The Art World Now (In Five Hot Takes)

By Wendy Cromwell

I founded my art consultancy 20 years ago to bring contemporary art to people who were curious about collecting. Over the years, the art market has become bigger, more diverse, financialized, and globalized. But while the rest of the world went digital, the art world didn’t, cherishing the physical and placing primacy on the experience of brick-and-mortar art galleries and museums. At times, the art market seemed almost antithetical to technological innovation.

That all changed with COVID-19, which drove the art world into digital marketing and direct-to-consumer strategies. Simultaneously, a younger, more diverse generation has grown up that sees and consumes on a screen. Nothing replaces the in real life (IRL) art experience, but the art market is now, more than ever, driven by digital consumption. As we leave the 1900s firmly behind us and enter the third decade of the 21st century; how art gets made and sold is changing.

DIRECT TO CONSUMER | Instagram is the No. 1 direct-toconsumer art marketplace. Will the app replace the gallery or merely decentralize the art business? Instagram, founded in 2010, has given artists more agency over the distribution of their art. Artists use it as a platform for sharing images, so galleries are no longer the art “gatekeepers.” Collectors now have the ability to contact artists on Instagram, bypass galleries, and source talent on the app, feeding demand from a growing pool of buyers.

Hot Take No. 1: Instagram is now the largest art gallery in the world, challenging galleries and museums to remain relevant.

NFT (not for the timid!) | An NFT (Non-Fungible Token) is a unique digital asset that can be a digital image of almost anything, including a physical work of art. What makes it unique? It’s registered on the blockchain, so its authenticity and ownership can be verified by anyone, anywhere. Blockchain allows for the “life” of an NFT to be tracked, so whenever ownership changes hands, there’s a permanent record which can be useful in terms of establishing provenance. NFT art is made by artists who are typically outside the traditional art world. They don’t need galleries to help them sell their art - NFTs are bought and sold, i.e. traded, on platforms like Opensea, mostly within the crypto community.

Hot Take No. 2: NFTs are the ultimate direct-to-consumer form of art, and could easily overtake traditional art sales through galleries by sheer dollar amount in the years to come.

SHOPIFICATION OF THE ART MARKET | If you find yourself zoning out after endless online scrolling, you’re not alone. Everyone is glazed over and screen fatigue is real. During the pandemic-imposed lockdown, the only way to consume art was online. Galleries created a huge amount of content, including “click to buy” online viewing rooms, and art fairs adapted similarly. After lockdown lifted, these online modalities continued, parallel to IRL art viewing. As a result, a major shift has occurred from how traditional art was previously bought and sold.

AUCTIONS GO DIGITAL > MARKET SHARE | In 2021, Christie’s and Sotheby’s both made historic sales, each in excess of $7 billion. Over $1 billion of that came from private sales, grabbing market share from galleries. They slashed costs by halting the production of printed catalogs, a major expense. Auctions and private sales were marketed online, increasing access to art and removing a layer of exclusivity - which will continue indefinitely. In partnership with galleries, they added “buy it now” categories to sell primary works of art online, blurring their traditional role as resellers.

Christie’s also partnered with Beeple, an NFT artist, and Sotheby’s followed suit, achieving NFTs sales of $250 million (!) combined, sending shock waves through the art market. Eighty percent of NFT bidders were new to the auction houses, representing a lucrative source of future business Their direct to consumer (DTC) strategy is working, as the numbers indicate: online transactions are up 50% from 2020.

Hot Take No. 3: Auctions have succeeded beyond galleries in marketing and selling art directly to the consumer.

THE PRIMARY MARKET GALLERIES + ART FAIRS | Galleries didn’t fare as well as auction houses with DTC marketing. Why? Instagram is more fun! But some innovations worked:

• Superblue: an outpost of Pace Gallery in Miami showcases digital, interactive art that you pay to visit. Expect to see more Superblue locations, and more interactive art exhibits, coming to a city near you.

• Platform: Zwirner Gallery’s collaboration with younger galleries, selling emerging art directly from the Zwirner website (which has a robust following).

• OVRs: online viewing rooms were created by galleries for virtual art fairs during the pandemic. Fairs are once again live *phew*, but OVRs will continue as an added feature, allowing DTC collecting and broader access to art

Hot Take No. 4: The Cromwell Art Collectors’ Club is a DTC platform for people who want to collect art at an accessible price point with my guidance. Visit www.cromwellart.com to learn more.

LOCAL IS THE NEW GLOBAL | As the art world becomes more global, active local markets remain key market drivers. Miami, Palm Beach, the Hamptons, Aspen, and Marfa, Texas, are all increasingly art-fied with key New York and Los Angeles galleries opening satellite outposts.

In Europe, France is edging out post-Brexit-United Kingdom as the Paris gallery scene grows, along with local auction revenues. In the South of France, Luma, Arles has emerged as a new art world destination, revitalizing a formerly depressed region. Accra, Ghana, has a bubbly art scene driven by artists exporting awareness, showing their work in market centers like New York, Los Angeles, London and Paris. The Gulf States are low-key serious investors in art, with major museums like the Louvre and Guggenheim museums establishing a presence in Abu Dhabi.

Asia is the second-largest art market outside the U.S., fueled by demand from a new, younger generation collecting Western Contemporary art.

SPOTLIGHT ON SEOUL | It’s not news that South Korea’s cultural scene is hot. With that, a new generation of wealthy creatives is getting in on the action, collecting Contemporary art. Western galleries have taken note, opening hubs in Seoul, fueling demand among the already well-established collector base. This spring, the Freize art fair will debut in Seoul, attracting galleries from around the world and collectors from across Asia.

Hot Take No. 5: Watch out, Hong Kong! Seoul might become the new Asian art market hotspot. sl

Prior to founding Cromwell Art 18 years ago, Wendy Cromwell was Vice President of Sotheby’s Contemporary Art for nearly a decade. She ran a Fortune 500 corporate art collection before that, and consulted for several blue-chip art galleries while in graduate school. Wendy received her Master of Arts in Modern Art from the Institute of Fine Arts of New York University and graduated from Smith College with a Bachelor of Arts in Art History. Wendy is past president and current board member of the Association of Professional Art Advisors and a member of the Appraisers Association of America. For tasty bites of art world knowledge delivered to your inbox monthly, subscribe to the Cromwell Art Snack.