Try the art before you buy

London, Apr 14 (UNI) There are people who have the choicest of pieces of art in their collection. And then there are those who have a wallspace for art and a bit of money but not an idea to use it. They are the ''blankwallers''.

Parag Shah, the founder of Art-Switch, an art leasing and sales company who has invented the term for six million Britons who have the wall space for art but does not know how to use it says ''the art world is a closed door to the uninitiated, with obscure and sometimes arbitrary prices to line the pockets of wealthy dealers''.

Shah created Art-Switch (art-switch.com), a new online lending library for contemporary art.

Businesses and private clients pay 365 pounds a year to register - ie, 1 Pound a day. This permits them to take out one piece of art at a time for up to three months, The Guardian reported.

The artist, meanwhile, gets 1 Pound everyday for the entire lease period. If their work is sold, the artist gets 75 per cent of the sale price.

Such provisions fall in line with Shah's belief that it is unfair that galleries usually take half of artists' sale fees.

While his initiatives enables borrowers to change the art on their walls as often as they like, Shah also plans to improve country's art literacy by allowing schools and people on lower incomes to access the library for free.

"And our business clients can let their staff vote for which piece they want in their office or boardroom,'' Shah was quoted as saying.

''It gets people talking about, and feeling more comfortable about their art tastes," Shah was quoted as saying.

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