A talk at the Aspen Art Museum Thursday explores the growing influence of online galleries in the art world.
Elena Soboleva is the director of online sales at David Zwirner. On Thursday, she’ll discuss the hybrid sales model more and more galleries are using. This involves displaying and marketing art online, while still encouraging prospective buyers to come into galleries to view works in-person, especially before a final sale.
Soboleva says moving sales into the digital realm ultimately makes art more accessible. Currently, she says, the vast majority of art sales happen in New York, Hong Kong and London.
"However, with a platform like online, all of a sudden, that enables new collectors and demographics from all over to browse, inquire and collect artwork," she said.
Online art sales are still a relatively small piece of the pie; last year, Soboleva says, only 8 percent of all e-commerce involved artwork. That number, however, is growing.
Soboleva discusses the world of digital art sales starting at 5 p.m. at the Aspen Art Museum.
