C108
Article
The Digital
Collector
Has the internet changed the way
we buy and sell art? Gemma Tipton samples some sites to
see what's going on out there in cyberspace.
How is art bought and sold,
from where does 'value' derive? The internet has become
a vast research tool, as well as global auction house
for art treasures and the Trojan horses that are art fakes.
Perhaps the best way to assess the impact of the internet
is to look at a selection of sites to see how they operate,
and what they offer.
artbusiness.com/faketutorial.html
How to Sell Fake Art on Ebay: a step-by-step
(and definitely tongue-in-cheek) guide by Alan Bamberger
on how to put together your own internet art fraud. Suggestions
include cutting images out of old books, "choose images
which are printed on heavier paper, and make sure they're
blank on the backs with no text"; faking a signature "If
you have trouble faking an artist's name, fake only the
artist's initials"; to tips for protecting yourself: "only
guarantee the medium..." The artbusiness.com
homepages also link to their own appraisal services (handy
after reading about all that fraud), and some excellent
articles for both artists and collectors. They also run
an occasional series of Art Picks from eBay which
analyses recent eBay art sales.
artnet.com
Artnet is an absolutely brilliant research tool. Their
enormous database allows you to look up artists by dealer,
exhibition or bibliography. The Fine Arts Auctions Database
(FAAD) is a subscription service, which enables auction
and results searches. Lucille Blair at FAAD says, "Having
a presence on the internet can have a significant impact
on a gallery's sales. They reach a wider audience and
broaden their market." The FAAD database is updated daily
and "is representative of the past eighteen years with
more than 2.8 million entries and includes the works of
over 180,000 artists." That kind of information was in
existence of course before the internet, but, according
to Blair,
FAAD has become an integral part
of the way the art world appraises and prices fine art.
The fact an individual collector can also check the same
sales results as an auction house specialist or dealer
has had seemingly little impact on whether a work is sold
or not. Auctions are a public market place. The only secret
is often who buys the work, not what it fetches.
Artnet discontinued their
online auctions service in 2000, but (bizarrely enough)
they do horoscopes, which I have found rather addictive.
Not your normal waffle, here's an example from May: "Cy
Twombly's work is coming of age. His exhibition at the
Serpentine Gallery in London is apt and his work perfectly
captures the elusive quality of the ongoing influence
of Uranus in Pisces and Neptune in Aquarius." So now you
know.
artprice.com
With European and US homepages, artprice.com
will dispel any doubts that there is a large part of the
artworld that is all about money. Artprice is a subscription
service that allows you to track artists in upcoming auctions,
"detect the emerging artists through their biographies
and backgrounds," check signatures for authenticity (or
copy them, see artbusiness.com
above), and follow price levels and indexes. The
artprice.com online demo currently demonstrates
that Robert Rauschenberg had a 48% fall in turnover between
2002 and 2003, and that his price index had fallen by
21% too. Pie and bar charts show that 94% of his sales
between 1997 and 2003 were in the US, with only 6% in
the rest of the world. Rauschenberg had a turnover of
$1,498,104 in 2003, although that doesn't come near the
heights of 1997 when he reached $8,531,744. artprice.com
is absolutely gripping and fascinating, and can turn the
way you look at art, from figurative to figures. Look
at the artwork, see the trendgraph.
artsiteguide.com/ebayfakes
Ebay Art Forgeries - has eBay become the Sotheby's
for Hicks?: John Seed rates some recent eBay sales,
from a 'Picasso' drawing which sold for $860.00 (one star);
to a 'de Kooning' pastel and crayon, sold for $4,350.00
(two stars); to a 'Basquiat', sold for $5,763.00 (three
stars); right up to a Heckel, which Seed says is "possibly
authentic" and had an opening price of $1,825.00, although
the article concludes that you should "save your money
and go to Christie's or Sotheby's. Works like this one
will never have their authenticity verified."
askart.com
After having been fascinated by artprice.com,
askart.com is another subscription service
(with some 'free' categories) worth looking at. Search
databases and look up tables, facts and figures. You can
also be sent alerts when an artist on your list of interest
has a new posting at askart.com,
including details of any work coming up at auction. At
askart.com, the
list of Top 100 American Auction Prices (1998 -
6 May 2004) was headed by George Wesley Bellows at $27,702,500,
with the top Jasper Johns (in eighth place) making $12,100,000.
Meanwhile another table, Top 100 Record Prices by Sq.
Inch (at 6 May 2004) was led by John Ramage at $476,862,
with Jasper Johns coming in second this time at $29,728
per square inch.
auctionguide.com/dir/Art
A page of links to art-auction sites from fine art
and antiques, contemporary art, ethnic art and craft;
to individual galleries and self-representing artists.
Some of the links are out of date, but it's quite daunting
to see the scale of selling going on out there.
christies.comıChristie's
don't conduct online auctions, although they do have a
service enabling you to leave bids online for particular
lots. Buyers can download catalogues and view auction
results. You can also e-mail Christie's for more in-depth
appraisals. Jill Potterton at Christie's says, "buyers
at Christie's want to come and see what they are buying,
attending the sale is still very important to people."
ebay.com
eBay is amazing. Everything you could think of wanting,
and a lot more besides, is for sale through the internet
site that has changed the way we buy and sell. Search
in the contemporary-art category for Picasso, and you'll
find all sorts of paraphernalia and tat, with a few gems
in there too. On March 4 this year, a Picasso collage
was sold for $160,000. Searches for Koons, Rauschenberg
and Rothko also yielded results, although you have to
plough through a lot of 'Rothko' style' attempts before
you find anything purporting to be genuine. See artbusiness.com/faketutorial.html
(above) to find out how to make and sell your own Rothko...
nytimes.comıA
series of articles on the New York Times website on May
9 and 10 2000, and March 9 2001, trace an eBay art-auction
fraud. Interestingly enough, those indicted were charged
with manipulating bidding (mail fraud), rather than with
selling fakes. To find the features, search site under
date and headline: EBay Art Auction May or May Not
Be Modern Classic; Online Seller of Abstract Work
Adds a Money-Back Guarantee; 3 Charged with Auction
Fraud, and for the author Judith H. Dobrzynski,
or copy over the following URLs: nytimes.com/library/tech/00/05/biztech/articles/09ebay.html,
nytimes.com/library/tech/00/05/biztech/articles/10ebay.html,
nytimes.com/library/tech/00/05/biztech/articles/10ebay.html,
whytes.ie
Like Christie's, Whytes has downloadable catalogues,
auction results and a facility to e-mail bids for forthcoming
auctions. The online article How to Bid and Win
explains bidding in detail, including insider tips and
tricks on how to get your lot. According to Ian Whyte,
between 5% and 10% of bids are submitted online.
