Charles Saatchi has taken the concept of YouTube, the hugely successful do-it-yourself video website, and squeezed it into the art world. He has replaced his old haunts — the warehouses and galleries of Hoxton and Brick Lane in London’s East End where his very presence could add zeros to an artist’s asking price — for a sprawling website where the whole world can exhibit its art.
His idea, Your Gallery, originally conceived as a stopgap between the closure of his gallery in London’s County Hall last year and the opening of a new one in Chelsea next summer, has become a runaway success.
Each day last week 500 art students were adding images of their works to the site in the hope of being discovered. The site also allows them to chat online with each other and exchange ideas on their work.
Already there are more than 25,000 artists on Your Gallery. Some are enfants terribles in the Hirst mould, others are savvy watercolourists from village art clubs. At least 2,000 have put video art on the site to compete alongside a Welsh tearoom offering handicrafts.
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