We were lucky to catch up with Matthew Moore recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Matthew thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about serving the underserved.

In my late 20’s I befriended a talented artist that was at the early stages of their career. I was surprised to learn that even though we both lived in the city of Chicago, artist representation was still very difficult to achieve. It was baffling to me that this talented individual found it difficult to find support in a city so large. So I took time to research the art industry. I studied the commission structure, how galleries operated and looked into ways that I could update the standard protocol.

Through my research I learned that he wasn’t the only one. There were tons of talented individuals that were yearning for representation but couldn’t find a connection with the existing resources. So I took it upon myself to gradually build something to help combat this underserved community. I always hated the term “starving artist” so I wanted to name it something that meant that exact opposite. I found the word “replete” in the dictionary. I loved how infrequently it was used and I also loved that it pretty much meant the opposite of starving. So I named the business: Artist Replete.

The idea was simple at first, remove the brick and mortar element of the art industry and sell original artwork from emerging artists online. Overtime the company evolved as I saw what was missing from other online platforms. The art of storytelling. So I made sure to interview as many of the artists that I was representing as I could for a deeper understanding of their practice. I wanted to recreate the conversations that an artist would have when explaining their work and life to someone in person.

The brand grew overtime to represent many artists in the Chicagoland area and even ones located in other countries. It went from just an online platform to a gallery located on Michigan Ave, in the heart of downtown Chicago.

Matthew , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Artist Replete sells original artwork, sculptures, and limited edition prints. We also specialize in street art and graphic design. Additionally, we’re also part media company with written interviews, documentaries and activations.

The main problems that I aimed to solve was to give greater access to both artists and art lovers. This meant an easier, customer friendly experience both online and now in person. Part of this goal was to remove all pretentious elements of the art industry. So if you’ve never shopped at a gallery or attended an art exhibition, you would feel welcome to do so, no matter what your background is or your knowledge of art.

Bridging the gap between artists and their potential audience. Artist Replete is meant to be boundless, as I never want to box myself into a certain category with the brand. We are an all encompassing art business.

We aim to serve artists, art collectors and those in between. We often focus on quality over quantity. Our company motto, Some Traditions Were Made To Broken is rooted in the idea that rules are meant to evolve over time. What a business should be is different from what a business can be.

My proudest moment on the journey thus far has been growing the business into a larger company, representing more artists, employing a small team and opening our 1st physical location in one of the highest trafficked areas within the city I live in. I’ve also had the pleasure to collaborate with brands like the NBA on TNT, Sofitel, and many others.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

When you have an idea it’s important to take things one step at a time but you also must dream into the future with an understanding that if you work hard enough, your ideas can take off. Creating a business that employs people isn’t a sprint, nor is it a marathon, it’s a triathlon that will test every part of you.

There have been so many times when I thought about giving up and doing something else amidst great hardship but every time I fell, I eventually got back up and continued on my path.

It’s my personal thought that if you create something that you’re passionate about and your goal is to make an advancement in an industry, then you’ll find success. Create something that you’d love to use or experience yourself. But if your ideas are just rooted in financial gain, you’ll eventually run out of patience and find you’re doing things for the wrong reason.

While building Artist Replete I worked numerous side jobs, from shoveling snow, to construction to anything that would help me pay the bills so I could keep working on my idea. I got comfortable with struggling and through that I learned the power of resilience.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

I had the mindset that profit sharing would take away my piece of the pie, when in reality it was the exact opposite. I learned that many of the most successful entrepreneurs actually own a fraction of their business and that’s what brought them so much success. By surrounding themselves with people who are good at things that they don’t excel at.

He was an eager investor looking to be part of a company. He did not come up to me right away and say he wanted to be involved.

He did however show up to almost every art event I hosted for a year straight. He never asked anything of me. He studied the business and he studied me.

When I wanted to push the company further and maintain a physical location, I then brought it to his attention. Eric is a numbers guy and I’m not. What we do have in common is we both have foresight. And we both felt that this was the next great step for Artist Replete. He then became involved and helped take the company further than a strictly e-commerce business.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://artistreplete.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artistreplete/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/artistreplete
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/artist-replete