A bit more than a year after the launch of the web platform, the ARTNOLENS community now consists of 2,950 members, more than 380 artists, and 2,850 referenced works, including 1,310 which are currently on sale.

The launch of the mobile application in July 2017 has significantly increased the number of daily connections, which has enabled new sales of artworks through the auction system or via direct access to the artists' Artbook.

The start-up tried to develop the best platform, the most comprehensive, the one which will enable art lovers to connect directly with the artists, without intermediary and without commission. They wanted it to be open to anyone, leisure and recognised artists, with a real-time quotation system enabling to bring to light as fairly as possible promising young talents, often excluded from the closed world of art dealers.

They believe in this disruptive approach, "even if the path is sometimes a little steep…" and have announced the launch of a brand-new version of the platform.

ARTNOLENS 2.0 – New ergonomics and new design

PLAY STORE | https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.artnolens
APP STORE | https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/artnolens/id1236151978?ls=1&mt=8

Launch of MARKET within the social platform ARTNOLENS

To simplify the transactional aspect, they are now proposing a “MARKET” feature divided in 2 types of transactions. Direct transactions through catalogue sales and indirect transactions through auctions sales. An online credit card payment system (PAYZEN) enables to securely manage these transactions and provides purchasers and artists a fast and easy-to-use platform to sell or purchase unique pieces of art.

A multidisciplinary platform with recognised artists

ARTNOLENS is open to all kind of arts, the most classic such as photography, painting, illustration or sculpture, but also the most recent such as computer graphics, or the most disruptive like tattoo!

One of the goals of the platform is to bring out young talents through the social network, but is also intended to inspire art lovers or these young artists. That’s why it was important to reference already recognised artists.

They mention “Charlie Wayne”, photographer and plastic artist, exhibiting in New York and more recently in South Korea (Czong Institute for Contemporary Art)

The real-time quotation system integrated to the platform enables art lovers to search for their dream artwork under 5 markets: Leisure artists, Experienced, Master, Grand Master or Elite.

For illustrative purpose, they mention 3 rising artists:

SCULPTURE | « Martine Fey » | Artwork | ARTNO-2016-00390, painter and sculptor from Metz area: with direct connection with her painting work, her characters both mysterious and ghostly leave the canvas and enter our world… exuding a poignant and striking atmosphere!

ILLUSTRATION | « Dementiart » (Alexis Armiont) | Œuvre | ARTNO-2017-01349, Graphic designer, photographer and illustrator in Lyon : perfect mastering of drawing techniques! But beyond the surgical precision in his work, appears a fantastic singularity…

TATTOO  | « Tom » | Œuvre | ARTNO-2016-00718, tattoo artist in Nancy : he expresses himself through drawing, mixing iconographical references and technics linked to his job, he produces powerful and committed artworks.

2018 goals

For 3 years ARTNOLENS has studied the art market, listened to the artists, built the platform with the support of Microsoft to offer an approach and a tool which are unique in the world. They are now entering a growth phase; their goal is to reach 20,000 members in the next 12 months. To support this growth, we will expand our staff, particularly with the recruitment of Community Managers by geographical area.

In parallel, they will organise two events per year. These events will be real exhibitions with the most acclaimed artists of the platform. The format is not yet fully defined, but the goal would be to exhibit on 5 days with an auction of unsold artworks on the last day.

They truly believe in the online model to discover new talents, but are equally convinced that appreciating Art must also be done through a physical meeting between artists and art lovers. They strongly believe in a mixed model, there is no antagonism but a true complementarity.