The art market’s last supper is going online according to Hiscox’s report
ANDY WARHOL, Last Supper, 1986, Synthetic polymer paint and silkscreen on canvas 102.1 x 102.1 cm (40.2 x 40.2 in); stamped signature and certified on verso by Frederick Hughes; estimate €6.711.409 – €8.948.545; online bidding on Paddle8 ends May 13 at 4:00 pm EST.
A few days ago the CEO of Christies’s, Steven Murphy, declared to the Wall Street Journal the auction house’s commitment to entering the on-line market. The same day, 28 April, special insurance group Hiscox published a report by Art Tactic on the online art trade. It says that in 2013 the pieces sold on the web reached $1.6bn, up from $870m in 2012. The market’s forecast is to grow to $3.8bn by 2018, and also two auctioneers such as Bokowskis and Plasa recently linked up with Paddle8 to improve their online sales. According to the report, the biggest problem still lies in not seeing the physical object, and it has also to be considered than 25% of those who have bought art online last year were under 30.
Unfortunately the report doesn’t say about the emerging artists’ secondary market, and all those people who sell and buy on line thanks to the social networks. In this case it’s easy to predict that most of them must be under 50, and all do have a Facebook account. Their online purchase is easier when they have already seen the artist at an art fair, on in a private gallery. Moreover, the artists they buy are online themselves, with their blogs and web sites.
September 22, 2014
