Photo: Gregg Segal via LA Mag
A screenshot from Stefan Simchowitz’s new website
Photo: simcosworld.com
The art collector that everyone loves to hate, Stefan Simchowitz, has launched a new website, that is essentially an e-commerce platform for selling art, ArtNews reports.
Rather elusive in its texts but otherwise trendily eye-popping (enough with that Futura font already), the website features self-promotion, artists’ promotion, and services such as artist management, art advising, and logistics. There’s also a newsletter users can sign up for, which leads to notifications on available artworks.
Titled “Simco’s Club,” the site is a way for members to “get access to new artists and works at affordable prices,” according to the website. He also promises to “cut through the crap” and to “encourage an open conversation about culture.”
As a collector Simchowitz has gained a reputation for collecting and promoting young, emerging artists such as Parker Ito, Oscar Murillo, and Sterling Ruby–and selling at a profit. However, his confrontational approach has alienated several members of the art world establishment.
Simchowitz clearly revels in his polarizing status (see Is Stefan Simchowitz a Blessing or a Nightmare?). The homepage prominently shows “selected press and interviews” featuring both positive and negative headlines.
A New York Times story titled “The Art World’s Patron Satan,” is listed above Los Angeles Magazine’s “How Stefan Simchowitz ‘Makes’ and Artist” (see Christopher Glazek Annotates His NYT Stefan Simchowitz Story).
Now it seems he’s hoping to capitalize on his no-bullshit reputation by selling art services to a new generation of young collectors disillusioned by the impenetrable art world hierarchy.
He also caters to artists. The site’s artist management section boasts, “We’ve helped some of the world’s best known young artists launch and sustain their careers and we’re always looking for talent.” Simchowitz also claims to offer “everything from top line management to production financing to consulting and straight purchasing.”