Art Shop Local builds bridges between artists and local communities to promote culture and give people, who work in the creative industries a viable alternative to online marketplaces and the opportunity to develop a real connection between the art they make and the places from which they draw their inspiration. With the advent of generative AI and our reliance on Big Tech platforms and algorithms to determine the things we are exposed to, artistic expression is becoming an anachronism as creative labor is increasingly left to computers. And while technology can offer amazing tools to achieve new and paradigm-shifting artwork, we believe that the fundamental value of art resides in its relationship to society.

Without this relationship, no meaning can be derived from our creative efforts. Equally significant, without a collective experience of the fruits of our creativity, social cohesion frays at the seams.

At Art Shop Local, we are forging a different way forward for artists and creative laborers to thrive in a challenging media environment, where memes and the quest for viral content undermines the path of self-discovery that every artist embarks on, when they reach deep into their own imagination to coax something onto the surface of our shared consciousness.