Access the Best-in-Class Art Fund With Artory/Winston On SDAX

SINGAPORE, 16 November, 2023 –
Investors can now participate in the fractional ownership of a specially curated art portfolio targeting returns akin to venture capital and private equity investments through the Artory/Winston art fund. SDAX, Singapore’s Digital Asset Exchange, has partnered with Artory/Winston for the inaugural entry of their art fund into Asia’s private markets, with the aim of democratising art investment and extending accessibility to institutional-quality art investment portfolios to a broader qualified investor base.

In an ever-evolving macroeconomic landscape, astute investors have always sought to include fine art and rare asset collectibles as a diversifying asset class and a store of value to their portfolios. However, fine art and rare asset collectibles investment requires access via high-barrier-to-entry acquisition channels, domain expertise to perform upfront and ongoing diligence, and proactive management to identify the right time and venue to sell assets and realise profits. Many investors do not have the proprietary knowledge, relationships, or expertise to build a high-quality fine art and collectibles portfolio. Artory/Winston’s art fund presents a solution to this challenge.

Bringing together the best of art, data and technology, experts from Artory/Winston carefully curate a diverse investment portfolio of vetted artworks from emerging, mid-career and blue-chip artists^[1]. Artory/Winston, through the combined deep domain knowledge and involvement in art transaction from each of Artory and Winston and their cumulative decades worth of experience advising and curating art picks for clients,  boasts a private track record of art picks for institutional and UHNWI clients that includes works from Yoshitomo Nara, Jasper Johns, Aboudia and Maria Berrio, that have been sold for up to 75 times the original purchase price^[2].

Ms Rachel Chia, CEO of SDAX said: “Trusted art experts and advisers such as Artory/Winston play a crucial role in helping investors navigate the complexities of the fine art investment market which has traditionally been opaque and inaccessible to most investors. With their deep domain expertise and data driven investment approach, Artory/Winston brings a quality offering to the market through their art fund. SDAX is honoured to be the chosen partners for Artory/Winston. The heightened interest in art as an alternative asset class in recent years underscores the potential this asset class offers in uncorrelated returns, legacy building, and portfolio diversification. We believe that Asia’s art investment communities will further benefit from Artory/Winston’s best-in-class approach to constructing art investment portfolios and the experience in sourcing, appraising and selecting fine art. We look forward to working closely with Artory/Winston as we strive to continually transform the alternative asset landscape in Asia.”

Nanne Dekking, Founder and CEO of Artory said: “We are thrilled to deliver this robust art offering to investors in Asia by joining hands with SDAX. We see it as another significant step in breaking down the barriers towards widespread adoption of digital assets – which is a lack of quality tokenised products supported by institutional-quality infrastructure. Fine art is a promising asset class and it is Artory/Winston’s mission to insist on quality artworks, mitigate risk and instil confidence for a new generation of investors.”

Elizabeth von Habsburg, Founder and Managing Director of Winston Art Group added: “Our artworks are selected based on expert valuation, due diligence and verification of provenance. Through longstanding relationships with some of the most prestigious galleries, art institutions, auction houses, and art collectors around the world, we are ideally positioned to assess ever-evolving trends in art valuation, acquisition, and trading in the art market, as well as capture unique and exciting opportunities today at the intersection of art and technology.”

Nanne Dekking and Elizabeth von Habsburg were in Singapore for the official launch, a by-invite only event of the art fund, held at The Private Museum. Through masterclasses and a fireside chat, they shared their valuable insights into the intricacies of curating fine art investment portfolios and discussed how data and blockchain technology are changing the landscape of art investing globally.

Revolutionising and Democratising Art Investments

This milestone partnership will offer accredited investors access to a diversified portfolio of expertly curated, high-quality artworks from a range of artists and categories, alongside the potential benefits and returns of the international fine art market on SDAX.

The Artory/Winston art fund was listed on the SDAX platform and is set to invest across three art market segments – emerging, mid-career, and blue-chip artists. A diversified portfolio of between 60 and 80 artists with 200 artworks will be sourced by Winston Art Group as part of the fund’s investment strategy. The portfolio will span emerging, mid-career and blue-chip artists with the investments selected for a focus on growth and value.

The fund operates with informed insights, as it originates, evaluates, and conducts due diligence into acquisition opportunities of art with potential for appreciation. Investors will have access to and potentially unlock value in a resilient alternative asset class.

Unlocking The Future Of Art Investing In Asia

With this latest offering, investors can be confident of an institutional-grade investment process that harnesses the data and technology of Artory, as well as the domain expertise of Winston Art Group for assets purchased by the fund. The curation of artworks is led by Winston Art Group, which has exceptional access to the primary and secondary art markets in addition to private collections around the world, and has appraised over $100 billion of art and collectibles since its inception in 2010, advising on transactions for 300 of the largest 1,000 art collectors in the world.

Winston Art Group meticulously evaluates over 50 indicators of future success for an artist and exponential price increases for their artworks. The team’s intricate gallery relationships allow them to avoid high prices and fees from sourcing at auctions, and its unparalleled network enables it to be first-in-line at advanced previews to secure sought-after works.

