Berlin Presents Art Supermarket

WONG: Berlin, in Germany, is hosting an art supermarket where art lovers can buy original artwork at affordable prices: from around $60 to $375 U.S. STORY: Investing in art may not be top of most people's to do lists during a recession. But at the opening of this year's "art supermarket" in Berlin, shoppers were looking for new additions to their collections - whether oil paintings, watercolors or sculptures. Now in its eighth visit to the German capital, the art supermarket sells original artwork in four price categories - from 50 euros, or around 63 U.S. dollars, to 299 euros. Mario Teres, who founded the art supermarket, says their tills are still ringing, despite the economic slowdown. [Mario Teres, Founder, Art Supermarket]: "This year we have seen our sales increase, in Switzerland and in Frankfurt. Our revenue has increased. We aren't Sotheby's, we don't sell any pictures worth a million euros, we sell them up to 299 euros and the people who spend this money haven't been hit so hard as the large financial institutions." Brigid Ibell is one of the 74 artists selling their work through the art supermarket. Ibell, who is originally from South Africa, says she paints smaller pictures to sell at the art supermarket, but with the same quality as her standard, larger work. [Brigid Ibell, Artist]: "The whole point is bringing art to every man. You don't have to buy posters, you can buy original art, and that's how you can begin. So then bit by bit, maybe when people are older and may have more money, they can also acquire other art." But the art supermarket may not just allow art lovers to increase their collection on the cheap. The supermarket's founders say some works which they sold for just 50 euros a few years ago are now worth as much as 70 thousand euros. And even before the financial crisis and decline on world stock markets-that would have seemed a canny investment.

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YouTube | November 26, 2008

Tags:. .watercolors. .sothebys. .teres. .eighth. .supermarket