Art On The Rio has been in existence for 11 months. That’s not a lot of time. Businesses come and go every day. It’s not rare for someone’s bright idea to be a slowly dimming light, until a fade to black happens. Ironically, businesses want to remain “in the black.” Confused yet? We aren’t trying to speak in code – nor are we trying to abide by any. This revolutionary model that is sort of growing within a “big ol’ box” we’ve created – is aiming to serve artists in ways new and old, fun and practical, innovative, and interesting.
Along the lines of being innovative and interesting, but not brand new… everyone’s heard of a “raffle.” You put in money, maybe you win something – usually something you don’t need, and the money goes “somewhere.” Yeah, we took that idea and made it different…
Welcome to the “Prize Possession Drawing.” In addition to our Brick and Mortar Partnerships, our FB Live Auction Events, and our “Paid to Paint” programming, we are operating and executing drawings for amazing pieces of Contemporary Fine Art.
11 months in, the average purchase price of an Art On The Rio piece of art is just under $200. That is a significant amount of money for a number of different reasons. First, it’s awesome that people are buying art! Second, $200 in Albuquerque can be stretched decently far and also for the buyer, it’s not a small amount of money either. And third, we’ve sold nearly 350 pieces of art – and I said “average” – so do the math.
Artists at Art On The Rio are collectively adding to each others’ bottom line, by operating as a collective. It’s working. Artists are working at supplying a demand in a market that is only going to grow. There are no supply chain issues right here on the block. We just need to continue to #BuyLocal as community members and patrons of the arts.
That being said, some of our pieces, because they exceed the “average” purchase price by quite a bit, can sometimes take longer to find their forever homes. We LOVE some of our “high end,” fine art pieces to death (there’s a pun in here, for this month’s offering.)
We show them off and move them around town – and cross our fingers that the pay day that comes with a $2,000-$5,000 sale hits each day when we do what we do. We also have come to be intentional around our actions at Art On The Rio. We are aware that if things aren’t “happening” sometimes it’s because we haven’t MADE them happen. We are making it happen with the Prize Possession Drawing series.
Periodically, pieces in the range of ($1,500-5,000) in value will go into our drawing. Tickets are $20 per ticket and (6) for $100. When tickets are purchased, that money is put toward paying the artist for the piece being offered.
In essence, the community is crowdsourcing paying an artist what he or she deserves for the piece, while someone gets the opportunity to own an “investment worthy” piece of art for a FRACTION of the price! Sounds cool right? You should try it out. Each piece selected is a stunning original piece of art. These are conversation starters, sometimes award winning pieces, they’re the signature of what some of our artists do, so well – they’re heartwork on canvas. You have to own some of that!
Here’s your chance. Between now and December 12th at 5pm, you can buy TICKETS for a chance to WIN “Persephone.” Persephone is a 36×48” original by James Montoya. It is a Dia De Los Muertos themed painting for all those who dig the culture and iconography. It will soon be on display until the drawing date at American Home Furniture and Mattress at Menaul and Carlisle, one of our more than a dozen Brick and Mortar Partner locations for Art On The Rio.
Help us continue to mix it up. Buy a ticket – 20 Bucks might just get you a $2,600 piece of art – and your $20 will pay an artist either way! Everyone wins! Cheers.