Fair Warning is the new app that allows buyers to combine privacy with the adrenaline of on-site auctions
Aimed at showing the works vis-à-vis to buyers, art auctions have always been held at the venue, representing a unique opportunity also to forge new knowledge and consolidate agreements. Online events and initiatives were of little importance before the pandemic, but the pandemic inevitably changed the cards on the table. Thus a new world was born, which aims to redesign the consolidated structures by adapting them to new technologies.
The ex-Christie’s co-president, Loïc Gouzer, took the ball in this regard, presenting the project for a new virtual auction platform called Fair Warning, which can be participated by downloading the private app. Fair Warning combines the ability to globally extend the audience of buyers offered by online systems with the excitement of on-site auctions.
The first auction will be online from June 28th.
The audience will consist of several hundred collectors and consultants whom Gouzer will personally invite or approve. Users will receive a message via the app a few minutes before the auction starts, and when the lot is about to be beaten, the auctioneer will remind buyers of the last chance to bid. Gouzer estimates that each auction will be completed in a few minutes, also stating in no uncertain terms that “If you don’t pay attention, you will lose”.
One work will be presented per week, and a 15% commission will be charged on each work (however lower than the 20% usually expected). Pre-bids will not be allowed and information on the lot and price will be disclosed only to bidders.
The first lot includes a portrait of Synthist by the Canadian painter Steven Shearer, estimated at between $ 180,000 and 250,000, followed by the American artist David Hammons with his Body Prints.
Will an app designed solely for auctions relaunch the art market?
Only time will tell.
