The Founder
My name is Ingo Zipser. I am the founder of artContraire and I am infected by the art virus. What started at a young age with the first encounters with artists later developed into a true fever. I would like to share the magical moments that art has given me with other people through a unique company. As a team we strive to realize a special company that unites the world of art and the new media landscape. More about our origins.
A Unique Company for a Special Market
The art market is “special”. One of the biggest challenges it faces is bringing together the right customer with the right artist. The scenario is as follows: As the product is viewed as a luxury product one has to face an imbalance in demand and production. A large quantity of artworks meets a small number of clients who are inclined to buy. Artists are moreover often just regionally known and thus limited in their potential audience. Adding to these challenges is the fact that requirements for artists have changed dramatically. To be an artist does not just mean “merely” producing art anymore. Today it especially means being able to use effective branding and marketing – things that have nothing to do with the artistic creative process and are very time consuming. Now artContraire is taking over and frees the artists of these challenging tasks.
By combining cross-sector know-how in the areas of art, marketing and business, artContraire offers a unique art management company with a focus on online marketing and online customer acquisition. Exclusive artists as part of a unique platform – artContraire unites online trade with personal high-quality customer service and consultation and thus becomes an innovative meeting place for art enthusiasts.
For artists, the business model of artContraire means a bigger creative scope, more market and distribution opportunities, less time spent on publicity and, most importantly, more time for the actual realisation of art. The customers are given the opportunity to acquire their perfect artwork conveniently from anywhere at anytime, get to know their favorite artists better, and gain deep insights into the art creation process. Furthermore, our customers enjoy individual consulting by our team.
Combining Media-Expertise with Art Business
We take a traditional business and bring it into a new world.
With a special focus on new media and digital marketing, we enable our artists to be professionally represented in the online world. The concept of an online platform for art is not just about breaking down physical barriers. New media allows infinite creativity and possibilities to reach customers through new ways. “Physical” galleries are specialists in their field, artContraire adds the appropriate expertise in the field of online marketing. The artContraire team offers selected artists a professional online representation, individual advertisement on various online platforms and targeted customer finding. We take over the internet for our artists.
Accessing unique customers
The customers of each artist are a unique as the pieces or art themselves.
The audience of artists is made up by a diverse range of demographic factors such as age, origin, social background. Utilizing social networks and new advertising platforms, the artContraire team identifies customer segments, creates precise customer profiles based on user interests, and conducts targeted niche marketing. With campaigns individually tailored to our unique customers, our team reaches a completely new and ideally matching audience for artists. In addition to the sales opportunity, our artists also benefit from an organic advertising effect.
artContraire wants as little organizational work as possible to remain with the artists, while customers can enjoy reliable and personal consultation. The team consults, advices and accepts customer requests on behalf of the artists.
The challenge: selling physical art online
We want to bring art to the people. We enable our audience to experience the beauty of art without time pressure and physical barriers but instead with highly progressive artistic standards.
In an age of digitalization, where almost all markets are represented online, it is promising to follow this path with art as well. However, to sell art virtually, without the possibility of experiencing the artwork physically, poses a challenge for the industry.
We at artContraire have seen first-hand how personal the experience of buying art is for our customers and recognized this hurdle as an opportunity. We see the solution in combining virtual art world and real-world experience. In order to achieve this, we enable customers seeking for art to have an individualized experience that subsitutes the feeling of an automatized online world with a colorful, personal meeting place. The close communication with our hand-picked artists allows us to provide high-quality service and in-depth personal consultation for our customers. On the very first contact online, we assist with detailed information on our artworks and artists. In direct coordination with our artists we fullfill individual customer demands and ensure a serious art purchase. To take things even more personal, our customers have the unique possibility to meet their chosen artist in person (“Meet My Artist”). This experience has been received with great enthusiasm by our customers, some of whom even capture the moment by framing the signed certificate of authenticity at home.
Very quickly we realized that we can really fascinate a new audience with our concept. Our customers are versatile. They often don’t correspond to common stereotypes associated with the world of art. With our down-to-earth, dynamic approach we enable people to buy art, who otherwise might not have. Stimulating new interest and understanding in art is one of our great achievements that we are especially proud of.
