For Tim Brady, the idea for his interactive online art space Freshly Baked Gallery came from the most unlikely source: a benign yet life threatening tumour on his brain stem was the impetus to shake his life around. Literally. The chronic headaches turned into a two week stay in a London hospital.
‘I’d been working in a very commercial environment as a project manager for a London construction company but lying in that hospital bed for two weeks made me really think about my life priorities again,’ said Brady, who is now fighting fit. In fact, he just celebrated his 30th birthday.
‘I returned to Australia shortly after and fell back in to project management work but just wasn’t happy. Towards the end of 2007 I made a decision to take a step back from the corporate world and I turned my attention to the conception of what would eventually become Freshly Baked Gallery.’
The format of Freshly Baked is unique. The entire gallery space is virtual. You navigate the space using your arrow keys. You’re able to view artwork individually and then view the artwork to scale. You can even upload your own wall colour to see how the artwork would appear in your own home.
The space itself comprises of four spaces, one of which showcases prints. All up it has approximately 50 artists on its books with past exhibited work accessible too.
‘A lot of galleries will display artwork in an online gallery after a physical show comes to a close, but Freshly Baked is unique in that they prioritise the virtual side of things,’ said Perth artist Sean Morris who is currently exhibiting at Freshly Baked.
‘The amount of work and care that goes into their site, and the interesting interface, sets them apart and means customers are coming and browsing the work at all times – rather than just for 3 hours at a Friday night opening.’
‘I think it is one of the better online galleries because of the walk through aspects,’ added fellow Perth artist Creepy, who has also exhibited at Freshly Baked. ‘It’s great as an exhibiting artist because of the global connection through the internet out to the world. You can’t get better exposure than a gallery everyone with internet access can visit.’
Brady tries at all times to create a physical exhibition to coincide with the virtual one, but more and more people’s attention from all over the globe is being drawn to what he’s doing online. And in 2010, he’s sure to blow everyone away with some truly amazing exhibitions in the pipeline that feature a mix of emerging and international talent.
‘The Freshly Baked flavour is definitely still establishing itself,’ Brady added. ‘We are open to submissions from interested artists at all times but it is something that is evolving very organically. We exhibit photographers, painters, stencil artists, illustrators and more.’
But there’s no need to take anyone’s word for it. The real charm of Freshly Baked is that you find out how fantastic it is for yourself.
Scott-Patrick Mitchell
