The Legitimation of Young and Emerging Artists in Digital Platforms: The Case of Saatchi Art

Figures & data

Table 1. Artist interviewed via face to face and email.

Method	Interviewee (pseudonym)	Nationality	Sex	Age	Career^a	Featured in
E-mail	Olivia	British	F	45	2	One to Watch
	Amelia	German	F	35	4	Invest in Art
	Isla	British	F	N/A	7	Inside Studio
	Oliver	British	M	35	9	Showdown
	Emily	British	F	32	9	One to Watch
	Ava	Hungarian	F	34	15	Showdown
	Lily	British	F	47	6	Inside Studio
	Harry	British	M	37	9	Invest in Art
	Mia	British	F	23	3	One to Watch
	Sophia	British	F	27	4	One to Watch
	Isabella	British	F	26	2	Invest in Art
	George	British	M	41	7	Invest in Art
	Jack	Romanian	M	36	5	Showdown
	Grace	British	F	36	5	Inside Studio
	Jacob	British	M	34	9	Invest in Art
	Poppy	Swedish	F	47	10	Showdown
	Ella	British	M	48	10	Showdown
	Evie	British	F	24	2	Inside Studio
	Charlotte	British	F	44	4	Invest in Art
	Oscar	British	M	48	12	Showdown
Face to Face	Charlie	British	M	37	6	Showdown
	Thomas	Norwegian	M	35	5	One to Watch
	Daisy	German	F	27	2	Invest in Art
	Sophie	Chinese	F	25	1	Showdown
	Freya	Korean	F	28	5	Invest in Art
	Alice	British	F	43	9	Inside Studio
	Sienna	Estonian	F	26	2	One to Watch

The period of being an artist (self-defined).

Table 2. Comparison between three online art platforms.

	Artsy	Artnet	Saatchi Art
Found in	2010	1989	2006
Mission	Creating an egalitarian platform for discovering arts	Bring transparency into the art market	To be a marketplace and transparency
Business Model	Connection oriented	Content oriented	Commerce oriented
Revenues from	Subscription Fee from partnership with galleries Referral fee from auction houses Sponsored content	Subscription Fee from offering accessibility to online database Subscription Fee from partnership with galleries and auction houses Brokerage Commission from the transaction in online auction Advertising	Brokerage 30% commission on the sales of original artworks and printed editions of arts
Key Features of the Platforms	Algorithm Editorial resources	Database Online Auction Editorial resources Advertising Banners	Using the powerful brand in the art world in their name Curated environment Editorial resources

Table 3. Curatorial practice on Saatchi Art.

Name	Content	Note
One to Watch Artists	Introducing an artist every week Presenting various images about artists Showcasing selections of artworks Publishing transcriptions of interview by pre-established questions
Inside the studio		More focus on the artist’s studio and their process of making works
Invest in Art	Introducing around ten artists per an edition (three editions per a year) Showcasing three artworks by each artist.	Recognized by Chief curator
Contest (Showdown)	Publishing the shortlists of each contests with artists’ works Awarding cash prize or art materials with offering opportunities of exhibitions 19 contests for five years	Stopped since 2016
Collections	Virtual and group exhibitions by Saatchi Art’s curatorial team Presenting the collection of artworks’ images within certain themes	Frequent

Table 4. An example of the sales record of a featured artist on Saatchi Art.

Date	Status	Price
2012. July	Joined Saatchi Art	–
2013. July. 20	Sold Print 20 × 25 cm	$40
2014. January. 20	Sold Original	$3500
2014. February. 1	Featured	–
2014. February. 8	Sold Original	$1350
2014. February. 8	Sold Original	$1300
2014. February. 15	Sold Original	$1250
2014. February. 25	Sold Original	$5500
2014. March. 2	Sold Original	$1300
2014. March. 23	Sold Original	$1400
2014. March. 30	Sold Original	$4800
2014. April. 14	Sold Print 28 × 36 cm	$75
2014. May. 16	Sold Print 41 × 51 cm	$120
2014. May. 16	Sold Print 28 × 36 cm	$75
2014. August. 4	Sold Original	$2800
2015. June. 16	Sold Original	$1800
2016. March. 6	Sold Original	$1700

Figure 1. Twitter conversation of Saatchi Art with an anonymous user.

Table 5. The comparison between the traditional art world and the digital art platform.

	Legitimation of artists in the traditional art world	Legitimation of artists in the digital art platform
Differences	Commencing with inserting artists into the mechanism by intermediaries.	Embarking on the process with artists’ own volition.
	Constructing consensus by the collective action of multiple stakeholders.	Exclusively relying on a limited number of experts from the platform.
Similarities	The necessity for intermediation mechanism due to the uncertain value of contemporary art; The importance of the symbolic capitals of merchants; and The existence of engendering different degrees of legitimacy.