London-based Saatchi Gallery launches online salon in Chinese version

The London-based Saatchi Gallery announced in Beijing on Monday the launch of a Chinese website of its online salon Your Gallery, which gives Chinese artists and students a showroom free.

"The Chinese website represents our continuing goal of creating the world's first truly international arts communications portal with a strong presence in all areas of the world, including those areas where English is not widely spoken," said Annabel Fallon, head of communication of the Saatchi Gallery.

Through "Your Gallery", more than 30,000 artists and 7,500 students are now using the established banner of the Saatchi Gallery to introduce a wave of diverse new works to a far broader audience than they might otherwise reach, Fallon said.

The Saatchi Gallery logs an average of 20 million hits per day, as artists, collectors, dealers, students, and all those interested in contemporary art access visuals and information directly, view the site's online daily magazine and blog, and chat live.

Fallon said that the decision to create the Chinese website was made after it became apparent that Chinese artists and students were already putting their profiles on the STUART pages of the site despite the fact they spoke little or no English.

"We began noticing that Chinese artists were posting their work and seemed really keen to show their art and communicate with other students and artists on Your Gallery but the language barrier was obviously a problem," said Kieran McCann, Head of Creative Development for the website.

"What's more important," Fallon said, "Chinese modern art has attracted more attention in international art market."

For the Chinese artists, which numbered with tens of thousands and refreshed by hundreds of thousands of graduated students from art institutes, the online salon offers them a new chance to be international, said Fallon.

Source: Xinhua