In 2017, Observer posed this question: As the online art auction space shrinks, is Artsy the heir apparent? In the years since, the art world has had many ups and downs, but the online art brokerage created in 2009 by Carter Cleveland has forged ahead, building partnerships with major institutions and a monumental digital library of for-sale artworks while edging out early challengers like Paddle8 and Auctionata. “Many of our competitors in the early days wanted to disrupt the art industry, so they would either compete directly with galleries by bringing artists on to their online galleries or compete with auction houses by running their own auction sites,” Cleveland told Observer in 2019. “These companies were able to generate revenue a lot faster than us because they went straight to that transactional model. But ultimately, the amount of inventory they could get was very limited because the rest of the industry didn’t want to work with them.”
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That, in a nutshell, is how Artsy, which launched as a platform for artwork discovery, eventually became the largest online art marketplace globally by offering auction houses and art galleries a way to pivot to online sales—something the art world could no longer avoid during the pandemic. Today, the company is both a place to buy art and an influential voice in the art world—its industry reports and buyer facing editorial content help shape narratives around what’s hot in art right now.
Overseeing it all is newly appointed Artsy president Dustyn Kim, the first woman ever in the role. She joined the company as chief revenue officer in 2017, and she’s been largely responsible for expanding Artsy’s gallery business and strengthening its secondary market offerings. “It’s amazing to look at Artsy’s progression these past seven years,” she told Observer when we asked Kim about her work at Artsy. From there, she opened up about the evolution of the company and its users, the mechanics of building relationships in the art world and her........