Standby for… Standby Art

Last summer Frankie Cavanagh found himself turning 30 with a degree in Animation and Design. His time had been well spent, as along with fellow student Andy Watts, Frankie won three Blueprint business awards for Standby…Art, an innovative art gallery and network which makes use of every artistic medium they could promote through new media.

“The award was a nice little boost putting us on the right track,” said Frankie. “What solidified it was Durham Business School and multi-millionaires saying Standby was a viable option. That’s when it became reality instead of trapped in my head.”

Since then Andy has stepped back from the project to focus on filmmaking and moderating the Standby…Art website, leaving Frankie to develop the proposition into a sustainable reality. He pitched it to the Sunniside Partnership, who included Standby in their regeneration of Sunniside as the cultural and creative quarter of Sunderland

“They’re getting together artists and filmmakers,” said Frankie. “They’ve already opened up a film studio, and then there’s thePLACE which is a whole new gallery. We always said we’d rather have it in Sunderland than Newcastle. You can either be one of many in one area or exclusive in another.”

But an actual physical gallery is only part of the arsenal. Standby’s tagline is “The world’s first real world, real time, digital gallery.” At its heart is the internet.

“The idea is to do for art what email did for the post,” says Frankie. “It’s going to revolutionise how people perceive and sell artwork. You can upload a piece and it’s in our gallery within seconds. As the artists are working you can actually watch them brushstroke by brushstroke, as if you were in front of the canvas.”
Frankie has negotiated the use of prototype 3D printers which will produce out of nothing real life sculptures in the gallery that have never been seen before, even by the artist. He also has plans to bring Standby…Art into the everyday office.

“The North East is one of the largest capitals of call centres,” says Frankie. “There’s been a lot of medical research that suggests changing surroundings make a better working environment. You’re less likely to suffer from depression and stress. We install screens in our clients’ offices and for a monthly subscription they can select artwork to suit their surroundings or to emphasise their corporate message.”

Frankie’s system allows the client to hand-pick themes and even colours of artwork through the use of keywords or tags to each piece. The whole Standby gallery can be customized to match the furniture.
The foundation of Standby is a social network of freelance artists working together to create a grassroots community where new talent can get feedback and find work. This collaborative and collective philosophy is another first for the North East.

“Galleries have always been perceived as clinical, ivory towers but what’s important about Standby is we don’t decide if a piece of work is good, it’s for others to decide. That’s the nicest thing about the site. It runs itself now.”

Since its launch in December, Standby…Art has grown so quickly with hardly any advertising even Frankie is surprised. It is linked on Saatchi.com, the 254th most popular website in the world, and Frankie’s site is visited 75 thousand times a day. One of the first artists to sign up was David Firth, a famous graphic artist who has offered to link Standby on his own site which receives four million hits a day.

“We’re planning on opening the gallery this year. In the last six months Standby has became more of a trademark than just a gallery. It’s now a training course, magazine, publisher, film production company and a graphic design studio. Eventually the umbrella of Standby will also include a gallery and café.”

Aside from his Sunderland diploma, Frankie has been learning his craft for over fifteen years. His passion for design is contagious and that’s something he wants to focus on in the future.

“We’re hoping to set up a government funded scheme in the gallery where people can come in and leave with a decent show reel to take to universities or employers. Imagine a foundation course for someone with no qualifications. I always wanted to be a lecturer at some point in the future, and I would like to continue my own education. Maybe another degree or masters. That’s because when I’m teaching I want to give my best. I’ve been offered various jobs, but someone told me that once you’ve became your own boss it’s harder to work for someone else. That’s something I’m definitely feeling. Maybe it’s ego but the freedom of running my own business is incredible.”

Frankie has lots of things waiting to fire from the Standby cannon. He’s working on a documentary about a deaf and blind student in Durham, and a unique charity based project called Christian Art which aims to spread the profits from prints of religious artwork between the artist and charities. He is also planning a digital guide to every university in the UK. Not on his own obviously. It’s all about the group effort.