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While working for an art gallery and an interior design company, Tappan Collective co-founders Jordan Klein and Chelsea Neman realized that the new way to connect artists and collectors is through tech.
"We saw a gap in the fine art market for affordable yet sophisticated artwork. Aspiring art collectors and interior designers wanted access to exciting contemporary artwork by up-and-coming artists that fit their budget. We had many talented friends who had just graduated from art school and needed financial support to continue to create work. We decided a virtual art gallery was the best solution to effectively connect artists to collectors everywhere,” Klein said. “We identified ourselves as virtual curators, not startup founders.”
Like other efforts to connect the global art world through tech, Tappan Collective has seen its impact grow since its creation in 2011. Now, Tappan has more than 50 artists in the collective, offering hundreds of pieces of artwork. It’s been featured on the set of Mindy Kaling’s NBC show “The Mindy Project” and produced a solo exhibition at the Park Avenue Armory in New York for one of the artists in the collective. And, according to Klein, it will soon host its tenth pop-up gallery in Los Angeles.
This isn’t the first or the last idea to grow the art world using technology. Through Artsy’s The Art Genome Project, an online collection of contemporary art with partnerships ranging from galleries to museums that declares its mission as making “all the world’s art accessible to anyone with an Internet connection,” masterpieces from Remembrandt to Rothko are available for sale and for self-education.
Saatchi Art is a similar venture, focused on offering curated artwork from photography to sculpture with expert guidance for buyers. 14-year-old DeviantART approaches art sharing in a different way, allowing users to upload their own manga, drawings, designs and other types of art and learn about different techniques and styles in a social network forum with over 65 million visitors each month.
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With all these Internet art communities, how does a company stand out?
“We do not compete with the traditional gallery system,” Klein said, adding that Tappan takes advantage of the transition between art school and gallery representation to discover artists. “We use the Internet to reach a new generation of art collectors and support artists in ways a physical gallery cannot. Internet culture values openness, sharing and efficiency. The art world traditionally functions in an opposite way; it is often intimidating and exclusive, with hidden price lists and imagery that needs an education in art history to understand. We break down the barrier to the art world by offering content like studio visits, artist interviews and art history lessons.”
DeviantART’s co-founder/CEO Angelo Sotira, who has a background in digital music platforms, also emphasizes the community aspect in his company.
“What sets DeviantART apart is the focus and purpose of the network and community as a whole. Because we are focused on a single vertical, visual arts, we pay more attention and don’t get distracted from our core community and responsibilities,” he said. “In the arts, for this example, we bring artists together during their formative years, so we create long standing bonds and learning opportunities that ultimately spawn art groups and art collectives. In turn, these spawn companies and studios, which are hired by all manner of mainstream and niche media with a massive effect on global culture.”
For those who want to join the art-tech community, it seems the atmosphere of the community you want to create—from high-profile art collections to an environment for sharing amateur doodles—is the key.
“Attitude and intention are the core values you need to bring to community online or offline,” Sotira said. “If you get that right, everything else can fall into its place. It will take a great deal of patience to find the right tone and the right purpose that the community will accept for itself. And as simple as this will sound, your online technology has to work for the needs of the community you intend to attract and serve.”
