A London Gallery Is Trying Out a New Pitch on Collectors: Live With an Artwork for Six Weeks and Then Tell Us If You Want to Buy It

As dealers around the world look for an edge with the economy
threatening to take a bite out of the art business, one London
dealer has come up with a novel pitch to collectors: try before you
buy.

Ayo Adeyinka, the owner and director of Tafeta, a London
gallery specializing in modern and contemporary African art,
launched his new initiative, called Six for Six, through the
gallery’s website on March 15.

The premise is simple: the gallery will send up to three
artworks at a time to a prospective collector, who can live with
them for up to six weeks.

If he or she decides to buy, payment can be arranged in a series
of installments spread out over six months. (Hence, Six by Six.)
For now, the works offered range in price from about £1,800
($2,200) to £12,000 ($14,500), with most hovering somewhere in
the middle.

“If you offer someone a viewing room, they’re at a disadvantage
because they don’t get to see the works,” Adeyinka tells Artnet
News.

“We take on all of the risk,” he adds. “The burden is on the
gallery, not the collector.” Adeyinka says he sent out eight
paintings in the first two weeks of the initiative, and he expects
that number to grow.

Adeyinka, who worked in finance before moving into the art
industry, tells Artnet News that the idea for the business model
came to him before the shutdown, though kicking it into gear was
accelerated by the global shutdown. (The gallery had just broken an
industry barrier by making its debut at TEFAF in Maastricht
before the global shutdown got underway.)

Right now, the works offered are limited to those that are
accessible in storage, but Adeyinka hopes that as more artists
can get into their studios, the offerings will increase.

So could this be the future of gallery sales?

Maybe—”as long as dealers and collectors remain honest brokers,”
Adeyinka says. “We’re doing our part to maintain the
ecosystem.”

The post A London Gallery Is Trying Out a New Pitch on Collectors:
Live With an Artwork for Six Weeks and Then Tell Us If You Want to
Buy It appeared first on artnet News.