Since January, we have seen a proliferation of Art meets E-Commerce initiatives encroaching into the art market.

Exhibition A launched in the new year, the VIP Online Art Fair was the first ever virtual art fair, Gawker Artists SHOP began selling edition prints, and now news of two new ventures: Art.sy and Saatchi Online.

Art.sy is an interesting platform that is currently still in development stages.  Launched by former executive from Christie’s / Haunch of Venison, and a Comp Sci engineer from Princeton in partnership with tech innovators (including the creators of Twitter, Pandora), and museums and major  gallerists  from around the world – Art.sy will work as a recommendation and e-commerce platform.

Propelled by the Art Genome Project, a program that finds similarities and distinguishing characteristics that connect art, this works in conjunction with Pandora type recommendation “if you like this you will like this as well” referral motor to propose art they have for sale.

A mash up of art dealing and long tail economics, Saatchi Online sources content from artists around the world, and takes 30% of the sale price.  Branding themselves as the “world’s biggest art market place for emerging artists” you can sort by price, media, originals or prints, as well as by keywords Saatchi Online offers an uncurated catalog  of user uploaded content.

With Gagosian’s recent iPad app launch, ArtJetSet looks forward to seeing what is to come with the advancements of these iArt initiatives.