How Jen Bekman Is Making Everyone An Art Collector

Ten years ago, if you’d told Jen Bekman that she’d one day be seeped in the art world, she probably would have laughed. At the time, Bekman, a native New Yorker, was instead entrenched in a different universe—technology. “I was in the Internet business during the 90s and worked for a variety of startups and did consulting work,” she says.

It wasn’t until 2003 when a casual conversation with a friend changed everything. “A friend of mine was an artist and was having a very hard time selling work, so I thought, ‘I should start a gallery’—it really was on impulse,” she says.

Bekman soon opened the Jen Bekman Gallery in Manhattan. Excited with her new venture, she set up a rigorous program while also welcoming a larger audience. Visitors loved it, but a thought kept nagging in the back of Bekman’s mind.

“What I’ve been learning throughout the years is that there is a huge missed opportunity in art, that tons of people would buy art if you would sell it to them,” she says.

With research, Bekman learned that many people think art is simply too expensive—regardless of household income. “I would have people who make well into the six figures tell me they only bought art at IKEA—it drove me crazy,” she says.

Bekman’s solution: The 2009 launch of 20x200, a site that allows customers to buy limited edition prints ranging in price from $20 to $10,000. She says, “20x200 was born out of my frustrations. I wanted to create a way for people to get into collecting and to figure out where their taste is—as they got acclimated with art, I knew their appetite would increase.”

She was right. Wannabe art collectors signed onto the idea soon after the site went live—mainly thanks to Bekman’s marketing strategy.

“I send out e-mail newsletters twice a week and it works incredibly well. I write them all and we have a super engaged audience—our open rates are around 40 to 50 percent,” she says.

Read Katie Morell’s Q&A with Bekman here.