The world’s struggling painters have a new ally in Stan Eyler and his Artichoke.com. Eyler’s e-business — a product of San Diego VenturePlex incubation — is modeled on the sale of stretched-canvas reprints of original art. The reproductions are made using a special printer and archivable ink that will last 150 years. “Wow” or “amazing” are the two words uttered most by people who see the results for the first time, Eyler says.

For the holidays, Artichoke.com has a new twist on the idea of putting a photo on a mug or some other object. Photos sent to the company are scanned and then printed on the canvas in two sizes: 11-by-14 inches ($49) and 16-by-20 inches ($79.95). The fee for the “piezographs” includes wrapping, shipping and even a gift card. The turnaround time is 24 hours.

The Artichoke concept is rooted more in determination than a stroke of brilliance. Eyler, who was earning a comfortable living at the family business, sensed there must be some fresh, great opportunity with the Internet. So he hung out in coffee shops listening to people talk, and in bookstores reading every periodical he could find. “But every time I’d have an idea I’d go on the Internet and find that, darn, 2,000 people are already doing it.”

Finally, it struck him that the Internet was a great purveyor of text and images. So art was the chosen product. In March of 1999 he started looking for a name, beginning with the “A’s” in the dictionary. “I looked at the three letters in art and then words that used ‘art.’ I found a company that sold art and had the name artichoke. They painted little mirrors and wall plates. So I offered them some money. They said, ‘make us an offer.’”

When Eyler was told an association of artichoke growers also had expressed interest, he moved quickly. “I called and said ‘I’ll offer you $10,000 for Artichoke.com, but only if you take it today and accept a payment plan of $1,000 a month.’ They wanted to keep the name through the December holidays so in January we bought the name.”

Next he searched for a Web design company. When a $50,000 investment evaporated after the first firm folded, he found a new contractor. This time the money was placed with a third party in an escrow account and was paid only when work was performed.

The company launched two months ago. Artists pay $100 in membership fees to get eight pieces — generally in the form of scanned transparencies — on the site. Or, they give Artichoke.com exclusive rights to one picture. “A lot of the artists are from outside the U.S.,” he says. “The $100 might be what they earn in a month or two. So if they send us one, that will take care of permanent membership. If we don’t sell it we don’t collect any fee.” The art sells generally in the $200-$285 range. A typical deal has half of the proceeds going to Artichoke.com and half to the artist.

Curiously, Artichoke has done its best business so far with the artists themselves: They buy the stretched canvas images and resell them. Some artists also will personally sign each canvas — David Linton, San Diego Metropolitan’s illustrator, is one — while others will touch up the canvas with real paint before selling it.

A big part of Eyler’s job is convincing artists to go along. “A lot of artists never thought about having their art reproduced,” he says. “I tell them, ‘becoming wealthy and famous after you die isn’t the point.’”

Artichoke.com also is forming a network of artists who look for images that are being used illegally. Linton says he has been ripped off by reproductions so many times he doesn’t even bother to track them down. If misuse is noticed, Artichoke.com will at the least send a legal letter that explains copyright laws.

Linton, who signs and numbers each of his prints, has stopped having his art turned into posters and is instead focusing on the stretched canvas. “With mainstream America you have to stay with what is hot,” he says. “You have to more or less focus your energy on what is going to sell. This is a total shift in the art market. I really believe in this.”