So, the possibility to put our thoughts into the writing of a blog constitutes our main content, for now.

Do we have any experience in the art universe?

Can you only be considered legitimate in the arts if you have been educated at a very young age, if you go to galleries/museums every week, if your social circle is only composed of artsy people, if you rush to the new trendy exhibition, if, if, if…? We rather consider the broader picture of our passion as being at the crossroads between art, wandering, meditation, immersion and contemplation. Our devotion to share with you the joy of slowing down and exploring art is absolute. Also, uncommonly, we don’t favour the democratisation of the arts per se – this one deserves its own article (see chapter 13) for an exhaustive explanation.

The Book

Artist Handbook

The Blue Neon →