Supplementing Winston Art Group’s expertise is Artory’s industry-leading dataset of over 44 million historical transactions of art and collectibles since 1985. The dataset serves as a foundation for valuation, risk management, and performance benchmarking for an informed approach to investing in fine art and collectibles. This wealth of information also contributes to the potential resale value of each artwork and is captured through Artory’s secure and audit-ready tokenisation technology, with the company having tokenised due diligence and provenance information for over $1.5 billion of art and collectibles since inception.

To ensure a robust, compliant investment process, Winston Art Group conducts due diligence on each artwork prior to investment. Artory then tokenises the physical artworks to prepare them for safe and efficient trade in the digital financial markets. The assets are kept current with regular appraisals and live feeds of artist news and market data, which helps Artory/Winston identify ideal opportunities to sell and deliver returns to investors.

SDAX’s multi-asset exchange with an open architecture connects issuers and investors globally, allowing greater transparency in terms of valuation and performance, and fuelling a liquid secondary market. The platform’s suite of financial and capital markets services is regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore in accordance with compliance and governance guidelines. In partnership with SDAX, accredited investors in Singapore and qualified investors across Asia can now access opportunities in this unique segment.

Together, the partners endeavour to demystify and transform the landscape of art investing, by addressing real-world issues of traditional art investing. By leveraging a proprietary, blockchain-based information registry and capital markets venue, the partners aim to solve the issues of information asymmetry, limited availability of data and research, and the lack of a reliable and secure record of trustworthy information that all market participants can safely rely on.

For media queries, please contact:

SDAX 
Eleven Pte. Ltd.
Email: [email protected]

Artory/Winston
Peter Loukas, CFA, CAIA
Chief Investment Officer
Email: [email protected]

About Artory/Winston

Artory/Winston is a private art and collectibles asset manager established as a joint venture between Artory and Winston Art Group. Artory/Winston’s mission is to create credible investment opportunities by sourcing the finest artworks and collectibles with high potential to grow in value and generate strong returns for our investors. To create these unique offerings, Artory/Winston adheres to an institutional-quality investment process by leveraging the data and technology of Artory as well as the domain expertise and services of Winston Art Group. Sharing office space on 56th Street in Manhattan, the Artory and Winston teams work side-by-side to build innovative asset management solutions for trusted real-world assets.

For more information, please visit www.artory-winston.com.

ABOUT SDAX

Based in Singapore, SDAX is a globally connected, integrated digital financial services platform offering a comprehensive suite of investment opportunities for asset owners and investors to benefit from the world’s private markets.  Regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, SDAX’s exchange platform offers opportunities to access exclusive investments from its ecosystem and secondary market trading via its digital asset exchange.  

With SDAX, investors access curated investment opportunities across private equities, funds, real estate and alternatives which have passed SDAX’s rigorous due diligence process.  SDAX connects markets through partnerships with participants in North America, the United Kingdom, Europe and the Asia Pacific region, delivering a seamless and efficient cross-border digital assets ecosystem for wealth creation.   

SDAX is supported by shareholders with established track records in their respective fields: ESR, the largest real asset manager in APAC; PSA International, Singapore’s leading port group; The Straits Trading Company, renowned Singapore conglomerate-investment company; and multi-disciplinary professional services group, RHT Group of Companies. 

For more information, visit https://www.sdax.co/. 

APPENDIX 1

Emerging Artist

An Emerging Artist is in the early stage of their career, just beginning to develop their reputation amongst critics, collectors, and galleries. Early adopter and trailblazing collectors have already noticed and/or purchased a work. These artists are typically recent graduates of art schools or have made a career transition to focus solely on their art practice. Emerging Artists are most often represented by smaller galleries and have a modest independent body of work. They have received regional or national attention, with their work featured in group shows or a few solo exhibitions at galleries. Works by Emerging Artists are found mostly in the primary market and the value of their work generally falls between $20,000 to $250,000. Emerging Artists have the most volatile market. It is difficult to predict how their work will perform in the secondary market and how their practice will change over time. However, through new collector, gallery, and institutional recognition, works by these artists can also yield the highest profits for investors.

Mid-Career Artist

A Mid-Career artist is more established than an Emerging Artist, having garnered regional, national, or international recognition. They have produced a large body of work that shows a clear style and are represented by established galleries, with prominent solo shows at galleries and museums located nationally or internationally, rather than just locally. Mid-Career artists are found on both the primary and secondary markets but have more limited museum exhibitions and secondary market sales compared to Blue-Chip artists. Works by Mid-Career artists generally range between $250,000 and $1,000,000 and are typically sold in the Day Sales of major auction houses like Sotheby’s or Christie’s.

Blue-Chip Artist

A Blue-Chip artist is at the mature stage in their career and has an extensive body of independent work. They are internationally recognised artists with mega gallery representation and wide institutional support, including works in major museum collections, prominent solo shows, multiple retrospective exhibitions, and appearances in important publications. Blue-Chip artists have a significant presence in the secondary market with auction appearances that typically span over a decade. There is no specific dollar value that places an artist in this category, but Blue-Chip artists maintain high prices in the secondary market with consistent sales of six figure works. The work from a Blue-Chip artist generally fetches $750,000 to hundreds of millions and is sold in Evening Sales at major auction houses. Blue-Chip artists are the least volatile in the market, as they have reached an advanced level of achievement with a long record of sales. On average, works by these artists consistently appreciate with no sudden decline or jump.

SOURCE SDAX