Online Gallery Is on the Block: Visitors Came, but Didn't Buy
Eyestorm.com, an online art gallery that was established to sell exclusive artwork to the Internet masses, has been declared insolvent and is now itself for sale.

David A. Ross, who abruptly left his post as director of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and became Eyestorm's chairman last October, confirmed in an e-mail message Thursday that the company, based in London, was being liquidated. Mr. Ross said he was not authorized to comment and referred inquiries to BDO Stoy Hayward, a British accounting firm.

When Eyestorm went online in December 1999, it sought to capture a corner of the online art and poster market, which has been estimated at $13 billion, by selling signed, limited-edition prints from well-known artists to buyers who might be hesitant to step inside a gallery. The company flaunted its fine-art credentials, signing up high-profile contemporary artists like Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons.

But the company soon learned what most suspected: unlike the online purchasers of books and CD's, art lovers are reluctant to buy works they have not experienced first-hand. To compensate, Eyestorm opened galleries in London and New York — a seeming contradiction to its original premise of allowing buyers to avoid the gallery scene. The company began selling works to hotels and home-furnishings stores, and set up a business to license images for advertising agencies.

Eyestorm is not the first online art gallery to run into trouble. Last May, Getty Images folded its Art.com venture. The domain was bought by Allwall.com, an online poster vendor that continues to operate a site at that Web address.

Last Wednesday, BDO representatives arrived at Eyestorm's London headquarters and sent everyone home without pay, except for a skeleton crew, former employees said. A sign in the window of Eyestorm's New York gallery yesterday said that the store "will be closed today."
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/20/technology/20EYE.html?todaysheadlines