Opencart backend, but no obvious ecommerce frontend

this may be a stupid question (sorry, newbie to Opencart, experience OSCMAX)
Can you create a 3.0 template, that has many 'standard' html / php pages, that have no ecommerce data, that look liek a standard site
then just have a 'store' page to sell goods ?
for example, need to create a site for an artist, who 'also sells her work
hence i need to lead with 'art', and then 'sell' later as a 'store' page (or pages)

thanks

With OC v3.x releases, it is even more easier to code a custom theme without the use of PHP codes in themes since PHP is being restricted of use in all themes starting from those releases. As for personalizing the presentation of your theme, that is totally user-based, there are no restrictions whatsoever based on ways to present its style.

Is it easy to configure the leading page (index.php?) to not be a 'ecommerce / shop' site, but a regular webpage, and then just have one of the menu items as 'shop now' to load additional opencart pages with categories etc ?? and the 'top' page go back to the non shop page
and yes, would start with 3.x

sorry for the newbie questions, just wondering how much template manipulation i need...

You can either look in the marketplace for recent or new themes or if you wish something to be developed with your own perspective of presenting your website with Opencart, you can also post a request in the Commercial Support in order to request professional assistance to develop a theme from scratch to fit the requirements you're seeking for.