Artistic wavy stainless steel seating bench
‘Stainless Steel Love Bench’ by Michael Stutz Studio
CODA.market began with the search for a bear sculpture.
A client contacted Madison-based CODAworx, the self-described “hub of the commissioned art economy,” a website for large-scale art commissions that connects artists (as well as contractors, fabricators, engineers, and anyone who has a hand in art installations) with clients who need public art. This client needed a life-sized bronze bear sculpture for a resort.
That in itself wasn’t unusual. From stained glass windows for the Cathedral Saint Eccehomo of Valledupar, Cesar, Colombia, to a 55-foot-tall, 34-ton octopus sculpture for the Branson Museum in Branson, Missouri, CODAworx has projects on its site that are large, involved and expensive.
The catch? The opening of the resort was just a month away and a piece of that scale would require a minimum of six months work.
CODAworx co-founder and CEO Toni Sikes (who also started art catalog The Guild Sourcebooks, now Artful Home, back before the web existed) decided to try something. CODAworx staff reached out to its membership in hopes of finding someone who had a bear to sell, thinking one or two responses might come in. They got 70.
This unexpected success inspired Sikes. It had never occurred to her that the artists she worked with on commissions through CODAworx would also have additional works they were hoping to sell.
At its core the new CODA.market serves as an online hub to buy and sell large-scale and high-end public artwork, or “curated artwork for sale from top public artists” as the site puts it.
The website is still in its infancy, having launched in September. CODAworx began marketing CODA.market in November.
CODAworx, with headquarters on Williamson Street, is fairly unknown in Madison, but the company is globally recognized for the work it does. “It’s connecting the artist who creates these larger pieces to an ecosystem of people they need to create big stuff,” says Sikes. “These are big, complicated projects. And it’s not just getting the artists the commission; it’s about helping the artist find the resources they need.”
Shimmery artwork
‘Maldives Tide’ by kinetic art studio Breakfast
CODAworx and CODA.market deal in not just static art, but interactive and experiential tech art, data visualization, light art, projection mapping and video. Take “Maldives Tide,” an artwork on the site that “visualizes the real-time ebb-and-flow of the tides on a specific coast somewhere in the world. The speed, direction, and swell height are all represented in how the piece moves.”
These are often complex works of art not easy to describe in a sentence, which is part of why “Toni’s focus on the community has been essential,” says Kristian Petrov Iliev, CODAworx marketing manager. “People trust the brand. People know the brand. And it is a large community.”
CODA.market currently lists nearly 300 works from roughly 90 artists located around the world. Buyers can find anything from wall art to sculpture to tech installations.
“The median price right now is about $10,000,” says chief operating officer Scott Mosley. “There’s a pretty good range of pricing, pretty good range of style, pretty good range of function.”
The caliber of the artists found on CODA.market is a point of pride for Sikes and the company. Sikes says that is, in part, why the prices are as high as they are. For example, textile and fiber artist Sebastien Courty, whose work hangs in the U.S. Consulate in Dharan, Saudi Arabia, has five works for sale on CODA.market.
“‘CODA’ stands for the ‘collaboration of design + art,’ meaning the architect or designer, or creator of the space, has incorporated and collaborated with an artist to make this,” Sikes says. “It’s all about making a beautiful space.”
