October - November 2007

21st October - 5th November

It never stops thank goodness.


October 21st we went to Paris and I managed to visit FIAC which was great but things were put into perspective when everyone was looking at the new stretch Mini at the fair and the cost was the same as a young up and coming artist from Mexico.
FIAC was an energetic art fair and felt very fresh.
WATCH OUT LONDON ART FAIRS WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!



BALTIC:
We went to Geordie Land and I had to give a talk about our Installation curated by Jerome Sans and put together by Mustafa Hulusi with his Expander poster installation. I could not have asked for anything more inspiring. The best thing was seeing our name on the building, I felt very proud.







It is already November now and I have just returned from New York as a Tate Patron and we were royally entertained by the Tate Team inc. the wonderful Richard Hamilton and John Nixon, even Sir Nicholas Serota joined us a few times. We were taken to see the best collections in New York. The highlight was the visit to Jeff Koons’ studio and he personally gave us the whole tour. He is a true master and the feeling (even though contemporary), was of history in the making and history of the past, it was like being in an old masters studio. I even had time to tramp through Chelsea and visit a few Galleries and the Asian Contemporary Art Fair which was full of curiosities.

There is so much available and just too attractive I hold back

“ALL THAT GLITTERS IS NOT GOLD!”

8th-14th October

This week was crazzzy, but incredibly rewarding. We were so proud to see an incredible buzz in 176, even Alan Yentob (we found him flat on his back as he had nearly impaled himself on a wooden box, a scary sight I thought he was a dead man) was interviewing us for his Imagine programme for the BBC.

Frieze was awesome and we made a commitment to two artists both married to each other, Alex Heim and Nicole Wermers (a very exciting moment). The 176 team completed the most amazing project in the RA with Zoo, I was totally in heaven when I saw all that had been achieved. Everybody wanted to know who is Dan Attoe and who is Jimmy Baker?! I bought yet another Graham Dolphin with Seventeen and a bronze shovel in some dirt by Kon Trubkovich with Museum 52. In PULSE we bought an amazing cardboard sculpture of Queen Victoria sitting on her throne, which I could not resist.



There were some amazing parties but alas we were just too tired to visit them all, we managed only to stop by at Larry Gagosian and Simon and Carrie Lee. We dropped by to see Simon de Pury in action. It was amazingly glamorous watching this handsome man in action yielding his hammer followed by a huge party with 500 people queuing to get in (one poor guy shouting at security “I buy in your auctions and you will not let my wife in!!”). Lizzie and I were on our knees, we had gone through colds, bronchitis and exhaustion but it was worth every minute.