Wondereur
I recently got to ask the founders of Wondereur about their new free art app. The company, based out of Toronto, allows us to experience art online in a way we haven’t before. Here’s what they had to say.
What is Wondereur?
Wondereur is a new way to enjoy and buy contemporary art. Each week, we unveil an artist who has been selected by a leading figure within a local art scene. These ‘talent-spotters,’ as we call them, are asked to recommend an artist that they believe to be under the radar and at the tipping point in his or her career.
The way we unveil the artist is really what makes Wondereur unique. Our team of journalists and designers create a photo story about the artist. They work in collaboration with real photojournalists, ones who usually cover war zones and breaking global news. Linked to each story is a storefront that displays the artist’s work for viewers to purchase directly from the magazine. Since Wondereur is app based, readers can discover art from around the world, right on their iPad or laptop.
How did the idea for Wondereur come to be?
We’re really a team of adventure-seekers. We have great admiration for the world’s risk-takers, which includes artists just as much as it does astronauts expanding our frontiers, and biologists seeking to find a new species. The idea that the next Picasso could be right around the corner has always fascinated us. Art always brings a sense of excitement, of adventure, and we needed to uncover that for ourselves and for everyone.
We felt that the art experience was missing that sense of wonder. When you go to an art exhibit or a gallery, what you see is pieces of art with a little tile, a ten-word explanation and a price. It doesn’t always make the artist or the work easy to connect to. We wanted to change that. Leveraging technology, we knew we could create a richer experience, and connect people with art across the globe.
Another problem with the current art experience is that people don’t often know or understand who to buy if you want to invest at the right time in a promising artist. That’s why we felt it was important to partner with top talent-spotters from the art world to help connect our readers with truly investable art.
What are Wondereur’s goals?
At the end of the day, we want to make art much more accessible by revealing the magic, the process, the thoughts, inspirations, doubts and drives of the artist, and explore his or her journey into new frontiers.
For the reader, we want to help shine a spotlight on how to buy work from an artist at the right time in his or her career.Finally, we want to have readers from Paris discovering artists from Toronto, and readers from Ottawa buying art from Berlin and New York. We want to make art accessible across borders.
How do people access Wondereur?
For now readers have two options: Wondereur has a free iPad app available for download for free from the Apple App Store. We’ve also created a web version of the app, which can be accessed from our website, www.wondereur.com.
