15 Awesome Genes on Artsy

Art.sy is a complex company with a simple premise, "to make all the world’s art freely accessible to anyone with an Internet connection." To do that, they're ambitiously licensing and categorizing thousands of works of art into "genes," which are groups of art based on characteristics such as art-historical movements, subject matter, and formal qualities. Examples include "Street Art," "Topographic Photography," "DIY," "Gothic," "Cyberculture," and "Food," and there are over 800 total. The site also allows you to save art to your account, follow artists and genes, buy art, and easily share art to all your social networks. 

We picked 15 Awesome Genes on Art.sy to show you just how incredible their project is. Learn more and sign up for yourself on www.art.sy, and while you're at it, check out their collaboration with this year's Design Miami from December 5-9, 2012.

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Why it's awesome: Street art has become increasingly popular in the last decade, and the Graffiti/Street Art gene is an excellent starting point for anyone who wants to learn more. From Olek's yarn bombing to Invader, JR, Jean-Michel Basquait, and other artists, this gene will teach you about the genre's typically lesser known foundations.

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Above: JR, Inside Out, Haiti, 2012 (View on Artsy)

Why it's awesome: Athleticism in art has been a critical way to depict the body and make various forms of social and cultural commentary. The Sports/Athletics gene has everything from literal photographs of athletes, by artists like Andy Warhol and Amy Elkins, to abstract sculpture by Barry Flanagan and painting by Paul Vazquez.

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Above: Alexander Calder, Helen Wills, 1927 (View on Artsy)

Why it's awesome: You may already know a few examples of art exploring reflections, but you may not know how far it's been taken across art history. From photographs of Feng Mengbo to paintings by Lisa Breslow, reflections have puzzled and inspired many of our favorite artists.

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Above: Joseph Jachna, Barn Foundation Wall, Door County, 1970 (View on Artsy)

Why it's awesome: The figurative artworks within the Contemporary Graphic Realism Gene are a broad yet important collection of pieces. As the description notes, they are "rendered in a highly graphic style" with works that often resemble comic book illustrations and propaganda posters. Noticing patterns and trends between this vast grouping makes it a very fun gene to explore.

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Above: Banksy, Weston Super-Mare (Diptych), 2003 (View on Artsy)

Why it's awesome: Who doesn't love food? Food and art seem as if they've gone hand in hand for centuries. From Cézanne's still lifes to a neon by Rachel Lee Hovnanian, this gene brilliantly shows us how artists have used food to make commentary throughout art history.

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Above: Wayne Thiebaud, Untitled, Undated (View on Artsy)

Why it's awesome: The Cyberculture gene begins with an excellent quote by Frank Lloyd Wright-"If it keeps up man will atrophy all his limbs but the push-button finger." It couldn't be more relevant following current discussions of artificial intelligence, digital art, 3-D printing, projection mapping, and more. The gene specifically focuses on artwork showing how technology has affected human behavior, and work by UNMASK, Mark Napier, Tabor Robak, and more shows the breadth of this growing genre.

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Above: Shay Kun, The Hills Have Eyes, 2010 (View on Artsy)

Why it's awesome: The Topographic Photography gene reminds us how important this sub-genre has been to photography and art as a whole, from its development in the 1970s to work by Charles Johnstone, Murray Fredericks, Massimo Vitali, and more.

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Above: Richard Misrach, Danny Boy, Bonneville Salt Flats, 1992 (View on Artsy)

Why it's awesome: California art and artists have stunned art historians for decades, and this gene helps us realize why. Works by Ed Ruscha, Richard Serra, Ansel Adams, Wayne Thiebaud, and more contain a breadth of ideas from and about the West.

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Above: Ed Ruscha, Pool Portfolio, 1968/1997 (View on Artsy)

Why it's awesome: The City Life gene appropriately quotes Ezra pound in the beginning of its description-"All great art is born of the metropolis." After looking through brilliant pieces by Romare Bearden, Lisa Breslow, Joel Meyerowitz, and more, you will be tempted to agree.

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Above: Joel Meyerowitz, "Camel Coats", New York City, 1975 (View on Artsy)

Why it's awesome: Stolen Moments is one of the more unique genes that contains "images and scenes involving unknown passerby seemingly captured without the permission of the subject." While you may have not thought about the concept of a "stolen moment" in art, these works by Edgar Degas, Daido Moriyama, Audrey Kawasai, and more will definitely have you thinking about art in more specific, thoughtful ways.

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Above: Audrey Kawasaki, Forget Me Not, 2012 (View on Artsy)

Why it's awesome: Pastiche art imitates two or more styles of art, an artist, or a particular period in art, and this gene shows the breadth that has occurred of stylistic pastiche that has occurred in contemporary art. There are a number of great examples from Sigmar Polke, Dimitiri Kozyrev, Ryan Mcnamara, and more.

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Above: Helen Sear, Sightlines, Untitled 16, 2011 (View on Artsy)

Why it's awesome: The Contemporary Grotesque gene is super relevant and exciting, showing work by artists like Jeff Soto, Damien Hirst, and Jake & Dinos Chapman. While the grotesque has been explored in-depth throughout art history, it's nice to see it specifically in a contemporary context.

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Above: Judith Supine, Down My Throat, 2012 (View on Artsy)

Why it's awesome: This gene is more straightforward than some of the others, but it reminds us to consider illusion and the impact of scale in various genres of art. From paintings by Karl Maughan to sculptures by Shen Yuan and John Powers, this gene is varied and helps us contextualize the size of a work within its greater meaning.

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Above: Olivo Barbieri, site specific Chicago 2010 #01, 2010 (View on Artsy)

Why it's awesome: Because it's so specific! It reminds us that, as the description so aptly puts it, often "the artist was attempting to move outside of sculpture altogether." The sculptures in this gene are strictly works that aren't solid masses.

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Above: John Powers, Sectional Group (Left to right: Large Sectional, Valby Ruta Tottenham, Small Sectional, Maquette Sectional), 2012 (View on Artsy)

Why it's awesome: The sculpture-based photography gene showcases sculpture built primarily for the purpose of being photographed. Like many genes on Artsy, it has an impressive breadth of artists and artworks, from Luis Gispert to Ai Weiwei and Sharon Core. It reminds us that photographing artwork is a genre in itself, and an important one at that.

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Above: Luis Gispert, 8 1/2,, 2012 (View on Artsy)