http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/index.htm
On my first visit to London in 2003 I also visited the Saatchi Gallery. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit as I especially liked its collection of quirky artists. Its collection of contemporary art usually consists of largely unseen young artists or by established international artists whose work has been rarely or never exhibited in the UK.
The audience for exhibitions of contemporary art has increased widely during the last ten years as general awareness and interest in contemporary art has developed both in Britain and abroad. When The Saatchi Gallery first opened over twenty years ago it was only those who had a dedicated interest in contemporary art who sought out the gallery to see work by new artists. The audience, however, built steadily over the years and by the time the gallery left its second home at County Hall, visitor numbers reached 600,000 per year, with over 1,000 schools organising student visits.
Many artists showing at The Saatchi Gallery are unknown when first exhibited, not only to the general public but also to the commercial art world. Many of these artists are subsequently offered shows by galleries and museums internationally. In this effect, the gallery also operates as a springboard for young artists to launch their careers.
On my visit in 2003 I came across some interesting work from artists such as …
… Jake and Dinos Chapman, conceptual artists who are brothers who almost always collaborate with each other. Jake and Dinos Chapman make iconoclastic sculpture, prints and installations that examine, with intense wit and energy, contemporary politics, religion and morality.
2003 …
Zygotic acceleration, biogenetic, de-sublimated libidinal model, 1995.
Courtesy of The Saatchi Gallery, London.
Now … Watch a video of their latest work at http://www.jakeanddinoschapman.com/
… Richard Wilson. He transforms architectural spaces, using industrial materials such as oil and metal, with natural phenomena such as water and light. His works destabalise our normal perceptions of architectural space and structure, heightening our awareness of mundane surroundings.
2003…
20:50; it takes the viewer into a room half filled with sump oil. The experience is physically disorientating and visually breathtaking.
… Tracey Emin, the well-known modern artist who should have won the 1999 Turner Prize. She produces autobiographical art and a member of “Young British Artist”.
2003 …
Tracey Emin shows us her own bed, in all its embarrassing glory. Empty booze bottles, fag butts, stained sheets, worn panties: the bloody aftermath of a nervous breakdown. By presenting her bed as art, Tracey Emin shares her most personal space, revealing she’s as insecure and imperfect as the rest of the world.
… Damien Hirst. An English artist and the most well-known member of the group known as ‘Young British Artist” (YBAs). Hirst dominated the art scene in Britain during the 1990s and is internationally renowned.
2003…
He became famous for a series in which dead animals were preserved in formaldehyde. The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, a 14-foot (4.3 m) tiger shark preserved in a tank became the iconic work of British art in the 1990s, and the symbol of Britart worldwide. Its sale in 2004 made him the world’s second most expensive living artist.
Now…
Exhibiting now… New Chinese Art. Check it out!
