Ah, modern art: so cool and oftentimes, a bit baffling for most people’s tastes. Enter Modern ArtBuyer, a newly launched online space that offers “a chance to view and buy” modern art in an elegantly pared-down manner, much like the pieces it sells.

Beats going jeans shopping: Modern ArtBuy lets you envision how that work of art will look on your wall. Shown: “Parousia”, by Jane Emberson.

In a previous career, Jessica Lloyd-Smith was in the derivatives industry, working for the likes of LIFFE, PatSystems and the LME. Having been formally trained at an art college eventually called her away from the financial world: after years spent collecting art for her home, the idea for Modern ArtBuyer was born.

The concept itself is refreshingly simple: “We believe art should enhance your world on a daily basis,” Lloyd-Smith says on her website. “If a painting makes you stop and think, or even smile, it’s done its job. And we don’t mean that you have to think too hard. We aren’t offering work that is too challenging to have a life-long home on your wall, but we have carefully curated a selection of beautiful, contemporary works of art that will become the heart of your space”.

Based out of Bath, UK but catering to clients internationally, Modern ArtBuyer seeks not only to make contemporary art more accessible and easier to acquire, but also to prominently feature artists, some of whom are well-known and some who are rising stars. Drawing from the worlds of painting, photography, print, drawing, and mixed media, the site showcases pencil-like “drawings” by Emma Cowlam (actually cleverly hand-stitched in black thread on white canvas), a gorgeously sparse white, framed piece by Rob Ashdown that resembles a shadowbox but is really just an ink-on-paper illusion, and the surreal “Aqueous Floureau 9” by Mark Mawson, a photograph that seems to wish to be anything but, with neon puffs of color against a deep black.

Best of all, these works of art can be virtually tried on at the website’s “Changing Room”, where a living room stands at the ready for shoppers to play around with pieces they may want to purchase–quite helpful for those who want to know how big that work of art is, exactly.

Check out the Modern ArtBuy team’s well-curated selections at their website: www.modernartbuyer.com