Meet the Team: Rory Blain, Director
Can you tell us a little about your background?
Hi there! 👋
My name is Rory Blain and I am the Director and CEO of Sedition. I’ve been the Director of Sedition since 2013.
My own background is very much in the world of arts. I started my life out as a professional dancer before moving on to work in the traditional, physical, bricks-and-mortar art galleries alongside my brother, Harry Blain. Whilst I was spinning across the stage in sequins, Harry founded and built a highly regarded contemporary fine art gallery called Blains Fine Art, which eventually moved on to become the Haunch of Venison, and Blain Southern galleries in London, Paris, Zurich and New York. After putting on some decent clothes and patching up my blisters I started to work fulltime in the galleries and have now spent the last 25 years working in contemporary art.
Working in the fine art world was a true blessing for an art lover like myself. I remember walking into a mansion in London and seeing Monets and Picassos hanging on the walls — artworks I actually studied at University — and I had absolutely no idea they were in a private collection just around the corner! On the other hand, working in such a privileged world also offers a clear insight into just how exclusive, intimidating and inaccessible collecting fine art could be to an individual without extreme wealth. And this insight is what formed the entire concept of Sedition — there are many more lovers of art than there are billionaires in the world.
Could you tell me more about the founding idea and how you ended up running the company?
Harry actually came up with the idea for Sedition way back in the early 2000s, years before it was possible to realize. Internet bandwidth (the ability to deliver large files online) and screen resolution (the ability to show the artworks in a quality that satisfied the artists) were the two developments we awaited before Sedition became a reality.
There are many things that impel you to start a business, but two primary drivers for Sedition were:
Firstly, we saw a major gap in the market, as, for instance, with the efforts of Amazon introducing Kindle, Apple introducing iTunes, these other art forms were well already established in the digital space with a growing audience grabbing the ease of access and excess of choice now available on demand. But the visual fine arts were lagging behind.
Secondly, we saw a target group — art aficionados who are completely priced out of the market by the unreachable price tags attached to iconic works and famous artists. Few can afford to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars (sometimes even millions) for a painting — making the majority of art lovers unable to own and enjoy original works by the world’s best and most celebrated artists.
By the 2010s the technology was finally there to allow for the concept of Sedition to be realized and we set up to democratize access to fine art and to turn every screen into a potential art display. For the first years, the focus was on the technical set up, after which I joined the company full-time as Director and CEO to focus on the art, the artists and scaling the company and the community.
What is your current role and how would you describe your work?
As Director and CEO, my job is incredibly varied and no two days are ever the same!
Of course, my main responsibility is to manage the company’s overall operations. Together with the chairman, we craft the company’s strategy and vision for Sedition’s long term future and the firm’s profitability.
In addition, as Sedition’s team is fairly small — with just over 10 full-time employees, a Director does need to be very hands-on! Therefore, I am also very closely engaged in artist liaison, business development, partnership management as well as our marketing.
What is the most exciting thing that you’re working on right now?
If I had to pick one and I had to choose, I would probably have to say…. launching NFTs. This probably sounds funny, considering that state of the crypto and blockchain markets right now, but let me elaborate.
I am excited about the blockchain technology and what benefits it can bring to the artists and the wider Sedition community. Similar to the dot com bubble of the early 2000s, the price of assets got inflated and then crashed brutally — but the tech is not going anywhere, the tech will be here to stay. Everyone knew that monkey pictures trading for hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars wasn’t the most sustainable innovation — even the founder of Ethereum said as much. The technology itself, on the other hand, is exciting — and I cannot wait for us to introduce it to the Sedition community!
What do you like most about your job?
First and foremost, art. I am a big art lover myself and working in Sedition, I get to follow my passions! I love talking to artists, curating new works for the website and I love the product, in fact, I am one of the largest collectors on our site!
Secondly, I love the Sedition community, or as we sometimes refer to our community — Seditioners! Our community may not be numbered in millions yet — but they are dedicated art-lovers, gallery and museum visitors and passionate collectors!
Next up, what makes me very happy is to see the results finally paying off! At long last, digital art, or indeed digital assets in general, are perceived as being something of value. The perception has finally shifted. We’ve spent years singing this song to our collector community and to the world at large — finally, we live in the times where it is completely normal to see something digital as having value.
Lastly, I love the Sedition team! Despite our team being so small, we have people of so many different nationalities and backgrounds and walks of life. That is something that makes a company a true success — being a global and a decentralized team from the get-go.
How would you describe the Sedition team?
Passionate, hard-working and bright.
While we don’t all physically meet very often since several of us are based in different countries and cities across Europe, we’re all constantly in touch with each other via video calls and do meet each other physically in events we take part in as well as in our yearly team gathering. So despite being a decentralized team, our team spirit is strong!
Thank you Rory!
Connect with Rory here:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/RoryBlain
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roryblain/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Roryblain/
