Thought this might be of interest. Amalyah Keshet
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Saatchi has quietly created a powerful social networking site that is pulling artists together across the globe - http://www.latimes.com/business/la-ft-saatchi6aug06,1,7127341.story?coll=la-headlines-business "In just over a year, with no promotional campaign or venture-capital funding, Saatchi has created a social networking site aimed at connecting artists around the world with one another and with potential buyers. More than 35,000 artists have signed up with Saatchi Online, and another 19,000 have registered with Stuart, its student-art section. Museums and art schools have posted their details and visits to the site have grown 10-fold since February. "The art world is dominated in people's minds by the thousand artists that are very successful, that are handled by the top 50 dealers around the world," Saatchi explains. "They're the ones that get all the attention, but the real art world is hundreds of thousands of artists around the world who don't have dealers and are pretty much unrepresented." ... Saatchi Online already has the feel of a MySpace or Bebo, where unsigned bands jostle for their peers' approval in the hope of being noticed by a major record label. But will it be able to change the hidebound art world in the way those innovators are transforming music, publishing and entertainment? ... "With tens of thousands of artists on the site, Saatchi admits to an element of chaos. "Like everything else, it's a lottery," he says. He has decided not to curate the site, but he has made efforts to cut through the clutter, with a magazine section, a critics' corner and a listing of shows put on by artists discovered through the site. The list stretches from Britain to Malaysia."
