Art Impresario Sebastien Pacault

Art *Setter is not Sotheby’s. The ping-pong table outside the office says as much. For Sebastien Pacault, the ambitious founder and CEO of the startup online art gallery, the goal is to change the art world one click at a time.

The story of Art *Setter starts with a girl. Pacault got the idea for the company from an old girlfriend who had struggled as an artist to sell her work in Paris. “She was really, really gifted,” he says, “Everyday I asked her, why don’t you do this for a living?” recalls Pacault, but the answer wasn’t that simple.

After finishing his studies – Pacault attended the prestigious École Supérieur de Commerce in Paris before studying Applied Mathematics and Law– he knew he wanted to launch his own online company. With no experience with web development or art, he launched Artsetter.com in June of 2009 to “help artists make a living off their talent.”

Art *Setter is free to use, but artists must pass through a candidacy process before they can sell their work on the site. Pacault sees it as a fair system – all an artist needs is fifty votes from his peers to start, which lets the online art community ensure quality control. Art *Setter serves as “a trusted third party,” overseeing business and keeping all transactions secure.

While Art *Setter caters to up-and-coming artists, giving them a platform for their work, the company also provides a service to uninitiated buyers. “Galleries aren’t welcoming,” says Pacault, with a healthy dose of anti-establishment rhetoric. “People like me want art to be accessible,” he continues. The website should appeal to 25 to 50 year olds who are new to the art world but would like to start a collection.

Pacault feels that part of the problem lies in the homogenization of art, cringing at the mass-produced prints ubiquitous in most Parisian apartments of people his age, “it always seems like the same production of Marilyn Monroe. Why do we always see the same things?” asks Pacault. He continues, “The definition of art is rarity.” Anything else belongs in “Monoprix…it’s a supermarket, not art,” says Pacault.

He envisions Art *Setter as the online source of quality artwork from an international community of artists. Almost as importantly, it needs to be affordable. While most galleries along Boulevard Saint Germain and Avenue Matignon charge artists a commission of 50 or 75%, Art *Setter is a more magnanimous middleman with a commission of only 15%.

“This specific business does not exist,” says Pacault. He’s confident he’s stumbled upon a niche between two other business models. On one hand, there are websites that specialize in reproductions of artworks for interior decoration. At the opposite end of the spectrum are the auction websites run by galleries, which encounter the same steep commissions.

“It’s important to prove to art experts that we can find the best artists online,” says Pacault. Charles Saatchi, the prominent London-based art collector credited with the discovery of Damien Hirst, is one such authority convinced that the internet is the future of art.

“The art world is made up of 1,000 artists who receive all the attention…70% are ordinary, 20% are good. And I like the remaining 10%. I see on the screen probably as many interesting artists as in the galleries. And in five or ten years, the biggest stars of the art world will come from [the internet],” said Saatchi in a 2007 interview with L’Express, which Pacault likes to keep handy around the office.

By the end of 2010, Pacault hopes to announce Art *Setter’s presence with a huge fair for emerging artists featured on the website.

He plans to launch an updated version of the site in earnest by the end of February. Art *Setter will keep its main design –an eye-popping slideshow of featured artworks in the vein of an iPod album shuffle – but will streamline some of the format to allow easier access to the site.

Art *Setter is the anti-Sotheby’s. And to Pacault, that’s a good thing.

____________
by Trafton Kenney
Photo by Arturo Oliva Pedroza
Gloobbi Art

Bookmark Gloobbi
Share/Save