Amazon announces plans to open online art gallery Automatic translate

Amazon.com is about to launch an online art gallery this year. The online store of books, electronics and clothes intends to offer its customers more than 1000 pieces of art in the collections of at least 125 galleries. According to the dealers who are involved in the development of the project, 109 galleries have already given their consent.

The interest of the retail Internet giant to launch its own art gallery was revealed back in May, when Amazon organized a special information session for New York dealers. Since then, the company has sent out invitations to dozens, if not hundreds, of galleries in all parts of the United States with an offer to participate in the program.

An Amazon spokeswoman declined to officially comment on the company’s plans, saying, “We haven’t made any art sales announcements.” But at least one of the dealers told the press that his gallery could offer artworks, however, acting under a pseudonym until the site became successful. It is assumed that the service will be made in the likeness of the Amazon Wine platform, which was launched last fall and works directly with 450 different vineyards and winemakers across the country.

The new service will retain certain commissions for all sales made through the site. The commission will vary from 5% to 15% of the price of the product. (For comparison, the Artspace online art sales service charges a fee ranging from 10% to 20%.)

However, Augusto Arbizo, founder of the New York gallery Eleven Rivington, noted that he did not consider it possible to take part in this project. “I said no to e-commerce for the simple reason that I simply do not have such large stocks. We work with a very small number of artists who primarily make paintings and prints. ”

A representative of the Feuer gallery said that they will decide to participate in the project after it is launched. “The decision of the gallery will depend on how much we can control the process. In addition, all of our artists will also need to approve of exhibiting their work on Amazon, ”he says.

The world’s largest club chain of stores, Costco, launched a similar platform for selling art objects last year, and now you can even find works by Henri Matisse and Marc Chagall, as well as original works by Johnny Watts and Hilary Williams. (The most expensive work sold through Costco is the lithography of Jean-Michel Basquiat, which costs about 6 thousand US dollars.)

Analysts have some doubts that the Amazon scheme will be successful. “It’s an awesome idea, but it’s hard for me to believe that they can do it in the visual arts,” says James Hedges, president of the art-oriented investment company Montage Finance.

Anna Sidorova © Gallerix.ru