KOCHI: In 2016, www.cushbu.com Art Gallery in Kochi was one of the digital startups that premiered at the annual Tiecon event. The online art gallery, started by two siblings, was born out from a simple desire - promoting works of local artisans. A B Cusbhinshad, who hails from a family of artists -- his father was an art teacher and mother a caricature artist -- says he and his sister Sanatta Balakrishnan decided to take this venture forward because many talented artists and their works were vanishing without a trace.
“These works may be wasting away in their studios. Or for some others, it would have just been exhibited once. We want these artists to earn a living and feel encouraged which is why we started the initiative,” said Cusbhinshad, who was named after a Mughal character in one of his father’s art stories.
The gallery, which is set to make its mega launch next month, will arguably be one of the few online galleries which boast of a Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality experience. “This means, those who wish to buy a work of an artist can use the augmented reality experience to see how the work would look inside their living room,” said Cushbinshad, whose wife Suma is part of the venture.
Curators have been roped in from various parts of the world to promote the work of the artists. “We will also be selling work of international and national artists. However, there will be an emphasis on local artists. The main highlight of selling their work online is that many buyers from the UK and the US are willing to shell out more for art, including Indian art,” he said.
Differentially-abled artists will also be brought under the canopy. The decision to set up an online platform was born from Cushbinshad’s many years of experience in the IT industry.“Technology is the future. There are many beautiful works that can sell incredibly well if the artist knew how to operate online. However, the majority are not tech-savvy. We are providing them with the platform required to promote the work,” he said.