art.sy is backed by recommendations engine, the Art Genome Project

Oct 10, 2012 15:03 GMT  ·  By

Online art service art.sy has finally been published online, after two years of tests and trials. The website features works displayed in more than 50 art museums.

art.sy is the brainchild of Carter Cleveland, and the portal collaborates with recommendation engine, the Art Genome Project.

More than 20,000 works have been published on the website, giving art aficionados plenty to choose from. Some pieces are located in museum and foundations, some come from private collections and some belong to new, aspiring artists.

Although style, region, and subject matter filter are in place, users can sort finds according to size, medium and, last but definitely not least, price. Every work is labeled with a “gene,” which helps differentiate by date, geography and artistic movement. “Fluider” genes such as “youth” or “provocative” have also been used.

Each piece is labeled with a value between 0 – 100, in respect to how much a specific gene is relayed in the artwork. Banksy’s work, for example, falls under street art, and can be found among the first search results. The reason is that his works embody the gene better that other artists, in what appears to be a subjective and popculture-inspired classification.

As you would expect from a website that is powered by "Pandora for art," the Art Genome Project, art.sy could serve as a discovery site and launching pad for fresh names. This discovery-friendly feature gives it an edge over similar initiatives, such as the notably larger Google Art Project, editors at The Verge note.

Their review points out the bugs in the site's usability – clutter in bulk search display and the existence of exhaustive categorization, leaving the user confused in the face of so many sorting options.

Check out the portal for yourself here.