By Jeff Kluge | Guest Contributor For decades, the art market has operated on a model of scarcity, not just of the objects themselves, but of the high-level expertise required to verify them. But as we move into 2026, the “seismic shift” the industry began tracking last year has reached a boiling point. The top-tier […]
By Jeff Kluge | Guest Contributor
For decades, the art market has operated on a model of scarcity, not just of the objects themselves, but of the high-level expertise required to verify them. But as we move into 2026, the “seismic shift” the industry began tracking last year has reached a boiling point. The top-tier market for $30m+ trophies is no longer the sole engine of the industry. Instead, a new, more resilient “mid-market” ($50k–$1m) is emerging, driven by a generation of collectors who value transparency and data as much as they do aesthetics.
Vasarik spent the final months of 2025 at the center of this transformation. From the rainy pavements of the Art Business Conference in London to the high-finance halls of the Deloitte Private Art & Finance Conference in New York, one message has become clear: the art world needs a “Moonshot.”
Part I: From “Boring Technologies” to Breakthrough Attribution
The industry often talks about “AI” as if it were a futuristic magic wand. But as my colleague and Authentify Art CEO Curtis McConnell often highlights, the real salvation of the art world lies in what he calls “boring technologies.”
RFID tags, IoT sensors, and encrypted data ledgers aren’t flashy, but they solve the $60 billion problem of opacity. When a major New York bank can’t find 10% of its collection because of poor tracking, the market loses trust. Authentify Art provides the “what” and the “where”—the secure, unbreakable digital identity (the “Art Passport”) that anchors a physical work to its history.
Vasarik provides the “What” and the “Who”
Within this modernizing infrastructure, Vasarik provides the knowledge layer. Through their ArtInsight suite, we are moving the market from opinion-based authentication to a data-informed future:
- Finder: An AI search engine built by experts to navigate the vast, often invisible “mid-market” and forgotten, unattributed, or unknown works.
- Evaluate: A deep-dive diagnostic tool that merges material science with provenance.
- Masterwork: The “white glove” synthesis of art history and forensic analysis.
By integrating these tools into Authentify’s ecosystem, we are facilitating the “Great Transfer of Data.” We started with taking the 30+ years of scientific expertise held by Vasarik’s CEO, Dr. Nicholas Eastaugh, and continue to scale it training the AI by adding the expertise of other world experts including art historian and co-founder Thereza Wells.
Part II: Compressing Time for Specialists and Connoisseurs
This brings us to next week. We are introducing our beta products to pivotal industry leaders to illustrate how our integrated technology stack can immediately improve their operations and leverage their strategic assets.
In a deflated market, the primary challenge for specialists, researchers, and appraisers is time. It can take weeks or even months of manual research to verify a single work from a complex movement like American Abstract Expressionism. Meanwhile, thousands of potentially valuable works in the mid-market remain “forgotten” because the cost of manual attribution outweighs the speed of the sale, and thr art is not digitally available. Until now.
The partnership with Authentify Art offers three specific solutions for the modern auction house and its connoisseurs:
1. The Compression of Time By using Authentify’s secure tracking and Vasarik’s AI-driven search, specialists can “triage” collections at lightning speed. Our AI doesn’t replace the specialist; it empowers them. It scans thousands of data points—from pigment analysis to stylistic brushstroke patterns—to highlight the works that deserve the most attention, reducing research time from weeks to hours.
2. Expanding the Portfolio The “Untapped Art Market” is full of overlooked artists and unresearched works. Large auction houses have traditionally focused on the “knowns” because the “unknowns” carry too much risk or are simply not seen. Vasarik’s Artist Matrix and AI models allow houses to confidently scale their review of mid-market works, finding attribution for pieces that were previously too risky or time-consuming to catalogue while uncovering art they never knew existed.
3. Verification as a Standard, Not a Luxury Through the Authentify infrastructure, every work can be “tagged” with a digital dossier that includes Vasarik’s forensic findings. This creates a permanent, immutable record of truth. For an auction house, this means fewer legal disputes and higher buyer confidence. It moves the conversation from “we think this is a Pollock” to “the data strongly supports material and stylistic match to works by Pollock.”
Looking Ahead: The 2030 Vision
Reflecting on the recent contributions to the 9th Deloitte Art & Finance Report, both Dr. Nicholas Eastaugh and Thereza Wells remind us that the “Great Transfer of Wealth” is already happening. Younger collectors are looking for “lifestyle assets” and “experiences.” To capture their interest, the art market must become as data-rich and liquid as any other asset class.
We are no longer waiting for the future. By combining Authentify’s essential hardware with Vasarik’s sophisticated AI and scientific analysis, we are building the 2030 art market today.
Next week’s meeting is more than just a presentation; it’s a demonstration of how technology can preserve connoisseurship while expanding the market’s boundaries. We are finding the “invisible,” verifying the “unseen,” and ensuring that the next generation of collectors has a transparent, secure foundation to build upon.
The future of fine art isn’t just in the hands of the artists—it’s in the data.
About the Author: Jeff Kluge is an AI Ethicist, artist, and Chief Strategy Officer for Authentify Art. He works at the intersection of technology and culture, helping the art world adopt the infrastructure necessary for a transparent, global marketplace.