AARTZY OFFERS FUTURISTIC PLATFORM FOR ARTISTS

Two gentlemen were walking down Green Path in search of a painting. As Janaka Perera shared, “Usually, Green Path is a place where you could find artwork of local street artists. But it was a gloomy and a drizzling day and we could only find one artist who was selling his artwork from the back of a van.

- Sandaru Diwakara

This was an artist who made his living by selling his paintings on the street and most of his business depended on tourism”. After this encounter Perera, who has years of experience in business administration and marketing, identified a dire need that’s there in the Sri Lankan market for a proper platform for the local artists to sell their work. With the pressures of marketing and selling their work, artists were not able to solely focus on their craft. This was the inspiration that urged him to initiate Aartzy. It is an e-commerce platform that sells paintings, sculptures and digital prints, becoming a middle ground between artists and the buyers. Among many other online art stores, what would make Aartzy special?

First and foremost, it is not just an online platform that provides an opportunity to sell the crafts of artists. It creates an international identity for them, thereby generating international recognition for the artists and their artwork. According to Perera, Aartzy Managing Director, the international art market is valued at 73 billion USD and the exponentially growing online market is currently valued over 1 billion USD. So, this platform provides a great advantage and opportunities for the local artists, who get access to this wider international market, without solely depending on tourism, opportunities to share work in local art galleries or the meagre local market.