HN user
Good rundown in article. We were discussing this last night in the freenode #startups IRC channel ;)
The rumor is that the $20K per year investment cap is limited only to individuals and not institutional investors and funds. Furthermore, if there is massive demand, it is expected that those caps will be raised.
What is unclear is how your yuan can be used to make investments in China itself?
I like VIP Art Fairs approach: no virtual shopping cart, just a nice interface for viewing art and making it easy for dealers and collectors to connect via Skype, IM, etc.
Not sure if taste profiling via Pandora will really fit the art market as is Art.sy's goal. Eclecticism tends to win over similarity and some collectors simply obsess over a single artist or period. But they have some superstar backers. Also, they are hiring ;)
This sort of leaves an opportunity somewhere in the middle I think, between Etsy and Art.sy, in the $1000-$10000 range of purchases for young professionals just getting started. Curation will be key for that demo.