New national art website to help emerging artists

Media release – June 20, 2008

New national art website launched to help emerging NZ artists

A new art website was launched today to help emerging New Zealand artists get established.

The website, www.artklick.co.nz is the brainchild of James Stewart, a Christchurch designer.

Stewart, 24, said he was inspired by people like Sam Morgan (Trademe) and Dylan Bland (Zillion). He said there was gap in the market for what he was providing at Artklick. Other US sites like www.deviantart.com and www.etsy.com had become very successful – and Stewart said he wanted Artklick to be what Trademe was to eBay.

``Some art websites you can’t buy works and others involve a set up fee and monthly membership. Obviously Trademe is a place where a lot of art is sold and we will be hoping to get some of those people - and the buyers, Stewart said.

``There are also a lot of people who just don’t list their art online. We want to capture that group and make it easy and risk free for them to get exposure and sell their work.

Artklick is free to artists but they take just 10 percent commission on sales, to help artists make a living or income from their passion.

Stewart said they wanted to see some of their artists selling internationally by the end of the year, especially to the 30,000 homesick Kiwis that move out of NZ each year.

The site officially opened with just 20 artists but the numbers were expected to explode in the coming months.

``It is not uncommon for artists to sell less than 50 percent of their works from an exhibition and we want to be the place they can continue to exhibit their art. Galleries commonly charge 40 percent commission on sales, by reducing it to 10 percent we can greatly increase the artists’ profits.’’

The site backs the Emerging Artists Foundation which is designed to help emerging artists break into the commercial art sector by providing workshops, exhibitions and listings on Artklick.

ENDS