CYBER SHOWPLACE

During her 16 years on Wall Street, Mariko Sakita '83 was "always looking for the next thing" for her clients. For Sakita herself, that next thing has been her own art gallery--a virtual, interactive, Web-based gallery.

Since December of last year, GalleryMariko.com has been offering a typical urban gallery experience to anyone around the world with Internet access.

The cyber exhibition replicates the interior of a museum --complete with blueprints--with exhibits housed on four "floors," each with three wings. Visitors entering on the main page are greeted by Sakita and can choose to start their tour on any floor: current exhibits (first floor), photography (floor three), or portrait art (up top on four).

The second floor showcases student artwork and was created as a fundraising venue for schools, with 100 percent of the sales going directly to the school.

A 3-D tour allows the visitor to walk around the virtual exhibit rooms; zoom in and zoom out to examine details; enlarge all the artwork; and exit by clicking on the doorway. Visitors can browse, buy, or get information on commissioning works.

"I wanted people to have fun going through my Web site without being overwhelmed by the number of choices," Sakita says. "I wanted it to be as colorful and direct as possible, and easy for people to find what they want."

"My Web site is my brochure," she adds. "It's an inexpensive storefront and a way for me to advertise." It's also very immediate, she says, because clients can check out artwork on the site without having to wait for an artist's portfolio to arrive via snail-mail.

Artists and people in the art world aren't generally thought of as business gurus. But Sakita developed her business savvy as a vice president at two major investment banks, Goldman Sachs & Co. and Lehman Brothers, where the one-time political science major sharpened her financial skills while advising clients in the foreign currency market.

But juggling the demands of 12-hour-plus workdays and the needs of three children under age 9 had Sakita pondering a career change. She needed something that would allow her to work out of her home, with flexible time off for mothering.

Art had always been a passion. "I think, very honestly, that I knew back at Rochester that I wanted someday to have a gallery," Sakita says, "although not," she muses, "in an E-Bay type of environment."

Both her mother and brother are artists. (Her father, Bunji Sakita, '60 [PhD] is a physics professor.) The whole family, she says, has always been "unconventional and willing to try new things."

She considered becoming a business partner in an already-established art gallery, but when that turned out to be impractical. she thought, "What about doing this online?"

She worked with a Web development firm to create GalleryMariko.com, and also used her husband Mark Mozeson '83, '85S, a partner with Deloitte Consulting, as a sounding board.

The Internet is the way of the world right now, Sakita says. But you can probably be sure that she will stay on top of anything new.

"I know that if I'm going to be successful in business, I'm going to have to take risks. I'm always looking for the next thing--in business, that's the way you have to be."

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