On Painting: Art Basel Online, a presentation of artists from the gallery program that debuted simultaneously in Art Basel’s inaugural Online Viewing Room and in an expanded version on David Zwirner Online, closed on March 25 and received strong engagement and sales from a global audience. With inquiries from collectors in a wide range of geographies: 25% from North America, 37% from Asia, 32% from Europe, and 5% from South America. This presentation reinforced the importance of the online channel for engaging with a collecting community at a moment when typical art-fair travel is suspended.
In addition, the online channel continued to attract new collectors: the majority of inquiries (60%) came from collectors who had not previously purchased work from the gallery, with 25% of inquiries from collectors who were not previously known to the gallery. More than 18,000 collectors and art enthusiasts visited the presentation at David Zwirner Online.
“The response to our presentation underscores the vital role that the online space can play to sustain the gallery ecosystem at a moment when physical exhibition spaces are closed and traditional art-fair travel is temporarily paused. Not only were sales robust, but we saw tremendous engagement from a global audience of collectors, which has validated our strategy to expand our online exhibitions and content in the coming months,” said Elena Soboleva, Director of Online Sales, David Zwirner.
In addition to David Zwirner Online, the gallery will expand its online offerings by increasing the frequency with which it releases new episodes of its podcast of conversations between creative thinkers, and by releasing free excerpts from David Zwirner Books ’s many publications through the gallery’s website and social media channels.
In the upcoming month, the gallery will release four new episodes from season three of Dialogues: The David Zwirner Podcast, including conversations with artists Mamma Andersson and Jockum Nordström ; artist R. Crumb and cartoonist Art Spiegelman; cultural critic Kyle Chayka on Donald Judd and the complex legacy of minimalism; and artists Diana Thater and Rachel Rose. David Zwirner will also expand digital access to David Zwirner Books publications. This week the gallery shared individual letters from Letters to a Young Painter, by Rainer Maria Rilke, part of David Zwirner Books’s ekphrasis series (accessible paperback volumes of rare, out-of-print, and newly commissioned texts). The following week, excerpts from Pissing Figures 1280–2014, by Jean-Claude Lebensztejn, also from the ekphrasis series, will be shared. Future digital content expansions and increased access include the release of rarely-seen artist videos and documentaries.
David Zwirner Online is the gallery’s online destination, where visitors can explore and collect works from curated, online-only exhibitions by gallery artists and special collaborations. Since launching in 2017 as the first online viewing room from a commercial gallery, David Zwirner Online has evolved into a seventh gallery space, distinguished by its curatorial approach (an extension of the gallery’s global program, with a constantly rotating program of presentations), the caliber of works (many of which come directly from artists studios), transparency (every viewing room shows pricing and availability), and artist involvement (gallery artists and estates are closely involved in conceptualizing the online viewing rooms). In 2019, the gallery presented eighteen online viewing rooms, including a new series dedicated to presentations of significant works in parallel with key moments on the art-fair calendar.
For more visit: www.davidzwirner.com
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