Today the ambitious online art database known as Artsy launched a preview of works to be displayed at this year's Armory Show in New York, which runs from March 7-10.
Carter Cleveland, Founder and CEO of Artsy, referred to the page as "a visual Twitter but optimized for art" at a press conference this morning at the Artsy office in downtown Manhattan.
When the Armory Show launched in 1913, the event was a different affair than it is today; some might say the sticker price is the only shock factor a hundred years after its debut. At its launch, Americans saw the most risqué avant-garde art flown in from European capitals, attempting to wrap their minds around Marcel Duchamp's "Nude Descending a Staircase" (1912) or Odilon Redon's dreamy oeuvre.
But now you don't even need to be in New York to experience the gigantic art fair. In fact, you don't even need to leave the comfort of your home. The team at Artsy got over 2500 works from over 200 galleries to agree to exhibit their work on the Internet. This means that 90% of exhibitors will be showing their work both online and at Piers 92 & 94, which marks a first for the big art fairs, and a sign -- we hope -- that things are really opening up in the art world.
Interested collectors can score a signed digital print of "Lenticular," Damien Hirst's diamond-encrusted skull, for around $3,500 or big spenders can splurge on Richard Diebenkorn's "Green" (1986) for a whopping $400-500,000. Or you can simply browse and not buy anything at all, because what's better than window shopping?
Cleveland said in a statement, "[I'm] excited to share this unique experience with collectors all over the world who can’t make the fair in person... For many of them, this will be their first exposure to an art fair in any form."
See an example of the work on view below, and visit Artsy for more:
