Great Debate
Daphne King-yao and Nick Buckley Wood discuss buying art via Instagram
YES NICK BUCKLEY WOOD Asia Director of Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac
IN THE SAME WAY that dating apps were treated with caution when they first emerged, using Instagram as a sales platform, particularly for art, is still frowned upon by some. But this is fast changing, and it will soon become the norm. Recently a study revealed that over 50 per cent of art collectors who use Instagram have bought art through the app. Many leading collectors, most notably megastar and environmentalist Leonardo Dicaprio, have become seasoned experts in discovering artists and buying art on Instagram.
Nowadays it is common practice for collectors to buy an artwork unseen—i have bought many pieces after seeing an image alone. In a truly global and fast-moving market, and particularly if you don’t work full-time in the art world, it’s often impossible to constantly visit galleries, museums, fairs and artist studios. Access to many popular artists is limited and the supply of great artworks cannot keep up with demand as more and more people begin to collect art. Online platforms, particularly Instagram, are instrumental in helping to democratise the art world, providing the opportunity for anyone to discover the next Picasso.
The joy of buying a work of art through Instagram is twofold. First, there’s the excitement of discovery, catching the first glimpse of an artwork and then buying it before anyone else. The second wave of pleasure comes when receiving the artwork and experiencing it for the first time in real life.
When buying a serious piece of art, one should always do one’s homework and research the artist and artwork before buying; the joy of art collecting often lies in the learning process. However, as the real world slowly merges with the virtual world, we must embrace technology that connects us and empowers brilliant people. Now is the time to support more artists on Instagram and unfollow the meme monsters and Kardashians.
NO DAPHNE KING-YAO Director of Alisan Fine Arts
WHILE THE ERA OF technology has ushered in countless substitutions for the brick-and-mortar gallery model of buying and selling art, the fact that Alisan Fine Arts is still thriving after 37 years testifies to the fact that the interaction of buying artwork is a highly personal experience, and that buyers are invested in the human element of the transaction. At our core, art is a business of relationships: the relationship between the gallery and the artist, the gallery and the client, the client and the artist. A knee-jerk purchase over Instagram bypasses all three of these, which strips the collecting experience of its richness and depth.
On a mere surface level, it is nearly impossible to get a true sense of scale and texture, and most especially colour, over Instagram. An installation photo may approach these parameters, but to view a work in person is always superior to viewing through a screen or superimposed filters. If this were not the case, why would you visit a museum, as images of most works of art are now dispensed freely on the internet? All humans crave the palpable, in-person experience of interacting with a work of art. We need to sense the impasto, view a canvas from several angles, engage in a conversation about the work with another person, and through these channels achieve that feeling of oneness that might lead to a collector adding an artwork to their collection.
Unfortunately, forgers have now reached a level of professionalism where even trained art appraisers can find it difficult to distinguish between an authentic work and a reproduction. Judging authenticity is even more problematic when buying art over social media. Ultimately, I believe that when considering an artwork of a certain calibre, the most important thing is to have a relationship with the gallerist and to completely trust in their integrity. And it’s very hard—if not impossible—to solely build that relationship through Instagram.