Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Launch HN: Art in Res (YC W20) – Buy art directly from artists

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 235 posts

Re: Launch HN: Art in Res (YC W20) – Buy art directly from artists

#71

Post by ForrestN »

sushisource wrote: post #37
RickS wrote: post #32

Edit: huge props to the team for shipping a fix for this in minutes. --- I want to love this idea, but I struggle to get past the lack of full price when browsing. It says "$48 • 24 months" and expects me to intuit that the product costs $1152. Or rather, I worry that it expects me not to intuit that. Breaking the absolute price into a series of less frightening numbers to obscure the magnitude of a purchase feels sl…

Not to mention the fact that I suspect most people interested in purchasing fine art aren't exactly the type who care to finance the purchase.

I think part of their idea is that the sometimes-alienating "fine art" distinction, and the expectations around pricing that go with it, is keeping available art from people who would get a lot of pleasure from living with it. I think there's a type who thinks fine art isn't for them but will be shocked and pleased to be able to get a real, individually made art work for such a low monthly cost.

Re: Launch HN: Art in Res (YC W20) – Buy art directly from artists

#72

Post by werber »

orky56 wrote: post #59
owenversteeg wrote: post #27

One thing I've always been curious about with art in this price range ($500-5000) is the resale value. Say your tastes change and you'd like to get rid of one of these after a few years, how painful is it to sell? What are your chances of getting 50% of the purchase price? 90%? 150%?

A rent the runway for art would be an amazing idea. It would require a large deposit to cover the initial art piece but provide customers with a dynamic art collection almost similar to how museums have visiting exhibits. I'd be happy to work with someone on this.

I read Liz Phair's book earlier this year, and Oberlin does (or perhaps did) do that for students, for something like 20 bucks a year in the 80s for UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS, crazy.

Re: Launch HN: Art in Res (YC W20) – Buy art directly from artists

#74

Post by jvln »

werber wrote: post #68

I’m struggling between considering these home decor or investment pieces. It doesn’t seem like any (that I’ve checked) are coming up on artnet, so when you say unknown do you mean like even to the art world? Also when filtering for large items in getting things as small as 6x8”.

That is an interesting question. I would like to buy a nice painting or a sculpture but how can I distinguish a piece that is worth considering.

Re: Launch HN: Art in Res (YC W20) – Buy art directly from artists

#75

Post by caiobegotti »

Congrats on the launch, folks! It looks really nice and I loved the idea! The first thing I thought was "hey, maybe NOW this is an incentive to put my paintings somewhere trustworthy and see if it's commercially viable" regarding the stuff I do with acrylic and spatulas but then the whole artist application page felt... very unwelcoming... is it only for "real" artists with detailed portfolios and studio addresses? I didn't want to leave the application page feeling I'll be only allowed in Etsy-like places and be happy about it.

Re: Launch HN: Art in Res (YC W20) – Buy art directly from artists

#76

Post by ForrestN »

I've had the pleasure of purchasing a work via Art in Res and seeing the platform develop, and I can't wait to watch it continue to grow. Both sides of this market place—artists with serious art practices but no commercial gallery representation, people who love art but can't afford to buy from galleries—will get so much out of being connected to each other.

If you haven't ever lived with art made by people who care deeply about making it, I suggest you set down $30 and try it! You'll be surprised how much it can enrich your life.

Re: Launch HN: Art in Res (YC W20) – Buy art directly from artists

#77

Post by gangstertim »

changdizzle wrote: post #64
gangstertim wrote: post #20

Congrats on your launch! The site looks great—and it strikes a chord with me, because I'm working on an art marketplace as well (albeit for prints, not originals). Given we have adjacent, not competitive platforms, let me know if you'd ever like to do some co-marketing! Our product is www.vsual.co A few things I noticed when looking at your site: - I like the detail views you have on your pieces, but a the higher res…

Checked out the site - looks awesome! Is there any way to filter? It's cool at first glance looking through the whole selection on the site but could see it getting tedious the 2nd time+.

Thanks Changdizzle! There are a few ways to filter—you can filter by medium by clicking the "Photography" "3D" or "Illustration" boxes, or you can filter by artist by going to the Shops page in the top nav. Or, you can search prints for tags. Did you have something else in mind?

Re: Launch HN: Art in Res (YC W20) – Buy art directly from artists

#78

Post by ForrestN »

my_green_book wrote: post #66
itcrowd wrote: post #39

I like the idea of making art more accessible by spacing out the payment. Congratulations on the launch! I won't comment on the art for sale, because I think it is too much in the eye of the beholder but I will give some feedback on your website and concept. - Why fixed installments? Why not say "this piece costs 300$ buy now, or pay 10 installments of 35$ or 20x20$" (forget the numbers, just an example). - why are t…

The cut is too high for the platform. I guess you take this number from Google/Apple store's commission. The difference is software on Google's store has infinite leverage and takes almost 0 to scale sales. Every piece of art takes lots of work and cannot scale in the same way. Art works do not scale like software. With this cut, I feel your platform is taking advantage of artists (they do not know where to sell) rat…

I don't see the relevance of app stores to the sale of artworks...?

Auctions take a small cut because they are resellers of art. The artist doesn't get paid when a work sells at auction, the previous owner does.

Art is usually sold by galleries, and the standard cut there is 50%. On top of that, artist and gallery often share discounts, so a work that is sold for a 20% discount means the artist will only see 40% of the total price. For artists, this will be a pleasant surprise rather than a steep expense.

Re: Launch HN: Art in Res (YC W20) – Buy art directly from artists

#80

Post by JohnFriel »

itcrowd wrote: post #39

I like the idea of making art more accessible by spacing out the payment. Congratulations on the launch! I won't comment on the art for sale, because I think it is too much in the eye of the beholder but I will give some feedback on your website and concept. - Why fixed installments? Why not say "this piece costs 300$ buy now, or pay 10 installments of 35$ or 20x20$" (forget the numbers, just an example). - why are t…

> - Why fixed installments? Why not say "this piece costs 300$ buy now, or pay 10 installments of 35$ or 20x20$" (forget the numbers, just an example).

We're considering adding more options like that. The only reason we haven't so far is that we're weighing it against overwhelming people with too many options and also other features we want to implement.

> - why are there so few pictures of the work? If I buy a piece of art I want to look at it from all angles, get up close, see the structure, see it from far, see the frame etc.

I totally agree with you on this. This is actually one of the features we want to add before adding additional installment options.

> - since you got excited from seeing artists' workspace, why not show them to us? Why not show those cool warehouses/storage containers/houses where the art is piled floor to ceiling? > - When I click on an artist's bio, the last thing I want to see is a full-bleed picture of his face. I want to see where he works, how he is inspired or how this piece was formed.

Again, I couldn't agree more. For the time being, we've been getting our photos from the artists themselves and they tend to have better portraits of themselves than shots of them visible in their studios.

- out of curiosity: how did you come up with the 30/70 split between fees/artist's check? How do the artists respond? Have you had anyone say the fees are too high?

Traditional brick-and-mortar galleries take a 50% cut so we're taking significantly less than that. We also 'insure' the art ourselves: if someone stops paying and the artwork can't be reclaimed, we pay the artist their full cut anyway, even if it's a loss to us.

Post reply on HN