The Lo Down: Art collection on your budget

If you want to start collecting original pieces of art, Unsung Art is your answer. Run by a team of passionate local art enthusiasts, Unsung Art provides an online platform to help you add a special something to your home or office.

“It’s never too early to start collecting art, and it should never be something that’s too expensive for you either,” Jessica Kramer, co-owner of Unsung Art tells me. “With Unsung Art, we want to promote local art in South Africa so we came up with the idea to develop a platform that offers a range of art styles at affordable prices so that anyone can browse the collection and, should they like something; order it online. We then source it from the artist, package it carefully, and deliver it to you anywhere in South Africa.”

Keeping it in the family with this original piece by Liz Kramer.

Affordable, original art

Unsung Art is helping to pioneer this form of art selling/buying in the South African creative space, with similar concepts already well-established overseas, most notably, eyestorm.com and artriver.com.

With the aim to promote artists as well as a love for local art, Unsung Art was launched earlier this year and the team is optimistic about the future of art collection in this country. Cape Town is playing host to the World Design Year and more and more South Africans are interested in the creative industry and what local artists can offer.

“For the artist (both established and emerging), we offer an alternative, accessible way to sell their artwork and for the art lover we offer an easy way to browse a wide range of art that can fit into a budget,” Kramer continues. “And, a piece by one of our more popular artists like Atang Tshikare could end up becoming very valuable in the near future.”

A piece by Scott Williams on the Unsung Art platform.

“Washing the dust of daily life off our souls”

Kramer believes that the strength of Unsung Art lies in its non-traditional approach of giving exposure to up-and-coming artists and fostering a love of art in those who may have felt too intimated by it before. “We want people to realise that good quality, original art is not exclusive to only the wealthy and doesn’t just come from the well-known artists.”

To see what Unsung Art have on offer, or if you are interested in featuring your own art with them, visit: www.unsungart.co.za or follow them on Twitter @UnsungArt and Facebook at facebook.com/UnsungArt.