The Indian Affordable Art Bazaar

The idea of buying ‘real’ Art has been limited to few who could blow a few Crores to hang a big name on the wall. The list included Art Connoisseurs and businessmen who could indulge in the luxury of investing and curating art pieces. Not anymore.

The democratization of Art in India and the convenience of the Internet has seen many independent artists making a name for themselves by selling affordable art.

Meet Cupick, a platform that helps monetize one’s creative assets by putting it on consumable products. It currently sells t-shirts, hoodies, posters, art prints, canvases and cards.

Artists choose the products they want to sell, the price, and the company takes care of everything else. There is also a community where artists can follow, collaborate and interact with others of their kind.

“Cupick is about making art consumable and accessible. The world’s so much better if we have a lot more beauty around”, Justin Alva, Co-founder and CMO says.

DeviantArt and Behance have been the biggest platforms for visual artists around the world to showcase their work. However, they may not be the best places to monetize. Sites like Cupick are India’s answer to RedBubble and SocietySix when it comes to affordable art.

The company has recently garnered $120K worth investments from Indian and overseas investors. Does it indicate to a changing Indian art scenario?

“The boom in the economy has allowed people to spend on things that interest them. We want to make consumables aesthetic, and there is a huge market for it”, Alva says.

The average price for the smallest poster size on the site is around Rs. 200. The costliest could be at Rs. 500 while the average size Art prints go for anything from Rs. 600 to Rs. 800 for the smallest size. So what Art could you possibly buy so cheap?

“A lot of Indian artists between the ages of 21 to 30 have signed up. 30% are from outside of India. There have been signups from Indonesia, Korea, China, Europe, Mexico, US, Columbia, Chile and others. We have artists from 30 countries, give or take a few”, Alva informs.

So how is Cupick different from other T-shirt and poster brands? “Shoppers on Cupick can expect a diverse range, not just pop or quirk”, Alva says.

What’s the way forward for Cupick?

“We have plans to add to product development and expand product categories. Our core focus over the coming months however is to get artists using Cupick and to be Asia’s largest Art catalog. We haven’t ruled out the possibility of partnering with other e-commerce sites”, Alva says.

(Image credit: Indiatimes)