UGallery is a curated

online art gallery An online art gallery is an online version of a contemporary art gallery. Purpose and type An online art gallery is a website that display artworks. Usually, the online gallery is run as a business, with the purpose of displaying the artwork be ...

headquartered in

San Francisco, CA San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. Founded in 2006, UGallery is an e-commerce platform that connects artists directly with collectors on its website. The company positions itself as an approachable and convenient alternative to the brick-and-mortar

contemporary art gallery A contemporary art gallery is normally a commercial art gallery operated by an art dealer which specializes in displaying for sale contemporary art, usually new works of art by living artists. This approach has been called the "Castelli Method" ...

History

The company was founded by Alex Farkas, Stephen Tanenbaum and Greg Rosborough. The three met in a business class at the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

. Sharing an interest in the arts, they developed the concept for UGallery through the McGuire Entrepreneurship Program. The UGallery.com website launched in September 2006. Originally seen as a way to help recent

art school An art school is an educational institution with a primary focus on the visual arts, including fine art – especially illustration, painting, photography, sculpture, and graphic design. Art schools can offer elementary, secondary, post-second ...

graduates find buyers, UGallery began with five artists and 25 pieces of original art. Securing outside capital in 2008, the company shifted its focus to mid-career and emerging artists from around the world.

Gallery

As of February 2014, UGallery exhibits the work of 500 professional artists and more than 6,500 pieces of original paintings,

fine-art photography Fine-art photography is photography created in line with the vision of the photographer as artist, using photography as a medium for creative expression. The goal of fine-art photography is to express an idea, a message, or an emotion. This stand ...

, drawings and sculptures. The company counts clients in every U.S. state and over 45 countries, as well as 1.7 million social followers. Jennifer Hannaford copy

Reception

UGallery was an early entrant to the business of selling original art online. At the time, many art critics questioned the concept. A 2007

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

article called "the online art marketplace as mottled as a

Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During ...

water scene." By 2012, the online art market was valued at $870 million. In 2014, the estimated value of the online art market grew to $2.64 billion, accounting for 4.8% of the estimated $55.2 billion value of the global art market.

Recognition

In 2011,

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Eco ...

called UGallery "unintimidating enough to encourage a new generation of collectors." In 2013,

VentureBeat ''VentureBeat'' is an American technology website headquartered in San Francisco, California. It publishes news, analysis, long-form features, interviews, and videos. History The ''VentureBeat'' company was founded in 2006 by Matt Marshall, ...

wrote that UGallery's e-commerce platform is "democratizing the art world." The same year, Internet Retailer named UGallery to their Second 500 Guide, and in 2015, named UGallery the top luxury e-retailer for artwork.{{Cite web, url = http://images.internetretailer.com/IR/Collections/2015_LuxuryReport_IR.pdf, title = Luxury on the Web: Exclusive Rankings, Data and Analysis of the World’s Largest Luxury E-Retailers, date = , accessdate = , website = , publisher = Internet Retailer, last = , first =

References

External links

Official website
Contemporary art galleries in the United States Art websites Virtual art museums and galleries Art galleries established in 2006 Companies based in San Francisco 2006 establishments in California