TOMÁŠ CIBA

Collector

 

I’ve already bought several paintings and drawings online, for example, through the Young Real Art platform operated by Jana Laštovka. The key factor for me is the convenience of shopping from a mobile phone, tablet or laptop, which saves time compared to buying in person as I don’t have to travel to galleries, artists’ studios or art fairs. I’ve only used online platforms to buy works of up-and-coming artists, often students in their final years at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague or the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music at the University of Ostrava. If I were considering purchasing an artwork from a mid-generation artist, I would always want to see and experience the work in person first and only then decide whether
to buy it. With such artists, the prices for works are higher and I wouldn’t want to get my fingers burnt or get disappointed by buying such a piece online when there’s not much certainty about how the work truly looks in detail or whether it really “speaks” to me as a collector.

 

RODERICK VAN DER LEE

výkonný ředitel veletrhu Unseen Amsterdam

 

As a collector, I frequently purchase artworks online. I would say the key factor for trust when buying online is the credibility of the selling party, directly or indirectly. This is, of course, especially true for photography, as it is an inherently reproducible medium. When considering the primary market, purchasing directly from the artist is, of course, as close to the source as you can get. When there is a representative involved, such as a gallery, it’s always good to
consider their credibility. A good gallery is, naturally, always preferable to a little-known one but sometimes a gallery can be new or simply unfamiliar to you. In such cases, direct contact via email is a good way to get to know them but quite often, people who are less experienced or confident opt to wait for a sort of third-party seal of quality. At the Unseen Photo Fair, we bring together quite a few new artists and galleries – but because our followers trust our curatorial judgement, also regarding participating galleries, this helps to create trust through our online catalogue, which collectors or first-time buyers use to purchase work online.

 

PATRIK ŠIMON

Collector

 

Our entire world is going online. I’ve been buying artworks in practically every possible way for thirty years. In online auctions, you can place bids from the comfort of your home, car or even from amidst nature via your phone, yet the thrill of the purchase remains the same as in the old days when one had to sit through hours at live auctions. My experience is that most buyers rarely worry about physically inspecting the artwork beforehand. 

However, navigating the online auction environment comes with significant risks: the moment you receive or physically pick up the lot, the disappointment with its size or colours can be stark. Often, there’s no guarantee of originality. From a certain perspective, participating in online auctions is much like attending live ones – either you know something about art or you don’t, and it doesn’t matter from where you bid. What’s important is what you’re bidding on. Today, virtually anyone can run an auction, making it nearly impossible for most buyers to research every offered lot. With
one hundred and fifty Czech auctions annually and another 10,000 international ones, pulling away from the monitor becomes an unimaginable task. My life’s work has been to discover what others miss.

 

SVEN EISENHUT

Director of photo basel

 

We rarely buy art online – why is that? We love to see the work we buy “live”. If we buy online, we buy solely through art galleries and from artists we personally know. If we know the artist and their body of work, we sort of know how the art piece will look on the wall. 

If possible, we like to place the work onto our walls beforehand via augmented reality, simply to get an idea.

“Trust” is key when buying online – make sure you know and trust the source. Especially with multiples (photography is a multiple), the edition, or shall I say the limited edition, is crucial for the artwork to retain its value.

Maybe start with buying a great book with a print attached. You can do that online with no bad feelings. Or have a look at something a bit outside of the box, like Piotr Zbierski’s Edition 777 where he divides the print into 777 pieces so you can own a piece of the real thing while still getting a wonderful print.

 

NINA ROEHRS

Specialist for Art in the Digital Age | Curator Secteur Digital at Paris Photo 

 

Yes, I’ve been buying art online for more than 20 years. Before 2018, it was mainly physical works – often editions – by artists I liked that I found at auction houses, institutions, and publishers. For example, Security by Julia (Dispenser) by the artist Julia Scher, an annual edition of the Kunstverein Düsseldorf, or Helpp by the artist Julia Wachtel, published by JRP|Editions. 

I constantly follow the offerings of numerous players in the primary and secondary markets. The criteria are not much different from buying in the physical space.
Firstly, the work has to appeal to me, then there is the artist, the role within the body of work, the edition size, the price, and, very importantly, especially when buying online, the credibility of the publisher/seller. I love the process – the research and the search for an artwork. 

Since the emergence of the first Web3 platforms (Blockchain & NFT), I have also been collecting more and more digital works. This eliminates the need to think about physical condition, shipping and storage. At the same time, a purchase requires mastering new topics – crypto money, digital wallets, preservation, etc. And searching and filtering the market works differently. Intermediaries play a role but artists take centre stage and the relationships between collectors and artists are more direct. In addition, the speed and number of new works appearing on the market is much higher. This is a world where DYOR, Do Your Own Research, is key to collecting.