Company aims to be window on China's art market

A New York-based company is looking to provide a better view online of China's art market.

Artnet, an art market information company, has launched an immersive new mini program on WeChat, the popular Chinese social media mobile app. The company established its WeChat presence in 2015, when it opened a China branch, and has continued to expand.

The mini program allows galleries to establish individual profiles through which the Chinese community can instantly inquire about art from a range of dealers through its gallery network - a platform that connects galleries and collectors and features more than 170,000 works of art by 35,000 artists from around the globe.

"I went to China in 2013, and after that, many, many times," said Jacob Pabst, artnet CEO. "It's a fascinating market; it's fascinating by the speed of its growth and the amount of changes the country is going through in a very short time."

Pabst said that in the past, inquiries in China had been more about Chinese art, but the Chinese interest in Western art has grown rapidly in recent years.

"Galleries came to realize that the interest for Western art is becoming more obvious," Pabst said.

Pabst noted that the market for Western art is still relatively small in China, but growing rapidly. At the same time, the gallery system from the Western market is still in an early stage and not fully developed, he said.

"WeChat will be a great opportunity for artnet and its member galleries to reach the art market in China and give its participants easy access to artnet's member galleries," Pabst said.

Artnet also plans to help Chinese users navigate its other products, including its artnet auctions, an online platform for buying and selling modern and contemporary art, and its price database, which provides a comprehensive archive of auction results.

"The system of making sure the (art) data is accurate as it published is not fully implemented," Pabst said.

He said artnet has worked closely with the China Association of Auctioneers (CAA) to bring more accuracy and transparency to the market by providing better data.

"There is no doubt about the huge potential in China," said Jessica Zhang, artnet's director for Greater China ,and its Chinese publisher.

Zhang said the company has worked with the major art fairs in China the past few years and with museums and different institutions, holding educational programs and forums.

ruinanzhang@chinadailyusa.com