Australian art just a click away Edward and George Hartley, with artist Alexandra Palombi's artwork. Pic Tait Schmaal. BROTHERS George and Edward Hartley are running their online art company Bluethumb successfully from two different states. George lives in Melbourne, while Edward is in Adelaide. George Hartley said geographical distance was not a barrier as they worked in the digital space. "You don't need a physical presence like a gallery and it means we have a national presence straight away," he said. Launched last year, Bluethumb is an online marketplace where Australian artists can showcase and sell their work. Mr Hartley said its newly launched iPhone app was the natural next step as more people used their smartphones to surf the internet. "Art is one of those markets that seems to have been a little bit behind what other creative industries are doing online," he said. There is so much art out there and only a tiny fraction of that ends up in a gallery. The cool thing about the app is that with the iPhone you have got a high resolution retina display. The website features the work of about 500 artists and the combined value of their work is more than $2.6 million. "We take a commission on each sale and take less than the average gallery," he said. A gallery would normally take 40 to 50 per cent in commission and we take 30 per cent. Looking ahead, Bluethumb planned to create an app suitable for android phones and introduce international shipping. "We want to champion new artists, as well as give collectors access to the most popular artists," he said. (Edward and I) both love the arts and technology and it seemed like a really great space to be in. I would love to start shipping artwork from Australia to the rest of the world. Mr Hartley said feedback from artists and customers had been overwhelmingly positive. "The artists are really the ones who have grown the platform for us," he said. Artists have told other artists about Bluethumb, so we haven't spent much money on marketing. It's just been growing quite steadily.