The Saatchi Gallery opened in 1985 at Boundary
Road, London. Its first exhibition ever featured works from Donald Judd, Brice
Marden, Cy Twombly and Andy Warhol. All these artists are American and have a
common theme of minimalism in their work. Charles Saatchi is an ambitious
collector, interested and constantly seeking abnormal, surreal contemporary art
work. He wanted to shock his audience, so they would walk away confused,
opinionated or angry. Saatchi’s ambition was to get the people who had no
interest in art, to be interested. Therefore his collections had to constantly
out do the next, he wanted people coming back to be excited and curious about
what was on display in the next exhibition.
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Saatchi is an international collector as well as someone that visits UK art students’ graduate shows. His excitement for seeking out the most abstract art carried him to different countries, mostly that of the East. Saatchi’s collections from China, Iran, Iraq and India, drew in crowds of visitors. This art work is both compelling and unique through the form of subject matter and mediums. Their work is often reflective of their fashions, societal happenings or beliefs which can be completely different to ours. This take on art can be completely refreshing and new. When Saatchi first exhibited Damien Hirst in 1992, he showed the now infamous piece ‘The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living’ - a Tiger Shark. This piece received a huge reaction, with it being slammed and slated in reviews and newspapers. For Saatchi, it was a win; he got people to respond through showing something that may not have required absolute talent. Another artist’s that received a huge response was Tracey Emin when she exhibited ‘My bed’ in 2000.
The exhibitions that were held from 2008- to date in the new Duke of York HQ in Chelsea have been artwork from different countries. These exhibitions’ aim is to give its audience an insight to different countries. For example the exhibition ‘Gaiety in the Most Outstanding Feature of the Soviet Union’ portrays different perspectives of the Russian evolution. The gallery has brought exhibitions highlighting the best in new art from America, India, Germany, China, Korea and Russia. These exhibitions have only been shown in recent years, since the gallery’s move to Chelsea.
Charles
Saatchi personally collects all the art work he wants to show in his gallery.
He has personally hand-picked every art work that has ever been in the gallery.
Saatchi also goes as far as sometimes curating exhibitions helping place works
in specific areas. So to see how the work has evolved would be the same as
asking how Charles Saatchi’s taste for art has developed. In 1969, at just age twenty six, Saatchi
purchased his first work of art. This was by Sol LeWitt, an artists from New
York associated with minimalism. He started purchasing more and more work by
realists and minimalists etc. He needed a building to house his collection;
this was a warehouse at 98A Boundary Road, London. The Saatchi gallery opened
in 1985. Since then his taste has mutated from London artists through to
American abstraction to the YBA (Young British Artists). He saw this work at
the Freeze exhibition and this great impression that Freeze put on Saatchi made
him turn his back on the New York world and focused his attention on the
artistic British youth. Damien Hirst marked the beginning of this taste and
then Mark Quinn. Just recently, in 2009 he gave young artists an opportunity to
showcase their work in the BBC programme School
of Saatchi. Of course, he was not present in the programme, he communicated
through an assistant. Later in July 2010, he decided to donate the Saatchi Gallery
itself and over 200 works, estimating £3 million to the British public.
Saatchi
is a great patron of art. He helped make the Emin and Hirst famous and bought
their works selling them for a huge profit. Another well-known collector is Albert
C Barnes. His views on who he thought collected for effect were the same as
Saatchi’s. However, Barnes refused to sell any of the great Matisse’s or Cezanne’s
that he bought off the easel. He, like Saatchi considered his collection greater
than the sum of its parts. Charles Saatchi was a collector that affronted the
critics, and was proud of this. Saatchi buys only works that he likes but has
only kept just 200 works out of thousands that he owns. The oligarchs want to flaunt
their wealth; Saatchi likes to flaunt his taste and judgement.
Charles Saatchi’s collection in the gallery
is what he personally buys and likes. It wasn’t until recently when the gallery
moved to Chelsea in 2008, did his international attribute come forward.
Suddenly we are struck with exhibitions titled ‘New Chinese Art’ and ‘New Art
from the Middle East’. In that respect we can see that Saatchi’s influences
and taste changed slightly from just looking at New York and YBA artwork. Saatchi’s
collections have evolved by broadening his search for the ultimate contemporary
piece. As mentioned before his excitement for looking and finding the most abstract
pieces is what defines the Saatchi Gallery.