The Contemporary Art Studio Making Museum Grade Art Sustainable
The Brooklyn based studio-slash-collective producing a collection of artwork inspired by everyday life.
Words, Delanique Millwood
Photography, Marcus Richardson
The art world is a stone throw away from being inaccessible. The line between fine art and it’s affordability is a blurred one because though it can be, fine art is positioned to not be affordable for the average person. Unless you’re willing and able to cash out a minimum of $10,000 on a piece of work — paying for the artist name or the museum it’s being hung in, then chances are, you will never own a piece of museum-grade fine art.
Insert: Andy Blank. A contemporary art studio made up of art-makers ranging from different backgrounds, catering to the average person who would never buy museum-grade, handmade, fine art because of the high market cost. The group is dedicated to feeding the new generation of ‘art collectors’ , bridging the gap between fine art and accessible art by making thoughtfully designed, handmade artwork with materials like resin to introducing techniques such as embossing at an insanely reasonable price point: less than $200.
The Brooklyn based studio-slash-collective produces a collection of artwork inspired by everyday life. Though replicas are made, no two piece of work is exactly the same.
“We do produce replicas, like we will make something and it’ll be well received so we will offer an additional one-hundred. They will all have similar colors and pour technique but each one will always look slightly different from another because a paint never falls the same place twice” shares the studio founder who prefers to remain anonymous.
Andy Blank goes beyond selling affordable art. Each sold piece is packaged and shipped with a ‘ready to hang’ kit that is inclusive of a tape measure, pencil, wall hook, and hanging tips. Their approach to making, pricing, and packaging is straight-forward and honest.
The studio founder continues, “It’s an honest approach to selling art because once you understand the cost to produce museum-grade artwork, people will realize that quality artwork doesn’t have to be as expensive and that they aren’t paying for the art itself. The art world is unregulated, so you can price anything without reasoning but ultimately, what we are doing is just being honest and transparent.”