Art Explained: How the internet changed the art world

 

 

Key Quotes:

 

Steven Murphy on the impact of social media:

“Social media and smartphones are the most significant technological developments to impact the art world since the invention of the camera… Although East and West have a heritage of many centuries of great art, it’s only in the last decade or so that art has had a global platform for viewing or sharing in a way never before conceived.”

 

On the new global art community:

“A little more than a decade ago, conversations about art were the purview of a select group of art lovers. Now, that fellowship of art lovers has expanded to include a much bigger and global and younger community, and rightfully so. Digital has put the power in the hands of the collector… he or she can now choose among a myriad of means to acquire art, from fairs to galleries to private dealers to auction houses.”

 

On how the internet has revolutionised the economics of the art game:

“The online world has not only democratised but revolutionised the art game. When auction sales dipped globally in 2015, the online art market that year grew an estimated 24%, and by 2017 had exceeded $4.2 billion. Similarly, there has been an exponential increase in museum and gallery attendance worldwide.”

 

On why only viewing art digitally does not provide the whole picture:

“The single most important element in the art collecting equation is still the emotional connection between the art and the viewer. That's why paintings, drawings, and sculpture all continue to live and be loved. For art, the most important driver is whether the artwork moves you. If a painting is good and truly has that 'innovative magic,' it will create an emotional response in the viewer that transcends what's on the canvas -- or on your iPhone.”