Phillips Unveils Digital Product That Tracks Trending Artists By Media Presence.

Phillips and Articker announced the Artprice platform for artists who do not have auction sales or for collectors who do not have enough public sales results and want to make a choice in favor of an author based on his public activity (for example, his presence in the media).

For now, Articker is mainly being used internally by employees at Phillips, but a modified version is being made available to the auction house’s clients.

In an interview, Jean-Paul Engelen, Phillips’s co-head of 20th century and contemporary art and global chairman, said that the database offers real-time analysis of which artists are holding the most sway in the cultural sector. “Typically, one has to wait until an auction has taken place to know about the price data on the secondary market for any given artist,” Engelen said. But, with Articker, now Phillips executives have the ability to track the rise of in-demand emerging artists, while also finding new ones to watch before their work enters the primary market. “In such a relatively static market with infrequent and opaque pricing data, Articker creates an alternative valuation system for artists,” Engelen continued.

On the product, artists are ranked according to the amount of press they generate. The painter Amoako Boafo, for example, has recently become a market sensation, and Articker shows that collectors’ fervor is coinciding with the amount of headlines focused on him. A recent collaboration with Dior raised Boafo’s media profile, thanks to features that appeared in Vogue and other outlets; this, in turn, resulted in an overall rise in his Articker score. According to Articker, Boafo—who has seen a 152 percent increase in his media share in the past three months—is outpacing his peers by a long shot.

As the online marketplace expands, international art firms are investing in digital initiatives to serve both internal and client needs. “Since becoming CEO of Phillips in July 2014, I’ve prioritized a digital first strategy for the company,” said Edward Dolman, Phillips CEO, in a statement, adding that Articker is meant to “democratize” access to information on artists. “I see it as a critical development for our increasingly digital world, particularly in our current climate.”

Source: Artnews

Photo: Phillips New York headquarters.