The Saatchi Gallery hosts its artist “Showdown” as a means of promoting and rewarding artists that demonstrate themselves as possessing extraordinary talent. It is also a means of getting popular opinion on the works of these up-and-coming artists. Over a one-week period, Saatchi accepts one piece of art work from each artist that chooses to enter the contest. Submissions are accepted between 9:00 a. m. on Monday until 6:00 p. m. on the following Sunday. Voting then begins, and each visitor to the site is allowed to rate the quality of each piece of work submitted. Visitors may vote on as many pieces as they wish, but are allotted only one vote for each individual piece. They indicate their preference for a particular work by rating it on a scale of one (1) to ten (10). After the scores are tallied, a duel begins between the two artists who have attained the highest scores. These two leaders vie for a chance to enter the final showdown, where the winners of twelve such rounds go head to head for the final prize of £1000 for the winner and £750 for the runner up.
Entrance into this event on the Saatchi website is free and easy, and it holds the promise of furthering the careers of not just the talented winners but also of the wide variety of talented entrants whose works will be seen by Saatchi’s large viewing audience. The competition is also a means of exposing young artists to the triumphs and pitfalls that are likely to attend them throughout their entire artistic career. Therefore, artists not only get the chance to benefit monetarily, but also the chance to develop as a professional businessperson.
