Address: The Internet
Website: artFido.com
Gallery Owner: Juan Garcia
When did the space first open its doors, and how did you become involved?
artFido.com launched on May 22, 2012. Juan Garcia had been collected art for almost a decade and was finding that traditional auction houses weren’t drawing the young art buyers and that many young buyers were reverting to mass produced prints and copies from Ikea and the like. He decided to launch an online auction site that made finding, buying and selling art as simple as possible for galleries, collectors, artists, buyers and sellers alike. He started developing the site in 2011, and brought in three other directors in January 2012, two months prior to launch.
Does the space lend itself to a certain type of art, and if so how?
artFido has been developed to allow all kinds of art to be listed. Buyers can use the search functions to find art by subject, style, medium, and colour. If it can be photographed it can be sold on artFido.com.
What have been some of your more memorable exhibitions?
In July 2012 Juan rescued a piece of art by the internationally famous street artist HUSH (which was due to be destroyed) and with the help of Metro Gallery and the artist himself auctioned it online to raise money for Challenge (a charity group that support kids with cancer). The auction was a huge success and managed to raise over $15,000 for the charity.
When curating an exhibition, how do you decided what work is appropriate for the space?
artFido.com is completely non-curated at this stage. It is open for all galleries and artists to list and sell their works. We are looking at introducing a featured artist and featured gallery section in the near future. We have engaged the talents of 20 or so art professional who act as our Art Watchdogs to help answer questions about the authenticity or provenance.
Do you have a support network or community of artists that work/move together?
We currently have over 500 artists listing and selling their works on artFido.com. We also have over 100 galleries doing the same.
What else can you tell us about the gallery?
It is currently absolutely free to register, list and sell on artFido.com. The plan is to launch the site internationally in 2013.
What upcoming exhibitions do you have?
We are currently looking at having another charity auction on the site. This time with an original Bansky print.
