Charles Saatchi
Category: Collector
Nationality: British
Last Year: 7
Charles Saatchi is among those hallowed names credited with almost single-
handedly creating the current boom in the contemporary art market. When
this list launched five years ago he was number one, and his name has since
been a constant presence in the top ten. Of course, being a powerful collector
involves more than dropping wads of cold hard cash in the lap of the artworld:
that nebulous factor – influence – is what it’s all about, and as a former adman,
Saatchi certainly knows how to work it. Investing in emerging artists, buying up
entire degree shows or purportedly spending well over market value for major
works he wants for his collection – well, where his chequebook goes, others follow.
Crucially, beyond the auction room, through a series of renowned exhibitions, he
has continuously created ripples in that more elusive area: ‘taste’. His famous
coup with the YBAs in the 1990s and Sensation in 1997 established London’s
place at the top of the contemporary art heap, and the shows he has staged since
then, from The New Neurotic Realism (1999) to The Triumph of Painting (2005),
have done much to direct the tide of opinion.
Saatchi recently said that he bought art to show it off, and his much-
publicised new gallery on the Kings Road is now set to open in early 2008. While
seven.lin
the project is a year behind schedule, Saatchi made artworld headlines when
he announced that, thanks to a partnership with auctioneers Phillips de Pury &
Company, entrance to the 70,000-square-foot space would be free. Somewhat
ambiguously billed as the first free big contemporary art gallery, Saatchi’s space
looks set to compete with the publicly funded Tate Modern (where access to
the collection is free but temporary shows come with a charge). Since having
had the offer of his collection allegedly turned down by Tate in 2005, following
difficulties with his landlords at the former County Hall Saatchi Gallery site, just
up the river from Tate Modern, the collector must be looking forward to showing
his work in a suitable environment.
The first show is likely to be New Chinese Art, an area of the art market that
has been on the boil for the past few years, and where Saatchi has been enjoying
some binge-buying of late. Zhang Dali and Zhang Xiaogang have benefited
from his patronage, along with 18 more of their countrymen and -women. While
Saatchi is a relative latecomer to the Chinese art market, it looks like he’s gearing
up to stage something radical for these artists in London, where their work is still
known to most by reputation only.
Being taken under Saatchi’s wing hasn’t always been a happy experience
for artists; he has been criticised, for example, for offloading large holdings of
an artist’s work without regard for the effect such moves can have on prices.
Yet the success of his Saatchi Gallery website, notably its community space for
artists to show their work, confirms that up-and-comers are still eager to court his
patronage. While the main site professedly receives 50 million hits a day, a version
of the site launched in Mandarin this year is said to garner an extra 4 million.
6)
e Stephenson (
uk
photo: L
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