The announcement last week that True Ventures, a VC in San Francisco funded the 20 x 200 art site based in NYC under the moniker of the ‘Democratization of Art ‘, is a step forward in the disruption of the internet to traditional business models.
Put aside the interesting fact that a San Francisco VC funds a NY based art startup. It’s the idea of Democratization that strikes a chord with me as this is the concept that I believe underlies the marketing and business changes that the internet is demanding.
The art world and the world of galleries and limited editions is all about exclusion. It’s about creating scarcity and value through limiting access to both the artist and the buyer. The former by the scarcity of representation that can provide a market and the later by price. This is the world that Jen Bekman at 20 x 200 is turning on its head and True Ventures and a handful of visionary angels are funding. In the very still and aloof world of art, this is a very rash and important move. Throwing away the obscure and hidden pricing model of the gallery world is audacious and empowering to the rest of us.
The True Ventures post describes the importance of the idea: ‘…the potential of Jen’s vision to leverage the Internet to lower the velvet rope to the Art world and make collecting accessible to everyone.” It is a huge idea and will reverberate throughout the art world. Jen Bekman’s formula: (Limited Editions x Low Prices) + The Internet = 20×200 is not limited to photography alone and I’m sure she is thinking to the limits of this formula.
The internet has already set the groundwork for a global democratized market, it is just taking some time to see it and bold folks with big ideas to muscle change into existence.
The list of transformed businesses grows daily. Hybrid and online distribution channels have pounded the stranglehold of retail chains. Cloud based shopping carts and back end warehousing from Amazon and others has removed the barriers to selling hard goods for small businesses. The music, real estate, news, car businesses to name just the obvious, are changed, some with ease others still in pain.
The change in the art world that 20 x 200 is heralding speaks to me personally as art is important to my life. I’m reading the Sunday New York Times, looking at my limited prints of Margaret Bourke-White on the wall and checking out the galleries and art shows in the city. The essential nature of art and the importance of creative expression hasn’t changed, it has just begun to expand and become more accessible and more democratic. Jen Bekman and folks like 20 x 200 are pioneers in making it happen. Thanks for doing this.
