Making the Art World More Available | MIT News

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

Nala was founded by Benjamin Gulak ’22 to destroy gallery models. The company’s digital platform started as part of a MIT-like project, allowing artists to list their artworks and use machine learning and data science to provide personalized advice to art enthusiasts.

By providing buyers with a larger library of art, the company is removing exclusive barriers set by traditional galleries and effectively connecting creators with collectors.

“There are a lot of talent out there and never had the opportunity to see outside the local market for artists,” Gulak said. “We are opening the art world to all artists and creating a truly elite.”

Instead of receiving a commission from the artist, Nala charges a 11.5% commission to the buyer, but that commission is the listing price for the artist. Today, more than 20,000 art lovers are using Nala’s platform, which has registered more than 8,500 artists.

“My goal is that Nara is the main place to discover, buy and sell art online,” Gulak said. “The gallery model has been around for so long that they are tasters in the art world. However, most buyers never realize the limitations of the industry.”

From founder to student to founder

Gulak grew up in Canada and worked hard to participate in MIT, attending science fairs and robotics competitions throughout high school. At the age of 16, he created a one-wheeler motorcycle that made him a year named one of the most popular TV show Shark Tanks. Popular Science.

Gulak was accepted to attend MIT in 2009, but withdrew from his undergraduate program shortly after entering media exposure and doing business around Shark Tank’s capital. After a decade of whirlwind, he raised more than $12 million and sold thousands of units worldwide, Gulak decided to return to MIT to complete his degree, converting his major from mechanical engineering to a combination of computer science, economics and data science.

“It took me ten years to build my business and realize that it would take ten years to bring the company where I wanted it, and that’s not what I wanted to do,” Gulak said. “I missed the study, I missed the academic side of my life. I basically begged MIT to bring me back, and it was the best decision I made.”

During the ups and downs of running a company, Gulak paints to relieve stress. Art has always been a part of Gulak’s life, and he even did a fine art study abroad program in Italy during high school. Determined to try to sell his art, he worked with some famous art galleries in London, Miami and St. Moritz. Eventually, he began connecting his travels to emerging markets such as Cuba, Egypt and Brazil to gallery owners he knew.

“The results are incredible because these artists are accustomed to selling their works to tourists for $50, and suddenly they hung up their jobs in a high-end gallery in London and got 5,000 pounds,” Gulak said. “It’s the same artist, the same talent, but the buyers are different.”

At the time, Gulak was in his third year at MIT and wondered what he would do after graduation. He thinks he wants to start a new business, but every industry he looks at is dominated by tech giants. Except for the art world, every industry, i.e.

“The art industry is old,” Gulak said. “The gallery has a monopoly on a small group of artists who have absolute control over the price. Buyers are told what value is, and almost everything you see in the industry, are inefficient.”

At MIT, Gulak is working on recommendation engines for filling social media feeds and personalizing performance and music suggestions, and he envisions something similar to the visual arts.

“I think, why, when I get into big art platforms, even if I have many years of accounts on these platforms, would I see a terrible art portfolio?” Gulak said. “I get new emails every week titled ‘Art Nouveau’ and the platform knows nothing about my taste or budget.”

For MIT’s collective project, Gulak built a system that attempts to predict works of art that can be good in the gallery. By MIT’s final year, he had realized that working directly with artists would be a more promising approach.

“Online platforms usually charge 30% of the fee, and galleries can pay an additional 50% so artists end up getting a small portion of each online sale, but buyers also have to pay a luxury import tax on the full price,” Gulak explained. “This means there’s a lot of fat in the middle, and that’s where we come directly to the artist’s business model.”

Today, Nala represents the art learning algorithm for the web, where artists upload artworks on the board and fill out questionnaires about their style. They can start the upload work immediately and select their listing price.

The company first uses AI to match art with the most likely buyers. Not all art will be sold – “If you are making rock paintings, it may not be a big market” – an artist may place their work at a higher price than the buyer is willing to pay, but the algorithm can place artwork in front of the most likely buyer based on style preferences and budgets. Nara also handles sales and goods, giving artists a 100% list price per sale.

“By not accepting commissions, we are very supportive artists,” Gulak said. “We also allow all artists to participate, which is unique in this field. Nara is built for artists by artists.”

Last year, Nala also began allowing buyers to photograph what they like and see similar artwork from its database.

“In museums, people will take pictures of masterpieces that they can never afford, and now they can find living artists making the same style that they can actually put in their home,” Gulak said. “It makes art more accessible.”

Protect artists

Ben Gulak was visiting Egypt a decade ago when he discovered an impressive mural on the street. Gulak found local artist Ahmed Nofal on Instagram and bought some works. after, He took Nofal to Dubai to participate in Dubai World Art. The artist’s work was very popular and eventually created murals for the Royal British Museum and Red Bull in London. Recently, Nofal and Gulak collaborated on murals at Art Basel in 2024 at the Miami Graffiti Museum.

Gulak works in person with many artists on his platform. For more than a decade, he traveled to Cuba to buy art and provided art supplies to his friends. He also works with artists to secure immigration visas.

“Many people claim they want to help the art world, but in reality, they often fall under the same outdated business model,” Gulak said. “Art is not just my passion—it’s a way of life for me. I’ve always been in every aspect of the art world: painters sell my work through galleries, as a collector in my office, as an art-filled collector, as a collaborator, working with incredible talents like Raheem Saladeen Johnson. When artists visit, we exude a certain experience that makes them both spread and have a certain point of view.