As an artist on the site, I think it is fantastic. It is different from Artsy and other
Sites because of their personal attention and commitment to their artists and customers. Linda
Launch HN: Art in Res (YC W20) – Buy art directly from artists
211–220 of 235 posts
Re: Launch HN: Art in Res (YC W20) – Buy art directly from artists
#212John, this is an industry with a huge graveyard of failed startups doing the same thing. And the only ones left - Artsy, just went through a huge firing and recapping and I wouldnt give them long. Leaf group is trying to get rid of Saatchi in a fire sale and ArtFinder is barely break even with a team less than a dozen and making money from charging artists. So given this idea does not seem different than the many bef…
Tagging onto this reply.. As someone with particular domain knowledge (I worked in the art world for years and have many professional artist and gallerist friends), I don't I've ever seen an online art sales platform that actually understand the purpose of an art gallery--for both collectors and artists. Galleries are not simply point of sale vendors for art. They establish a scene, they contextualize the art and the…
> I have friends who have literally calculated how much it costs them per square inch to make a painting and it can be shocking.
Any medium/cost data you can share?
Re: Launch HN: Art in Res (YC W20) – Buy art directly from artists
#213John, this is an industry with a huge graveyard of failed startups doing the same thing. And the only ones left - Artsy, just went through a huge firing and recapping and I wouldnt give them long. Leaf group is trying to get rid of Saatchi in a fire sale and ArtFinder is barely break even with a team less than a dozen and making money from charging artists. So given this idea does not seem different than the many bef…
> I love artists and design, and am shocked this has not happened yet, so Im rooting for you. I really appreciate it! And I appreciate the thoughtfulness of your questions. One aspect is that we're not business people looking at this problem in a cold, analytic light: we care about the wellbeing of artists and the joy that people get from having art in their homes. I know from my experience as an artist that most art…
My wife is a designer-turned-artist so I'm familiar with some of the comments above re: solo shows / the value of galleries. If you've read "The Case for the 12 Million Dollar Shark" then you must know that most people who buy art at high prices are wealthy, upper class folks who see art as much as a way to show off how cool / sophisticated they are and as an investment vehicle.
I've personally found the entire industry off putting at how much it's about prestige and how specific collectors see an artist or a piece.
But at the same time, I don't think normal people want to pay high prices for art. It just doesn't serve much value to them. If your users haven't heard of Saatchi or Artsy, what are they doing buying art and why do you think this is going to be a large market?
It seems like you'll end up with low priced artwork and artists who want to graduate to a "real gallery" when they get bigger, and so you really need volume to make to work. Respect the hustle from one YC founder to another but scratching my head on this one.
Re: Launch HN: Art in Res (YC W20) – Buy art directly from artists
#214The price filter does not seem to work (maybe the minimalist one neither, but not totally sure). I selected <1200$, saved it, the page says <1200$ but I see 7000$+ paintings.
Re: Launch HN: Art in Res (YC W20) – Buy art directly from artists
#215The lead is
> Art should be affordable, and artists should get paid.
Why is this?
Re: Launch HN: Art in Res (YC W20) – Buy art directly from artists
#216John, this is an industry with a huge graveyard of failed startups doing the same thing. And the only ones left - Artsy, just went through a huge firing and recapping and I wouldnt give them long. Leaf group is trying to get rid of Saatchi in a fire sale and ArtFinder is barely break even with a team less than a dozen and making money from charging artists. So given this idea does not seem different than the many bef…
Tagging onto this reply.. As someone with particular domain knowledge (I worked in the art world for years and have many professional artist and gallerist friends), I don't I've ever seen an online art sales platform that actually understand the purpose of an art gallery--for both collectors and artists. Galleries are not simply point of sale vendors for art. They establish a scene, they contextualize the art and the…
If a startup wants to 'disrupt' the art world, I think the first step would be to figure out how you are going to make a business that cultivates an artist's career over the long term and which establishes a real art scene involving both artists and collectors.
As an aside, this view of how to establish a startup and 'disrupt' an industry isn't a very positive one. I hope artinres aren't aiming to take over the existing art market, but instead they want to grow the whole market and bring together new buyers who haven't bought from galleries with artists who want to sell their work.
Whenever a startup's pitch deck includes something like "The global market for this is $X billion, and we want to get 5% of that.", I always wonder why they want to fight the established competition who won't give up their business easily. Competing is hard. If you can find a way to grow the market by 5% instead you'll get the same result for much less effort (still a massive amount of effort though, obviously).
Re: Launch HN: Art in Res (YC W20) – Buy art directly from artists
#217Thanks for sharing.
I'm interested to see how your pricing hypothesis plays out. I say this as someone who enjoys art and owns a couple of pieces.
how the artists’ studio was this cool warehouse space that was overflowing with unsold paintings
There’s so much amazing art out there, collecting dust in studios.
It could be that people want payment plans, or that artists need better marketing tools.
My hypothesis is that a lot of art is priced significantly above what the market considers acceptable. The alternative to buying one-off art from an artist is Pier1, Target or posters.com not an art gallery. How does the typical consumer justify a X00% markup?
If artists priced their goods at a price-point that drove sales, would there be an increase in renown that would allow them to sell at higher prices later?
Re: Launch HN: Art in Res (YC W20) – Buy art directly from artists
#218John, I'm hearing a lot of great feedback re startups who have tried and failed at this. That does not mean you won't be the ones who succeed. There is no clear winner in this space. You could be the founders who figure it out. There are so many obstacles to entering the art market. It's unnecessarily complicated to start collecting and supporting artists. For instance, I would pay to "virtually" attend the Venice / Whitney Biennele. The Headlands Center for the Arts has a great auction that only a handful of people know about. Same for Creativity Explored - an amazing way to build an art collection if you are new to collecting. There are a million possible ways to disrupt this industry. I am cheering you guys on.
Re: Launch HN: Art in Res (YC W20) – Buy art directly from artists
#219Heads up, with adblockers turned on in iOS Safari, every product image on your site is missing.
Re: Launch HN: Art in Res (YC W20) – Buy art directly from artists
#220Isn't this literally Paul Graham's first startup?