Plea & House of artContraire
We don’t just want to have a successful sales model. We want to put our values at the heart of our company. That is why we formulated our plea which consists of the fundamental values which carry our “house”.
artContraire is a young company that has set itself the goal of connecting the most different people, diverse worlds and realities of life with art. Art is our magnifier to reveal burning problems facing society and our tool to help extinguish them.
In a digitalized world full of contradictions, creativity is replaced with practicality. Self-portrayal and optical distortions enslave us. Everything seems to be growing more and more together but at the same time this new world tears down everything have built up and creates new differences. artContraire sees an opportunity in this contradictory – contrarian – world. Corresponding to the principle of complementary colors, we see how opposites complete each another. Our artists are critical thinkers, who speak up for their ideals as role models for society. Together with them we want to celebrate our uniqueness and shine a light on the “imperfect” instead of concealing it. Through participation, exchange and solidarity we aim to bring color and warmth into this cold world. Read our full plea.
Our “house”
In our “house” we bring people – based on fundamental values – together and allow them a new way of exchange.
Foundation
Our community is based on fundamental values which celebrate diversity.
Open
Our doors are open to everyone to participate ideas and take away stimulations.
Place of encounter
Discover, get to know, exchange: Our house offers a place for unique encounters between artists and art lovers.
Our Focus
The original idea behind artContraire is to present, promote and support exceptional artists, who strive – just like we – to go new ways with their art.
Art Mediation
We connect people and concepts to build an international family. We offer our customers the opportunity to find their personal artwork from an exclusive selection of artists from diverse countries and cultures, while developing a more personal relationship with the artists and their art. Always with an eye on new, developing markets. artContraire only present artists who produce unique art, are masters of their craft or are considered particular ambitious, rising art talents. We furthermore ensure that our customers receive the artworks for a fair market price and a certificate of authenticity. Conversely, we want to provide our artists with the best possible service.
Artist Management
In the last years we developed more and more in the direction of online art management. By this we mean that we offer our artists an all-in-one package. We invest our own resources and support them with targeted advertising in the new media and search engines. In addition, we handle online inquiries from people interested in art for them, so they can focus on what they love most. The art. In doing so, our artists do not take any risk. Thus, we achieve our ideal of a win-win situation for all parties: our artists get high quality promotion, our art lovers can buy unique art and even meet their favorite artist, and we have the honor of being able to pursue our passion and make a living from it.
Art Promotion
In an increasingly rationalized time, in which art has a special significance, it is our special concern to bring art into the center of our society. In order to achieve this, we use targeted art activities (such as the art and social project “einzigARTig”). In doing so, we involve artists through cooperations and give them the chance to realize art initiatives on current topics. With the possibility of renting art, we open up publicly accessible spaces and open up new exhibition areas to present high-caliber art – whether hotels, cafés, wine cellars, private estates or, as in the current project, culinary venues. The idea is to rent artworks to culinary establishments and display them in the establishment’s respective space. With this implementation, in combination with the art of culinary, we actively promote cross-industry creativity and make art more accessible. We are becoming an art interior designer. Furthermore, we also promote talented emerging artists with special art concepts.
Future vision
We are just at the beginning of our journey, hungry for success, always inquisitive and constantly trying to improve ourselves. We are working to expand our networks and collaborations and strive to support our artists in the best possible way. Through our in-depth knowledge of business, marketing and the arts, we strive to build on our reputation as a high-quality online platform. With our know-how and commitment, we saturate our target markets and open up new regions, such as China. Events inside and outside the artContraire network are meant to stimulate and definitely excite. The fundamental values of our company set the standard for how we present ourselves to the public, how we influence our environment, and how we bring artContraire’s art to the world. Just as our dream of a dedicated online gallery has already materialized into reality, so too shall our visions materialize in the near future.
The art fever is what brought us together. Through our values we form a house and become a community. Our passion drives us to achieve more and more.