The online auction market, the new era trend in art, will reach $ 2.4 billion in volume in 2025.

COMPUTER ALGORITHMS are ravaging the art world, as well as science and health. Artworks were created with an artificial intelligence program and began to go on sale. In 2018, the work “Portrait of Edmond Belamy”, created by an artificial intelligence program at Christie’s auction house in New York, sold at the auction for $432k.

Especially the interest of new generation collectors in digital works is focused on further expanding the market. Experts say that countries are trying to stand out in the field of art and have a say in the world at the cultural and intellectual level, and consider Block-chain technology as one of the future trends in the art world.

On the other hand, the number of art platforms on the internet are increasing, existing ones are growing, and the sale of art on the internet is having more place year by year. The only reason why art exchanges have started to move into the virtual world is not just because people are too lazy to commute or fear wasting time. Art lovers attach importance to the return conditions when buying paintings and sculptures, and internet sales platforms where returning is easy to attract more attention. Moreover, buyers can quickly find what they are looking for online, instead of being limited to just a few galleries or a city and choosing among the jobs there.

VIRTUAL ART MARKET WILL GROW IN 2025

According to the 2020 Art Research conducted by Hexa, there is a noticeable growth in the virtual painting and sculpture market with the increase in internet usage. In 2025, the volume of virtual art market in the USA alone is predicted to reach 2.4 billion dollars. Behind this prediction lies both the increasing demand for art markets abroad as a result of the appreciation of the USD against foreign currencies, and the environment of trust in buyers thanks to online auctions, open reporting and transparency. It is estimated that the painting segment, which dominates the virtual art market, will maintain this position for a long time. Record-breaking auctions and the growing interest in painting support this projection. Most art sales take place at fairs or online auctions. Online auctions allow the works to be brought together effortlessly and reach far more buyers. The reason that art fairs, galleries and museums were also closed for months besides live auctions restricted access to art only by online.

The pandemic has sped up an ongoing process irreversibly. During the outbreak, sales of over 20 million dollars were seen in both contemporary, impressionist and modern art from private sales. In Islamic Works, the auction, which was held live in London after two months of delay, broke the record for the last 10 years and sold over 13 million GBP. It includes in so far sold most valuable Koran (GBP 7 million) and one of the first three portraits of Fatih Sultan Mehmet done by Atelier Bellini and attracted attention with its arrival in Turkey. The Islamic Works Auction became one of the most popular auctions of this period. All eyes were on this auction, which was postponed even though the catalog was published at the beginning of April, as it was the first live sale in London after the pandemic. With a sell rate of 94% which is a hard-to-reach and GBP 13,361,000 in total, it far exceeded the market performance of recent years. The Holy Quran from the 15th century, from the Timur or Akkoyunlu era, turned the expectations upside down and sold for almost 12 times of the starting value with the participation of many international collectors from the price of 600,000 GBP. The portrait of Fatih Sultan Mehmet was brought to the national treasury of the country by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality for GBP 935,250 on June 25, with the competition of many interested parties, although he could not find a buyer for 600,000 GBP at the Classical Masters Auction in the recent past.

Pandemic and online sales

• David Zwirner sold Jeff Koons’ Balloon Venus Lespugue (Red) (2013-19) sculpture for 8 million dollars in Basel Online, where they presented 15 artists with the concept of 15 Rooms. A total of $ 28 million worth of works from star artists such as Josef Albers, Joan Mitchell and contemporaries Kerry James Marshall and Josh Smith were put up for sale online in Zwirner’s “rooms”.

• Another mega-gallery Gagosian, one of Zwirner’s main competitors, sold Cecily Brown’s Figures in a Landscape 1 (2001) on its online platform for $ 5.5 million. With this art piece, Gagosian has sold a total of 40 works with sales up to $ 14 million on the online platform.

• Sotheby’s made its largest online sale, selling $ 6.4 million at auction in London on April 22nd. George Condo’s Antipodal Reunion (2005) sold for exactly GBP 1,035,000. At the auction, where Picasso’s The Bathers was sold for $ 987,000, let’s give a good news for Turkish people: Fahrelnissa Zeid’s Lunar Chiaroscuro exceeded its estimated price and sold for $ 313,000, making its debut in Sotheby’s gallery.

• One of the biggest purchases to stimulate the art market came from billionaire Ken Griffin. Griffin bought Jean-Michel Basquiat’s 1982 Boy and Dog in a Johnnypump for exactly $100 million. Art publications wrote that this is no surprise to those who know of Griffin’s wealth and collection.

• Sotheby’s sold $ 363.2 million of modern and contemporary art at a global online auction held on the evening of June 29, 2020.

ONLINE PLATFORMS FOR THE ART WORLD

Online auctions has a solid place in the art world. In 2020, 46% of the galleries redesigned their websites, and 21% started working with a social media expert. The relations of social media platforms and galleries are growing day by day. Although Facebook and Instagram were previously seen as simple networks, they are now seen as a marketing and sales tool with paid ad placements and interactive photo and video features. This year 54% of the galleries experienced Instagram Stories and Facebook, while 47% communicated with collectors via social media. Selling online may have gained popularity, but that doesn’t mean it beats traditional methods completely. 44% of the galleries state that the in-person talks were very helpful as a marketing channel in 2019. Again, 40% of the galleries state that gallery visits are the biggest source for the sales of the works. In addition, galleries still use print publications as an advertising medium. In 2019, 55% of the galleries chose this way. The first and most important of the evaluations that galleries are based on when choosing online platforms is the audience and/or user size.

In second place is visual aesthetics. According to the results of the research, 27% of the galleries using online platforms in 2019 listed the prices of the works publicly. 16% shared the price information on Facebook and Instagram. This transparency brings along issues such as whether taxes and other amounts can be included in the online listing, and the necessary negotiations with senders. According to the results of the research, it is revealed that galleries with online platforms generate more sales than galleries without any online channels. It is thought that when online sales increase compared to previous years, galleries will refocus their online presence. While 31% of the galleries state that the cost of participating in online platforms is quite high, they also state that the increasing rents lead them to online platforms more. This year, only 14% of the galleries attended the fairs as an effective marketing channel. This means that the accessibility of the online art world is very effective in terms of communication and reaching new collectors. After the galleries meet online, they need to create a unique brand identity for the next year. This is very necessary so that they can distinguish themselves from other galleries and meet new collectors.