Making the art world more accessible | MIT News

In the world of high-priced art, galleries usually act as gatekeepers. Their selective curation process is a key reason galleries in major cities often feature work from the same batch of artists. The system limits opportunities for emerging artists and leaves great art undiscovered.

NALA was founded by Benjamin Gulak ’22 to disrupt the gallery model. The company’s digital platform, which was started as part of an MIT class project, allows artists to list their art and uses machine learning and data science to offer personalized recommendations to art lovers.

By providing a much larger pool of artwork to buyers, the company is dismantling the exclusive barriers put up by traditional galleries and efficiently connecting creators with collectors.

“There’s so much talent out there that has never had the opportunity to be seen outside of the artists’ local market,” Gulak says. “We’re opening the art world to all artists, creating a true meritocracy.”

NALA takes no commission from artists, instead charging buyers an 11.5 percent commission on top of the artist’s listed price. Today more than 20,000 art lovers are using NALA’s platform, and the company has registered more than 8,500 artists.

“My goal is for NALA to become the dominant place where art is discovered, bought, and sold online,” Gulak says. “The gallery model has existed for such a long period of time that they are the tastemakers in the art world. However, most buyers never realize how restrictive the industry has been.”

From founder to student to founder again

Growing up in Canada, Gulak worked hard to get into MIT, participating in science fairs and robotic competitions throughout high school. When he was 16, he created an electric, one-wheeled motorcycle that got him on the popular television show “Shark Tank” and was later named one of the top inventions of the year by Popular Science.

Gulak was accepted into MIT in 2009 but withdrew from his undergrad program shortly after entering to launch a business around the media exposure and capital from “Shark Tank.” Following a whirlwind decade in which he raised more than $12 million and sold thousands of units globally, Gulak decided to return to MIT to complete his degree, switching his major from mechanical engineering to one combining computer science, economics, and data science.

“I spent 10 years of my life building my business, and realized to get the company where I wanted it to be, it would take another decade, and that wasn’t what I wanted to be doing,” Gulak says. “I missed learning, and I missed the academic side of my life. I basically begged MIT to take me back, and it was the best decision I ever made.”

During the ups and downs of running his company, Gulak took up painting to de-stress. Art had always been a part of Gulak’s life, and he had even done a fine arts study abroad program in Italy during high school. Determined to try selling his art, he collaborated with some prominent art galleries in London, Miami, and St. Moritz. Eventually he began connecting artists he’d met on travels from emerging markets like Cuba, Egypt, and Brazil to the gallery owners he knew.

“The results were incredible because these artists were used to selling their work to tourists for $50, and suddenly they’re hanging work in a fancy gallery in London and getting 5,000 pounds,” Gulak says. “It was the same artist, same talent, but different buyers.”

At the time, Gulak was in his third year at MIT and wondering what he’d do after graduation. He thought he wanted to start a new business, but every industry he looked at was dominated by tech giants. Every industry, that is, except the art world.

“The art industry is archaic,” Gulak says. “Galleries have monopolies over small groups of artists, and they have absolute control over the prices. The buyers are told what the value is, and almost everywhere you look in the industry, there’s inefficiencies.”

At MIT, Gulak was studying the recommender engines that are used to populate social media feeds and personalize show and music suggestions, and he envisioned something similar for the visual arts.

“I thought, why, when I go on the big art platforms, do I see horrible combinations of artwork even though I’ve had accounts on these platforms for years?” Gulak says. “I’d get new emails every week titled ‘New art for your collection,’ and the platform had no idea about my taste or budget.”

For a class project at MIT, Gulak built a system that tried to predict the types of art that would do well in a gallery. By his final year at MIT, he had realized that working directly with artists would be a more promising approach.

“Online platforms typically take a 30 percent fee, and galleries can take an additional 50 percent fee, so the artist ends up with a small percentage of each online sale, but the buyer also has to pay a luxury import duty on the full price,” Gulak explains. “That means there’s a massive amount of fat in the middle, and that’s where our direct-to-artist business model comes in.”

Today NALA, which stands for Networked Artistic Learning Algorithm, onboards artists by having them upload artwork and fill out a questionnaire about their style. They can begin uploading work immediately and choose their listing price.

The company began by using AI to match art with its most likely buyer. Gulak notes that not all art will sell — “if you’re making rock paintings there may not be a big market” — and artists may price their work higher than buyers are willing to pay, but the algorithm works to put art in front of the most likely buyer based on style preferences and budget. NALA also handles sales and shipments, providing artists with 100 percent of their list price from every sale.

“By not taking commissions, we’re very pro artists,” Gulak says. “We also allow all artists to participate, which is unique in this space. NALA is built by artists for artists.”

Last year, NALA also started allowing buyers to take a photo of something they like and see similar artwork from its database.

“In museums, people will take a photo of masterpieces they’ll never be able to afford, and now they can find living artists producing the same style that they could actually put in their home,” Gulak says. “It makes art more accessible.”

Championing artists

Ten years ago, Ben Gulak was visiting Egypt when he discovered an impressive mural on the street. Gulak found the local artist, Ahmed Nofal, on Instagram and bought some work. Later, he brought Nofal to Dubai to participate in World Art Dubai. The artist’s work was so well-received he ended up creating murals for the Royal British Museum in London and Red Bull. Most recently, Nofal and Gulak collaborated together during Art Basel 2024 doing a mural at the Museum of Graffiti in Miami.

Gulak has worked personally with many of the artists on his platform. For more than a decade he’s travelled to Cuba buying art and delivering art supplies to friends. He’s also worked with artists as they work to secure immigration visas.

“Many people claim they want to help the art world, but in reality, they often fall back on the same outdated business models,” says Gulak. “Art isn’t just my passion — it’s a way of life for me. I’ve been on every side of the art world: as a painter selling my work through galleries, as a collector with my office brimming with art, and as a collaborator working alongside incredible talents like Raheem Saladeen Johnson. When artists visit, we create together, sharing ideas and brainstorming. These experiences, combined with my background as both an artist and a computer scientist, give me a unique perspective. I’m trying to use technology to provide artists with unparalleled access to the global market and shake things up.”