Sebastian Cwilichis at the helm of one of the most successful online art platforms in the world. Its huge collection of historical, modern, and contemporary works to learn about and collect is astounding. Yet, what’s even cooler is that Sebastian is the dad to two adorable little ones. As the president and COO of Artsy, Sebastian has his hands full with bringing fabulous works of art to the public to enjoy. We got the chance to talk with Sebastian about Artsy, artists, and the art of fatherhood.
LC: How do you choose the art you feature on artsy? What do you look for when considering an artist? SC:We partner with over 2,000 of the world's leading galleries, museums, foundations, and artist estates. After galleries are accepted to the platform, they contribute artworks to Artsy and essentially act as curators of the platform. We now have over 150,000 freely-accessible artwork images spanning a wide range of cultures and time periods, from historical works such as theRosetta Stone and the Colosseum to modern and contemporary works by artists such as Alexander Calder, Willem de Kooning,Richard Serra, Lorna Simpson, and George Condo.
LC: What are your kids' favorite LittleCollector pieces? SC: Bedtime stories are super important to Lola and Nicolas, so the current show of classic children's book illustrations will be an instant hit with them. Like most kids they also love animals, and they were particularly drawn to Brendan Wenzel's The Pink Fairy Armadillo and his Tenkile.
LC: How do you engage your children in the art world and the creation process? SC: We bring the kids to museums and galleries often, and we knew we were fulfilling our parental obligation to drag kids to art museums when, on a visit to the Met when she was about 4, Lola said "I know this museum, it's the one where everyone is naked". The kids also spend time at the Artsy offices, which is a pretty creative place, and where they often end up drawing on the whiteboards and glass walls of the conference rooms (and occasionally the regular walls, though they're getting better about that).
LC: What is your favorite family activity to do in NYC? SC: There's a lot of arts-related venues we like to visit with the kids, such as the Children's Museum of the Arts and the Brooklyn Museum, but truth be told, the kids often prefer outdoor activities. A few weeks ago Lola was collecting snails in our yard and I invited her to come to MoMA with me, to which she responded "but I just want to be in nature!", which as the weather gets better sounds pretty reasonable to me. LC: What songs are your children dancing to these days? SC: Their tastes are pretty random and often dictated by what they can get going on whatever phone they manage to get their hands on. And despite my best efforts to introduce them to jazz and classic rock such as the Beatles, Replacements, and the Clash, it's not unusual to get home to a dance party, with music ranging from Bob Marley and Manu Chao to Robin Thicke and Lady Gaga, with "Let it Go" from the Frozen soundtrack demonstrating impressive staying power recently.
Sebastian Cwilich is the president and COO of Artsy and father to Lola and Nicolas. He is also the founder of ProyectArte, a non-profit institution for youth arts education in Argentina.
