Photo by Leah Slossburg. This article appears in our November print issue. You can pick up a copy on newsstands around campus, or at our newsroom in room 520 in the University Center.
For the starving artist, selling work is a sign of success, but getting into a brick and mortar gallery isn’t as achievable as it may seem. This is where Medium Rare comes in.
Created by Parsons seniors Samantha Ratiner and Charles Royle, Medium Rare is a platform where emerging young artists can sell their works. Ratiner and Royle, who launched the platform earlier this year, explained their inspirations, motivations, and future plans.
“We want to be this middle market while also helping students and emerging artists to be able to start a career for themselves. Both of us had problems with the art industry and then looked introspectively at it and came out with one solution,” said Royle, a Fashion Design major.
The pricing of the artwork sold online ranges from $100 to the ten-thousands depending on the medium. Framed prints go for about $125, while bigger paintings are typically sold for anywhere from $1,000 to $12,000.
Painting on sale for $1200 by Lydia Crouse, a Parsons MFA candidate in fine art
“We’re investing in the artist as people and the buyers are investing in the artist as well as value. So that price point is really important to get exactly right,” said Ratiner, a Strategic Design and Management major. “But we like to keep a huge range, too. That allows us to be more accessible as a company for the consumer, to be able to go in an art gallery and feel like they can buy something and not be excluded from an industry that they find really exclusive.”
The name Medium Rare, while out of the ordinary, is more than just a catchy play on words. There are a few deeper meanings behind the name.
“One for example, is that we are the medium between an artist and a consumer, just between the terms of retail,” said Royle. Another comparison he brought up was Medium Rare meaning undercooked, meaning the platform is still “cooking,” or growing, in non-metaphorical terms. Royle also connected the name to different artistic mediums, “I think it just kind of spelled out and as we just kept throwing around names, that was the one that just really stuck.”
Though Royle coined the name, it was Ratiner who originally got the idea for Medium Rare. “When I moved into my apartment… my walls were empty. I wanted to start my own art collection.” Ratiner said. “I started asking kids from my classes to make art for me and I started collecting all these pieces. After months, I basically had a secured student gallery in my apartment. Then I came to Charles and I was like, I’m basically representing these artists already, these people have never had an opportunity like this and we should really help them. Then it kind of started from there.”
In addition to providing a means for young artists to sell their art, Royle thought it was necessary to include the buyer’s needs in the vision. “We thought, well, why don’t we do this in a way that helps the consumer be able to buy art, that’s not a reproduction, that’s not from Ikea and isn’t $20,000 sitting in a gallery,” Royle said.
They want emerging artists to know that their work will be considered, regardless of previous experience. “I’ve actually talked to a lot of people who heard about our company and thought, ‘Oh, no, I’m not good enough or I’m not big enough’,” Royle said. “We’re a new company, too, so we definitely want to encourage as many different people as possible to send their work.”
With Medium Rare already off to a fast start since its beginnings in early 2019, both Ratiner and Royle are ambitious to continue its growth and impact.
“We’re a new company, and we represent new creatives, so we’re also growing as they are. As our artists get bigger, the opportunities that we get to work on are also bigger,” Royle said.
“I want people to look at emerging artists the same way they do at regular artists. I want our artists to grow exponentially,” Ratiner said. “I want our artists to be the biggest artists and then one day they’ll say come to this platform Medium Rare if you’re a struggling student artist, go there and they will help you succeed because they believe in you. And with their help, they will help you get to where you want to be as an artist.”