An additional filter when searching for artwork - one that allows to show/hide a given artist/gallery/seller (whatever the proper term would be - I'm going to just say artist going forward).
It's one filter but it could be a positive or negative filter depending on what results the customer wanted to include or exclude.
First the positive side. If I am searching for widgets and I see that Artist A has one that I like but I'd like to see more of their work, I have to click the artwork. Wait for it to load, find the link to their profile. And if I'm lucky it's a subject they have an individual gallery for. If not, I have to spot the search portfolio link and run my original search again.
That's a lot of steps just to see more widgets by the artist whose work I liked. My suggestion is an option beneath the artwork in the search to 'see more by this artist.' In essence an additional filter along with color, medium, etc. that shows me all of the artwork that meets my keyword search by that artist. It would save the customer a lot of clicking and exposes more work of the style they liked (assuming that artist has more of that subject). Either way, it gets it over quickly. They either see that artist has more work they might like or they see that is all there is.
On the negative filter side, if you do any broad searches on the site, like countries or states or even large cities, you'll often find pages of work by the same artist. Which is fine if that fits the bill, but if the customer doesn't like their style, they have to skip pages (and potentially other artist work that was sprinkled among those results) to get past said prolific and popular artist.
it would be so much easier if the customer was in the driver seat. If they have seen several pieces already and it's not a style that fits their vision, they should be able to hide further results from that artist. Ideally, they should be able to hide more than one. I think this would make the search more customer friendly by allowing them to remove results they can already see don't fit what they were looking for. In essence narrowing it down just like picking a color or a medium they prefer. Each removed artist would get them closer to what they were ultimately after.
In either case, it should be made obvious in the search results that they are hiding other work, either by only looking at one artist or by hiding multiple artists.