Yesterday the British press weighed in on Charles Saatchi’s new book, My Name Is Charles Saatchi and I Am An Artoholic. The Guardian’s take is here and the Daily Telegraph’s is here. Both are pretty mild views, with the Telegraph headline talking about his “secret life laid bare.”
Not so fast. Eileen Kinsella, writing in the ArtNEWSLETTER, details how art-world veterans on this side of the Atlantic are disputing Saatchi’s tales. She focuses on sales he made of works by Sandro Chia and Sean Scully, and whether or not he related them as they happened.
She also brings us up-to-date on Saatchi’s art-world reality show:
Saatchi and the BBC have plans for a reality television show documenting the U.K.-wide search for an artist who possesses the “talent, ambition and passion to make great art,” as it is described in a memo from Saatchi’s office. A panel including Kate Bush, Frank Cohen (known in Britain as “the Charles Saatchi of the North”), Matt Collings and Tracey Emin selected six undiscovered artists from more than 3,000 applications. The four-part series, which will be broadcast on BBC Two next month, will reveal which artist was selected by the panel and Saatchi to be included in the exhibition “Newspeak: British Art Now” at the State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg (Oct. 25-Jan. 17).
Can’t wait.
Here’s the link to her story.