On November 1st of 2010, 1xRUN started off as a simple concept – release one exclusive art print every Monday, set a limit on the edition and only have that print available for 1 week. We’ve come quite a long way since 1xRUN began as a side project run out of the back room of our previous gallery, 323East. What originally began as just a dream to break away from our day jobs has become a full time job for 12 of us. During the last 3 years, we have never lost sight of the risks both our artists and our collectors have taken to make this dream possible, and we’re always mindful to do everything we can to give back to the community and those who support us.
If you are unfamiliar with the 1xRUN team, here’s a bit about who we are and what motivates us. Back in 2010, 1xRUN co-founders Dan Armand, Ryan Brogan and I were kicking around some ideas on how we could replicate the gallery opening experience online. At this time, 323East was hosting monthly exhibitions for local and regional artists and there was quite a bit of excitement at each of our exhibitions. We had also been collecting art prints for quite some time and we thought, there has to be a way for people that are unable to attend these shows to have a chance to participate in the exhibition experience from the comfort of their home or office. Art prints seemed quite fitting for this concept, considering the accessibility of prints seemed democratic and accessible to a larger audience.
At our core, we’re a small collective of creatives and artists that come in and put our best foot forward every day to curate and produce editions that will live on well beyond our days. We dig deep to build relationships at home in Detroit and across the world with some of the most innovative artists that are making an impact with their work, then offer these editions at a fair price so those who truly love this art can participate in the experience. Our commitment has always been to pick up the phone when collectors call, answer all customer service inquiries personally and treat people the same way we would like to treated when doing business online and across the world. No automated answer machines, no canned email replies, no runaround and no BS. In a world of corporations and mass consumerism, we strive to do business the old fashion way: person to person. This has proved to build customer loyalty beyond our wildest imaginations and we are overwhelmed daily with the positive response we receive with each new release. We also take the same steps in working with artists in the most direct way as well, no BS. All of this means that we’ve been able to build a positive reputation across the global art community to the benefit of everyone including the hundreds of artists we’ve worked with, tens of thousands of 1xRUN collectors and our hard working team based here in Detroit.
With your support, we have taken a huge leap of faith as we continue to grow into a 3-story building in the heart of downtown Detroit’s Eastern Market district. This spring we opened Inner State a new gallery on the first floor, we’ve been hosting traveling artists in our artist’s loft for the past 9 months and this week we’ve started to activate our studio workshop for artists to create editions when they are visiting Detroit.
So, as we kick off our 3rd year and our 600th RUN we’ve partnered up with one of our most celebrated collaborators Glenn Barr on a new concept he said “sounds like a great idea that just might work.” Here’s how it’s going to go down this Friday at Noon EST. We have posted the Glenn Barr’s “The Day Dream” 100 times, the first print will be offered at just $1 and each print will increase $1 up to $100. #1 of the edition will be $100 and #100 will be just a buck. We wanted to change things up and add some excitement for our 600th release and we thought it would be a killer way to give back to all of our fans and collectors with a chance to score an amazing print at a killer price. These will go quickly so get there early and grab yours before they are all gone.
We hope you find this release exciting with a chance to grab a print as low as $1 from the amazingly talented Glenn Barr! Happy hunting and thank for for 3 amazing years of support!
– 1xRUN Co-Founder Jesse Cory & the entire 1xRUN Team: Dan Armand, Ryan Brogan, Pietro Truba, Craig Hejka, Ryan Deramo, Jesse Kassel, Mike Burdick, Dustin Buckley, Nick Smith, Ania Eaton, Lynda English, Tom Dunstan, Bruce White & Alan Vultaggio.