Saatchi Takes the Art Business Online

Dealers, watch your backs.

A new feature announced on Charles Saatchi's website yesterday will allow visitors to buy art directly from the site. Saatchi won't charge the artists to sell or the visitors to buy, meaning all you pay for is the art itself.

Saleroom Online, as it is officially called, is a natural outgrowth of the virtual galleries Saatchi, who is known for spotting new talent, launched last year. In May 2006, he devoted a section of his site to artists who wanted to upload images of their work, and six months later came Stuart, which is the same concept, but meant specifically for art students. They emerged as dealers and collectors had begun stalking MFA shows in search of the next big thing, making Saatchi's site a 24/7 student exhibition on an international scale. (There are 66,000 artists and art students registered on the site today.)

In the past, the only way to buy what you saw on Saatchi Online and Stuart was to contact the artist, ask for the price, and negotiate the deal.

"Essentially, Saleroom is a new section that adds a better facility for visitor to the site to buy art from artists," said Annabel Fallon, Press Officer for Saatchi Gallery.

The concept is essentially see it, like it, buy it via PayPal.

Fallon says the feature should go live by the end of next week.