CEY EMIN:
£50
reveals why the new digital revolution
ome a patron of the arts
TRACEY EMIN (FOREGROUND) AND
MAT COLLISHAW (BACKGROUND):
BEATS THE STANDARD
IPAD WALLPAPER
DIGITA L A RT
onsider your smartphone
screensaver. What does it
say about you? That you
C have a good-looking
husband? That you dress
your dog up on Christmas Day? Or
perhaps that you are a serious art
collector with a deep appreciation of
Tracey Emin’s most conceptual work. No?
Well, us neither – a quick straw poll of the
Stylist office revealed we’re in the
handsome husband/canine-in-Santacostume/beautiful
holiday snap
categories. But with a digital revolution
sweeping through the art world, our
iPhones (and laptops, tablets and TV
screens) may soon be mini galleries that
speak volumes about our tastes and
preferences in the visual arts.
New company s[edition], co-founded
by legendary art dealer Harry Blain, is
leading the digital charge. Launched last
week, s[edition] has teamed up with some
of the world’s most sought-after – and
expensive – contemporary artists
including Tracey Emin and Damien Hirst,
to produce digital limited editions of
2,000 to 10,000. These can be bought,
traded and displayed on pretty much any
piece of techy kit with a screen. The
masterpiece on your computer, from
Hirst’s crystal skulls to Mat Collishaw’s
burning moths, costs from £5 to £500 and
come with a virtual signed certificate of
authenticity to keep in your virtual vault.
Compare that with Hirst’s Lullaby Spring,
a steel cabinet filled with 6,136 individually
painted pills, auctioned at £9.65m, and
you’re looking at a more affordable future
for the art world.
Described by some as the most
powerful man in British art, Blain, who
also founded London’s Haunch of Venison
gallery, says it has become increasingly
clear to him that this is the way art is
going. “In the last couple of years
technology, screen resolutions and a
growing understanding of, and excitement
about, the medium have all come
together to make a digital revolution not
only possible but inevitable,” he says. Of
course, we’ve always been able to
download a dodgy low-res of a favourite
Picasso or Dalí, but the difference here is
that you have a rapport with the dealer
and the artist. Plus, these aren’t low-res,
static images – neon lights flicker, reeds
blow in the wind, waves crash and
diamond-encrusted skulls glint. “The
whole concept behind s[edition] is
enabling people to establish relationships
with artists and dealers and to allow art to
reach an entirely new audience,” explains
Blain. Plus, of course, this is art you can
carry with you at all times.
Art world enfant terrible, Tracey Emin
sees this technology as just another brush
in her pot. “I think that some things just
work very well in digital form,” she tells
Stylist. Emin, whose real-life neons sell
from £50,000 upwards, was quick
to sign up to the project. Her
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