Released on: July 23, 2008, 5:42 am

Press Release Author: Annabel Fallon

Industry: Internet & Online

Press Release Summary: A world class Art Gallery based in London. Presenting art by largely unseen young artists or by established international artists whose work has been rarely exhibited through London UK art gallery. In less than a year, SAATCHI ONLINE thrives as virtual salons for global community of artists, galleries, museums,
Students and art fans


Press Release Body: Works in the contemporary art market are moving from artist to buyer at a lightning pace, and at accelerating prices. \"New works, even in the six-figure range, are selling by digital image alone,\" reports The New York Times. Supporting and propelling this increased activity is The Saatchi Gallery, the gallery of world-renowned collector Charles Saatchi. In mid-2006, The Saatchi Gallery launched Saatchi Online, an online initiative that provides a free global platform for all artists to promote their work. It quickly became one of the biggest market places for artists and collectors to \"meet,\" chat, and show art-so successful that within a few months The Saatchi Gallery introduced STUART (Student ART), a Saatchi Online location designed especially for students from around the world to \"exhibit\" their work at no cost.
Discovering new works on Saatchi Online, collectors are able to bypass the gallery and auction systems-to say nothing of geographical limitations-to purchase art, and artists no longer require representation by a mainstream gallery to have their work seen by a mass of potential buyers and ultimately sold: \"The whole ethos behind our site is that while the 1000 or so most successful artists are well catered for by the auction houses and commercial galleries, artists below that level are largely unrepresented and un-shown. Our aim has been to create a site which serves as a platform for all artists including lesser known ones, and students. The site serves as a global community for everyone making or interested in art and we want it to be a key art reference and meeting point across the world,\" said Charles Saatchi.
The Saatchi Gallery does not charge any commission on works sold, making art more available to buyers who might hesitate to make purchases in brick-and-mortar galleries due to the high prices often charged. The site collects no fees from collectors or dealers and is open to everyone who wishes to make their entire portfolio open to the whole international art community.
\"I have decided not to buy anything from the site for a year, in order to leave the field clear for other collectors, but I look at every work of art, including videos, loaded on Saatchi Online everyday, and have an ever-lengthening list of artists I am excited about from all over the world,\" said Charles Saatchi.
Through Saatchi Online, more than 45,000 artists and 20,000 students are now using the established banner of The Saatchi Gallery to introduce a wave of diverse new works to a far broader audience than they might otherwise reach. The Saatchi Gallery logs an average of over 40 million hits a day, as artists, collectors, dealers, students, and all those interested in contemporary art access visuals and information directly, view the site\'s online daily magazine and blog, and chat live. The artists, including many promising young students, represent every aspect and trend in modern art, including video. The Saatchi Gallery website is now the largest interactive art gallery in the world.
In February 2007, Saatchi Online added to this highly popular mix a special section designed for museums-\"Museums Around the World\"-which enables museums to show their collection highlights and exhibition details on The Saatchi Gallery site. Many of the world\'s most prestigious art museums, among them New York\'s Museum of Modern Art and Whitney Museum of American Art, London\'s Tate and National Gallery, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Louvre in Paris, moved quickly to be represented on the Saatchi site.
A similar section, \"Art Colleges Around the World,\" allows visual arts, performing arts, fashion and design institutions to display in detail all their degree show work and prospectuses. Colleges already up on The Saatchi Gallery include Yale and Harvard in the US , the Royal College of Art and Goldsmiths in London and many more leading universities and art schools across the US, UK and a number of countries around the world. Both museum and art college sections are growing so fast that a spokesperson for the gallery said: \"By the end of the year we anticipate that most of the world\'s museums and art schools could be accessed via the site.\"
In May 2007 in Beijing The Saatchi Gallery launched Saatchi Online in Mandarin to allow all artists and students in China the opportunity to show their work on the site. The Chinese website has been created to allow the thousands of artists and students who work and live in China the opportunity to use the site not only to show their work, but also to interact with the many other artists and students from around the world whose work is already on the site.
This new Chinese site also represents The Saatchi Gallery\'s continuing goal of creating the world\'s first truly international arts communications portal with a strong presence in all areas of the world, including those areas where English is not widely spoken. The Saatchi Gallery team aims to create similar sites in Russian, Indian and Spanish over the coming months.


Web Site: http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk

Contact Details: Annabel Fallon, Saatchi Gallery press office: annabel@saatchigallery.com
0207 811 5007 /07771 551677