Collector Charles Saatchi has launched a Web site for art students and a handful have already sold works online as the Internet begins to change the way the art world works.

With prices for contemporary art soaring, collectors say they have less time to travel to galleries and shows to see new works for themselves, while aspiring painters and sculptors find it hard to get noticed amid the pressure to find the next hot young stars.

For many, the Internet is the answer, offering low-cost access for thousands of painters, sculptors and buyers and, at the same time, providing a Myspace-style social networking site for artists the world over.

Saatchi, one of art’s most powerful figures who helped establish such stars as Damien Hirst, has attracted more than 2,000 art students to his new Web site, a follow-up to an earlier venture for artists that boasts 20,000 contributors.

“There is something thrilling about seeing the work of young artists for the first time even before their school shows,” the reclusive collector said in a statement.