Testing out TurningArt, Boston's 'Netflix for artwork'

I signed up on January 9th, and my first TurningArt box (at left) arrived two days later. It included the frame and the first print I'd chosen already in it. All I needed to do was bang a nail into the wall.

A few weeks later, when I was ready for a change — I'd gotten to the point where I'd stopped paying much attention to the piece at the top of the stairs — I asking TurningArt to send the next print in my queue. But nothing happened for 10 days or so. Finally, wondering what was up, I sent in a customer service e-mail. The new print arrived the next day, rolled up in a pyramidal cardboard box. It was easy to open the back of the frame, pull the old print out, and put the new one in its place. (The art is printed on a slightly plastic-y paper that seems to be tear-resistant.) It was nice to have something new to look at in the hall — the print from Colorado artist Brandy Cattoor that appears above.

Two days later, I got a response from TurningArt customer service: "I apologize for the delay, for some reason our latest printer order took a bit longer to get to us."

The shipping lag wasn't a big deal — after all, waiting for a new piece of artwork is not the same thing as waiting for a hot new movie to show up in that red envelope. But while TurningArt sent me an e-mail about the very first shipment with the frame, I didn't get any information about when the replacement print was sent out until it appeared on my doorstep.

It's cheap fun to be able to "shop" for a new piece of artwork whenever I get tired of the one I've got, without doing damage to my bank account. And at some point, I may use the TurningArt credit I've accumulated to buy an original piece through the site. (Each month, your subscription fee turns into credit that can eventually be used to defray the cost of an original work by up to 40 percent.) For now, I'm sticking with the service, which has proven a nifty way to create a tiny little gallery in my house that features rotating exhibits.