The Saatchi Gallery London recently relaunched Saatchi Online with 60,000 new international artists and a plethora of new shopping features. The site aims to help create sustainable careers for artists by promoting art, finding buyers, and ultimately providing the opportunity to make more. The site is a thriving social marketplace helping community members sell original works of art as well as prints.
Originally conceived by Charles Saatchi, the new online gallery is led by CEO Bruce Livingstone, founder of iStockphoto, and an artist in his own right. Majority shareholders include Saatchi and Balderton Capital, and headquarters are in Chinatown in Los Angeles.
Special features include social networking and sharing features; search tools based on style, type and price points, or keywords; and a favorites file. Saatchi Online also manages all aspects of transactions and logistics from artists to buyers. Art buyers can take comfort in the seven-day money back guarantee, minus shipping, regardless of the cost of the piece.
Artists benefit from a powerful social networking and "Showdown," a fee-free visual "head-to-head" competition where artists can showcase their work and go head-to-head with other artists, giving the winner a chance to display their art at the Saatchi Gallery in London and a cash prize.
