Artifier replaces web ads with artwork from emerging artists. Each of the featured pieces was pulled from this year’s Bombay Sapphire Artisan Series, an initiative the gin-making company launched to gin up public awareness of up-and-coming artists. So don’t expect your browsing to be accented by Dalí, van Gogh, or Picasso, but you can look forward to discovering fresh talent from around the United States and Canada.
The initial inspiration for Artifier originated from Bombay Sapphire’s desire to showcase these artists to a wider audience, particularly people in the digital space who otherwise wouldn’t be aware of them.
“It stemmed from the thought, ‘What if people could transform the internet into their own personal art gallery?’” Bombay Sapphire Brand Manager Maria Dao told Digital Trends. “The idea just evolved naturally from that point on.”
The Artisan Series launched in 2010 as a collaboration between Bombay and the Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation. Thousands of emerging artists submit their work each year, with just a handful of finalists selected from each region.
This year, 16 artists from around the U.S. and Canada were selected as semifinalists and given the chance to exhibit their work during Miami Art Week in December. Chosen in December, the winner will get the chance to showcase his or her piece in a public installation in 2017. The rest of the contestants will find their art featured around the web via the Artifier plugin.
Of course, this extension is a thinly veiled promotion for Bombay Sapphire itself, but at least it’s aesthetically pleasing.
