Photo courtesy of carinilang.com
Appreciate fine art but just don’t have the money to buy your favorite pieces? We get it. Rather than picking up a generic print at IKEA for the living room or one of those god-awful motivational posters for your office, you might want to consider what many art lovers on a budget on both coasts are using to fill their walls: rental art.
According to a recent article in Forbes, rental art allows people to try a piece out before making a major investment. It’s “a great way to add some needed interest and depth to a special event or party you may be hosting” or can fill wall space while you try to sell your house. Popular with real estate developers looking to attract tenants and interior designers, stylists and stagers looking to “add polish and sophistication to their projects,” rental art is a simple and inexpensive way to “transform an interior space into something truly special.”
Leading the way in this market are companies Hang Art and Art Remba. Based in San Francisco, Hang Art offers more than 1,000 unique pieces of art for every taste and need. Founded in 1998, the company offers original artwork for rent for a month or longer. Typically, the quarterly rental fees are 12 percent of the artwork’s purchase price.
Art Remba, which began in New York City, is another option. A web-based club, Art Remba asks prospective members to complete an online application that covers everything from “education level to building security”. Once a member is approved, he/she can subscribe to works from galleries and artists for as little as $50 a month. Priding itself on its concierge service, the company hand-delivers and installs the rental art and will pick it up when the rental term is over. If you decide to keep the piece, the company will credit you as much as 50 percent of your rental fees toward the purchase price.
How about you? Would you rent a piece of art for your home or office?
