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2. The next big thing!

3. The three legged stool.

4. Picture Business magazine October 2006.

5. Contact.

Picture Business magazine October 2006

Artreo offers a trio of artistic talent

Having successfully exhibited together over the past three to four years, Brighton artists Colin Ruffell of Crabfish, Mike Embden and Kate Osborne have joined forces to create Artreo.

Artreo will go live this month online at www.artreo.com and will feature details of the three artists and their collections on one site. The three way association will also provide a more prominent and central distribution point for the three artists. Customers can order their prints directly from each of the artists, but Artreo will enable the artists to operate as a single unit, offering greater flexibility. Not only can Artreo offer one carriage charge for a mixture of work from the group, but there will be the flexibility to exchange the art mix for images that perform particularly well in different gallery environments.

As Colin Ruffell explained: “Over the years we have found that galleries really like and value the direct contact with artists and it is good for us too, it keeps us at the sharp end of retail. With three professional artists working in close association with each other, we have reached a critical mass to be able to offer a flexible service.”

Colin Ruffell, Mike Embden and Kate Osborne first met through the Fiveways Artists Open Houses, an open house art trail that forms an important part of the high profile Brighton Festival. The fact that each of the three artists in the group is so different seems to be a winning formula for Artreo. As Mike Embden said: “We are all professional artists and our work is complementary rather than competitive. As a result we are all working to our strengths and what we are doing is real and genuine.” For more visit www.artreo.com

PRESS RELEASE     September 2006

Artreo.com is the new brand identity chosen by three well known independent professional artists in the UK. The Artreo.com website goes live in October 2006. The trio will next exhibit together at the Spring Fair in Birmingham in February 2007.

The artists are Colin Ruffell, Mike Embden, and Kate Osborne.

Next big thing!

Artreo.com represents the next big thing in the art business. Artists co-operating in small groups to exhibit and share resources could be the future of professional art publishing, and professional art sales. This model utilises the critical mass and economies of scale for exhibition and promotion, without sacrificing the creativity and flexible speed of individual studio businesses. The art industry is still adapting to the sea-change revolution following technological break-throughs in fine art printing and publishing. Large publishing houses and self-publishing artists are exploiting the advantages of giclee print on demand. Colin Ruffell is recognised as a pioneer in this field.  Fellow self-publishing artists Mike Embden and Kate Osborne are old buddies of Ruffell from their joint home city Brighton where they regularly exhibit together.

The three artists avoid the established route laid down by big publishing houses. The trio want to fully exploit the advantage that small fleet-of-foot personal businesses can deliver. 

• Remarkably short lead-time from new painting to finished print means that a gallery or art dealer client will be able to choose from many more images, more often. Portfolios are becoming much more dynamic and updates are more frequent.

• Short feed-back loops from the customer, through the gallery owner, direct to the artist will mean that new images are much more likely to be what the customer/collector wants.

• The trio offer a ‘swap if not sold’ service to galleries, that larger more cumbersome publishing house cannot match, so that dealers do not need to slip unsold stock out through e-bay.

• Inevitable direct contact by art collectors who find the artists on the internet will not disadvantage the retail gallery stockists. Prices are quoted at full retail value. Full trade credit is given to the gallery for introduction to the artists work.

• Healthy profit margins encourage high quality art made for investment as well as aesthetic pleasure. This means that the three artists can aspire to long-term recognition from the art industry and art collectors. The artists are not following fashionable fads. The trio are establishing themselves as real artists with a future.

The three artists have very different styles, but all three share common aims.  Professionalism, self publishing, high quality art, cooperative promotion, self-reliance, and individual close contact with the customer.

Previously the artists have been exhibiting together at trade shows like the Spring Fair in Birmingham , as Crabfish.com.  However the Crabfish.com brand is primarily associated with just one of the trio, Colin Ruffell, who introduced the others to trade fairs and the established art business. Now the three artists are creating a joint marketing philosophy with Artreo.com, plus a new website, and new stronger exhibition and marketing identity.

Model of  The Three Legged Stool

The principle of the three-legged stool. Any less and it wont stand up!

The three legs of Artreo.com are;

 ART

• Original paintings.

• Prints

• Licensing/merchandising.

REO

• The artists Colin Ruffell, Mike Embden, and Kate Osborne.

• The art business, galleries, dealers, trade press, FATG.

• The art buyer/collector, art history, peer-group recognition.

.COM

• The internet, websites, email, home computer, etc.

• Digital printmaking technology, giclee.

• Image capture and process, Photoshop, digital photography.

Contact;

Colin Ruffell.  T, 01273 550010.  E. cr@crabfish.com. W www.crabfish.com.

Mike Embden. 01273 706774. E. embdens@tiscali.co.uk W. www.michaelembden.com

Kate Osborne. 01273 707461. E. kate-osborne@ntlworld.com. W www.kateosborneart.com

Please bookmark this site before you leave, or use your back button to return to Artreo.com.

Colin Ruffell, Mike Embden and Kate Osborne are elected members of The Fine Art Trade Guild