Listen to this articleBelow is our recent interview with Cesar Bohorquez Jr., the Founder of Skeuomo:
Q: Could you provide our readers with a brief introduction to Skeuomo?
A: Skeuomo Inc. is an art-tech start-up based in Vancouver, BC. The web-based application is designed with the artist in mind, one part e-commerce marketplace that allows artists to sell original artwork and another part social network to allow communication between artists, collectors, and curators.
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A: Skeuomo is structured as a privately held corporation based in Vancouver, BC Canada and was founded by Cesar Bohorquez, an artist and marketing professional who has spent over 18 years marketing for emerging SaaS technology organizations and once pursued a career in the fine arts. All through my early childhood years I was considered an art prodigy, engaged in either advanced fine art classes or I was commissioned to paint murals for my elementary school and later two of my high schools. I also excelled in high school art programs and was considered by art professors as a matured artist, well ahead of most people my age. While my peers excelled at other subjects in school, I preferred to practice new techniques and explore with various mediums or emulate well-known artists. Fast forward into my twenties, a career in the arts was the most natural progression for me however the common misconceptions associated with an art career were too overwhelming to overlook – the phrase ‘starving artist’ exaggerated stereotypes and that artist can not survive in an economy dominated by professions with steady salaries – this was frankly far from the truth but unbeknownst to me. Nonetheless rather than pursuing an art career, I pursued business communications and marketing. Even so, I never abandoned my passion toward the arts. In fact, as I observed the evolution of social media, automation, big-data, artificial intelligence and the age of smartphones, the art industry seemingly has always lagged adoption – being involved in product marketing launches, I watched the introduction of Fin-tech, Med-tech and Ed-tech. What about Art-tech? As interest in original art grows, and the number of artists continues to steadily increase, there is a need to provide resources and ways to simplify art procurement, sales and marketing and community building.
I have identified three factors or barriers encompassing the art industry and I was on a mission to demystify or change these barriers:
1.) The art industry is an ecosystem of elitism and favoritism – aka popularity contests. If you do not know someone or someone does not know you, you are not getting your artwork on exhibition. That needs to change in order for the art industry to move past the renaissance era and into the twenty-first century.
Solution. I wanted to build a platform that offers artists the ability to build and promote their own custom art galleries. Art should be fun and joyful for both artist and collector.
2.) At present, competitors do not provide auxiliary services and are more artwork/ artist directory platforms that showcase selected artists through either point based systems or by other strict merits prior to being approved as an artist.
Solution. I do not agree with this system. As they say, ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’ and art is very subjective. A platform should not decide what good or bad art is – I simply want to provide the tools to share and promote their art.
3.) Technology can seem like sorcery for most artists – not all artists are tech savvy, so most technology platforms fail to garner enough buy in, and artists usually outsource web, social and other facets related to sales marketing.
Solution. Skeuomo should be a one-stop shop to all artists but easy to use. It should combine all existing tools/web apps currently used by artists and offer immediate value.
Q: Can you give us more insights into your platform?
A: Skeuomo Inc. (Skeuomo) an online marketplace and social network community for artists, curators, and buyers. Artists can customize their artist profile through the advanced profile fields, add their avatar and/ or existing social media accounts. In addition, artists can create customized galleries with their own artwork or curators can create one with multiple artists, customize titles, descriptions, tags and set their own price. Skeuomo has built-in instant chat so users can message each other, join custom chat groups, and add members to chat groups. The web app offers topic forum boards, friend and group building features and a live stream option for artists.
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Q: What are the main benefits for Galleries and Artists?
A: Skeuomo offers both Artists and traditional Art Galleries the equivalent of building an online shop, equipped with flexible ecommerce payments and shipping options for artists and galleries to successfully run their online art gallery business without additional operating costs and from the convenience of their own home.
In addition, most traditional galleries spend thousands a month on marketing and advertising to promote their galleries or hire web development companies to build an online web gallery. Creating an online gallery on Skeuomo is free and your commissions are always 100% for both artist and gallery.
If you want additional space, we do offer 3 subscription plans that offer more space: Novice Artist, Standard Artist, and Advanced Artist – each $3 USD, $6 USD, and $10 USD, respectively. Each plan augments artwork space, live-streaming, and auction artwork features.
Q: What can we expect from Skeuomo in the next 6 months? What are your plans?
A: Our goal in 6 months is to have over 100,000 users on Skeuomo. I think it is an aggressive target but possible. Also, depending on pandemic restrictions with gatherings, Skeuomo is working to add Art Events to Skeuomo. The feature will provide artists and curators the ability to add and promote their events (i.e., art exhibitions, pop-up art fairs etc.) and sell tickets directly through the web app. I think beyond 6 months we will be aiming to make Skeoumo available as a mobile app.
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