The Artsy headquarters sprawls throughout three spacious floors of a historic Tribeca high-rise, adorned with minimalistic white walls, an abundance of plants, and glowing sunshine radiating through expansive windows overlooking the New York City skyline. Within this atmosphere of unassuming aesthetic and tranquil ease, Artsy solidifies its reputation as the revolutionary, leading online marketplace for fine art.
For most, the fine art world is one of elitism, prestige, and inaccessibility. Infiltrating the fine art world can be intimidating and disorienting for those lacking the funds and knowledge to do so. Artsy makes this exclusive world accessible through its digital and global platform which facilitates the discovery and collection of art. During our visit, Alexander Forbes, Director of Corporate Development and Market Intelligence, and Simon Warren, Senior Director of Communications, provided a detailed overview of the Artsy platform. Its online database includes over 1,000,000 works of art, and design from historical, modern, and contemporary eras. This database serves consumers interested in learning about and buying art, and there are over 850,000+ works available to buy on Artsy, with prices ranging from $100 to over $1,000,000.
Artsy’s expansion of the art world embraces buyers from a more diverse range of financial backgrounds. Artsy CEO Mike Steib, finds that when shopping in art galleries or other online platforms, there is often a lack of transparency about the art, the artist, and the price. Artsy’s platform makes the art industry more financially accessible for a broader range of buyers, bringing new buyers into the market. Today, Artsy boasts a following of 1.7 million users and counting.
By bringing new buyers into the market, Artsy facilitates an increased demand for art, thereby supporting artists and ensuring that more art is created in the world. During our conversation, Steib expressed that Artsy reduces friction and increases transparency within the industry, facilitating relationships between buyers and sellers. By creating this connection, market demand for art increases, thus necessitating a search for new and emerging artists.
Artsy, founded by Carter Cleveland during his senior year at Princeton, has brilliantly succeeded in expanding beyond its humble dorm room beginnings. The Artsy marketplace thrives through partnerships with galleries, art fairs, museums, and auction houses around the globe. It is these partnerships that distinctly delineate Artsy, as Alex Banfich, Director of AMP (Artsy Marketplace Partners), explained. They ensure a diverse assortment of works and foster credibility and prominence. Simultaneously, Artsy’s online presence makes art accessible to users from all over the world. With an average transaction distance of 3,000 miles on the platform, consumers can connect with pieces from around the world. By partnering with leading art businesses and ensuring global accessibility, Artsy has built a repertoire of both prestige and approachability.
The online buying model also adds ease and efficiency to the often-prolonged process of buying art. As opposed to the average 3-weeks that it takes to buy a work using the inquiry system, the Buy Now and Make Offer ecommerce options on Artsy minimize the purchase time to roughly a mere 3 hours. Furthermore, their innovative platform has expanded to an app as well, allowing consumers to ask Artsy specialists questions instantaneously, receive notifications on new works, view pieces of art in their homes through an augmented reality feature, and explore featured locations on interactive maps of major art cities.
To ensure that users can discover pieces in a creatively engaging manner, Artsy’s Art Genome Project characterizes pieces based on their subject, style, and movement. Their team of art historians and experts assign each artistic work a set of characteristics, connecting works ranging in era, style, and artist. Online users can search by almost any keyword, with characteristics such as “eye contact”, “16th century”, and “narrative.”
Beyond their robust database of works, the Artsy Editorial team fosters vibrant dialogue about the art industry for its audience. Marina Cashdan, VP of Editorial, Brand, and Creative, explained that as opposed to the typically uninviting and exclusive art publications, Artsy Editorial combines all art forms to create engaging and inclusive content. With a dedication to producing quality content with integrity, Artsy Editorial has become a trusted and influential voice in the realm of art publications. Serving as a “dreamcatcher” for the entire Artsy brand, the Editorial staff is an authoritative and reputable voice that covers everything from emerging art movements, to market trends, to underreported, unrepresented artists. With global visibility and an engaged readership, Artsy Editorial expands the role of Artsy beyond its digital marketplace to include the realm of artistic discussion.
In an increasingly digitized time, Artsy’s marketplace of art opens its doors to both those who have always dreamed of entering this world and those who had never previously thought about it, as well as established collectors. Whether one wishes to simply learn, admire, or begin a collection of their own, Artsy is just the place. With such a diverse array of eras, mediums, and styles, there are intriguing pieces for everyone to explore within Artsy’s world of art.
