The headline sponsor for this year’s Affordable Art Fair in New York and Seattle is a newcomer to the art world, and one that has ruffled a few feathers.
Amazon, which launched its Amazon Art marketplace in August, is sponsoring the fair in what appears to be a move to better position itself with gallery owners who could sell through the service. When Amazon launched its marketplace, the response from the art world was mixed. Everyone seems to be sizing up what the Seattle-based retailer can do for art, and whether giving Amazon a cut of the sale of a work is worth it.
It’s going to be an uphill battle, though. An art gallery owner who lists her work on Amazon Art told AllThingsD that she has only sold one work since the beginning of her partnership with the company. That may not be good enough to convince galleries to join the service.
That may be why Amazon wants to take its show on the road with the Affordable Art Fair. The fair, started in 1999, matches up well with Amazon’s ethos of selling products at the lowest prices they possibly can, with more than half of the works on display at the show priced under $5,000, with no piece of art priced at more than $10,000. In a world where paintings by famous artists can fetch hundreds of millions of dollars, that’s quite cheap.
With the holidays coming up, it’s clear Amazon wants to get its service ready for shoppers looking for something nice for their loved ones. If Amazon’s partners do blockbuster sales numbers, that may be enough to get the establishment to stand up and take notice.
If you want to check out the Amazon-sponsored fair, it will be making its next stop at Seattle Center from November 6-10. Information about ticketing and times is available here.
Previously on GeekWire: ‘Amazon Art’ puts multi-million dollar paintings in your shopping cart
