Ideas The World Needs That I’ll Never Do #4: IMDB for Art
I’ve long been obsessed with organizing messy stuff (despite anything you’ve heard from my wife about the state of my closet). I started my career at Yahoo, where we tried to organize, well, the entire Internet. My company, GoodRx, does this for prescription prices and healthcare. I’ve percolated on dozens of ideas that involve taking previously unindexed stuff and, well, indexing it. I’m like a living Dewey Decimal System. (Just FYI, these kinds of sentences often elicit loud, obvious yawns.)
Over the past decade, I’ve become more interested in buying art. I am by no means an expert or even a serious collector, but I’ve managed to buy a few inexpensive photos and pieces. From my novice viewpoint, I have found the art market to be laughably inefficient and frustrating. There are no reliable sources for art transactions; heck, there aren’t even reliable sources for what art actually exists from a given artist. Fakes are a real problem. Galleries are awful at posting their inventory, and artist websites are anywhere from non-existent to unusable (or just Instagram). Auctions are for rich old people.
I find it incomprehensible that it’s virtually impossible to pull up the entire catalogue of a specific artist. Instead, you’re left hunting through awful gallery websites for the 3 or 4 pieces in their current exhibition. You’ll often end up on the phone with a pretentious gallery owner halfway around the world (once they bother to get back to you), or — wait for it — a ‘consultant’, who’s sole job is to help you navigate this mess. Person-to-person transactions don’t seem to exist for serious art; instead auction houses get rich.
We’ve managed to organize information and transactions for real estate and travel…what about art?
Yes, I’ve checked out ArtNet and Artsy. And I’ve checked with a handful of serious collectors and art experts. I’ve been told that there are professional databases that are too expensive for anyone but galleries and museums to access. I’ve tried calling galleries, but they just hawk the works they have. There is no comprehensive place to see all of the art by a given artist.
Now maybe that’s because artists don’t want you to see their “fuchsia phase”. OK, but musicians and movie stars seem to do just fine with their duds out there. Why hide?
I would like to see a comprehensive searchable, browsable database of art. I would like to see artists post all of their work (and get more exposure!). I would like to see a record of sales and know what art is available around the world (or even a “Make Me Move” like function where the artist or owner of a piece of art could post a reserve price). I would like auction houses and galleries to take less and artists take more. Perhaps it’s a Wiki-like non-profit or maybe it can be a transaction platform.
I just want it to have lots of art that I can browse from my couch. :) Someone build this please?
