What bugs you?

Does anything on this page hinder or even irritate you?

I would love to know. Nothing is unimportant, too small or too big.

If there is something I can fix, I will certainly do it.

Please let me know right away

Is your gallery's site inspired by Dürer's rhinoceros?

A little snippet of art history. One day Dürer received a letter from an unknown informant describing in detail the latest court event in Lisbon: Manuel I, the Portuguese king had received a wild animal never seen live in Europe since the Romans, a rhinoceros.

Dürer made a drawing based on these notes, and even produced a woodcut that would become a reference (and a commercial success) for at least three centuries.

 

Now, Dürer was an excellent draughtsman

His drawings are a showcase of his extraordinary mastery. Yet, there's a little problem with his rhinoceros. You don't even have to look closely to immediately note that Dürer produced something 'fantastic'. Not even close to the real thing.

 

We could easily mock Dürer on his inaccuracies

It's not even about the misplaced and erroneous second small horn. The body of Dürer's animal is covered with plates resembling an 'armour' composed of a central massive breastplate with the different parts riveted together; the legs are protected by chain mails, etc.

It is possible that the informant described the look of the animal using ‘armour’ terminology, thus misleading Dürer about the characteristics of this exceptional present. Or maybe Dürer was so completely bewildered and overwhelmed that he started to fantasize.

 

Still, there's something more interesting about his drawing

We can be confident that the result would have looked more accurate and realistic if Dürer had seen the rhinoceros in the flesh in his natural environment. Dürer knew how to grab the essence of a subject.

He would have noticed that every characteristic serves the purpose to stand out in its environment. Yet, he drew a static war machine inspired by his 'idea' of the real thing based on a detailed, but defective description.

 

Just like many gallery sites seem to be inspired by the 'idea' of a site

Many sites seem to be set up based on a description of what a gallery's site should look like. They are inspired by what their owners transpose from the real world.

Yet, because they fail to catch the essence of what a gallery's site should be, they merely produce a portfolio site.

 

I could easily mock portfolio sites

They even represent the majority of gallery sites. Their basic ‘built’ is based on how galleries proceed in the real world: beautiful pictures in clean settings, elaborated into the tiniest details by designers.

 

But what about the essence?

People are on the web for one essential purpose: to find valuable information, accessible in an easy and open way.

Every single page, every single element of your gallery's site has to serve this same unique goal. Does your site deliver the information people really want about your roster, your program and your gallery?

 

 

P.S. If you don't remember Dürer's rhinoceros you can easily find plenty of images on the web. I decided not to insert the image here to respect the 'Terms of Use' of the British Museum related to copyright.