Art start-ups: The art business in the digital world

Art start-ups: The art business in the digital world

In today’s modern day and age, almost everything has morphed into a digital format in the online world, whether it’s movies, music, books we read, or even art. This phenomenon has affected our cultures and many facets of living, especially the retail business that has to adapt in order to meet the demands of these shifting trends.

The business of selling art  has always happened in traditional fashion where it moves forward on behalf of the relationship between the artists and art dealers or galleries. It may not be the easiest thing to change from this habitual process onto a platform in the online world.

Then, along came the birth of Artsy, a website which has become a source of information for art collectors and galleries in the previous years. The website’s company has worked hard to create an art database with over 230,000 images, using a funding of over $25.9 million. Their team of 90 people connects with art collectors and galleries, with over 2,500 artists displaying works on their website. They also work with museums, galleries and art organizations such as Guggenheim and The New Museum. Artsy’s application has a total of over 300,000 downloads from art collectors.

In July 2017, Artsy has announced its fundraising of $50 million for a new series of investments such as D investments. Led by Avenir Growth Capital, it is also funded by corporations such as L Catterton, Thrive Capital, Shumway Capital, as well as leading figures in the world of art and technology such as Larry Gagosian (owner of Gagosian galleries), Joe Gebbia (founder of Airbnb), with the 

 members of America’s most powerful families like the Rockefellers as members of the management board.

It is exciting to keep an eye on this investment by Artsy, and how it will lead to their future growth, as one of the leading online art platforms that can meet the demand and supply of the global art market. With a sales figure of over $20 million per month from 1,800 galleries and 90 galleries also in partnership, there are also over 2 million readers that subscribe to read Artsy’s online publication every month, making it the most-read art publication online to date.  

After talking about international platforms, now let’s get back to platforms closer to home. A new up-and-coming website in Thailand right now is called 1x1 WALL, which is an online gallery and retail space for art. Featuring a collection of works from artists both from Thailand and abroad, the website 1x1 WALL is open to professional artists as well as amateurs. Curators and galleries can also send in their art pieces in the exhibitions to be sold, with no limitation on the type of work. A marketing and public relations team is on hand to liaise with the media. They’ll support  and producing content in various forms in order to capture interest of buyers who visit the website. (This is great for artists who are not good at marketing or selling their works!) Besides the providing only platform, 1x1 WALL also hosts exhibitions with various galleries frequently.

Check out more details at https://www.facebook.com/1x1wall/posts/569217093256051  or www.1x1wall.com.

Information credit thanks to http://files.artsy.net/documents/artsy-series-d-announcement.pdf.