Click on the draw: the online gallery helping emerging artists

Click on the draw: the online gallery helping emerging artists
Internet gallery New Blood Art is trying to 'democratise' the art world and prevent new artists from abandoning the field An online company is hoping to “democratise” art by giving recently graduated painters and sculptors a place to exhibit and sell their work on the internet. New Blood Art is touring the current crop of art graduate shows and offering promising new talents a forum to display their creations.

Sarah Ryan, a former art teacher, set up the business partly to help young artists break through in what she says is an increasingly difficult and closed market.

“One of the main aims of the company was to help artists launch themselves and act as an incubator while they navigate a tricky period between leaving college and establishing themselves,” she said.

“When I started out the art world was about who you knew and it had a reputation for being elitist. I wanted to disrupt that and make it more democratic.”

London Dusk by Nina Stallwood - £195

Ms Ryan added that rising tuition fees have made it increasingly difficult for young artists to wait to be discovered as they are under pressure from large student debts.

“Art is a subject that is notoriously difficult to make a living out of and I thought that with galleries under pressure to sell lots of work or closing, there were natural talents that could be giving up on art because they couldn’t get exhibited and seen by people.”

She said that her company means the public get to buy affordable art that has gone through a “quality control” process with New Blood Art selecting who is displayed, while artists get to show their work for free and set the prices. They are charged a 40pc commission on sales.

Works can be priced from just £50 to several thousand pounds, but Ms Ryan said the average sale price is around £400.

23 Litre Painting by Morwenna Potter - £5,000

The company, which Ms Ryan started in 2004 and had physical gallery until last year, now has a £250,000 annual turnover.

Manchester-based Iain Andrews is one artist who has achieved success after exhibiting with New Blood Art.

“A lot of small galleries have closed down so New Blood Art has been a useful beast – it’s a midwife to artists,” said Mr Andrews, who describes his work as a “balance between figuration and abstraction” .

He said that even though prices of work sold may not be high, they help finance artists so they are not forced to abandon painting or sculpting.

“It helps you sell work and when you are selling that gives you the confidence to make more work – that helps you break through,” he said.

Mr Andrews’ later works have since sold for as much as £25,000, although the prices he achieved with new Blood Art were much lower.

“Because it gives them a chance to sell, it encourages people to make art and having more people doing that can only be good,” he added. “While a certain type of person would belligerently keep on going, I think a lot of people might give up if they weren’t selling.”