FEATURES ARCHIVE

Let’s begin with an introduction: how did you come to join the Post-War and Contemporary department at South Kensington?
I studied fine art at Chelsea College of Art and originally exhibited as an artist; slowly I started to work for galleries and curate shows. This lead onto lecturing at The University of Bristol and the Royal Academy of Arts. I became disillusioned with teaching and focused more on curating exhibitions in alternative spaces, to fund this I came to work at Christie’s part-time as a porter. This gave me the freedom to work independently. I worked at Christie’s as a porter on-and-off over the course of four years. When a job with the Post-War and Contemporary department came up, I was encouraged to apply by one of the contemporary specialists. Now I head up the sale.

When did you first get excited about contemporary art?
When I was a teenager I would visit as many exhibitions as possible. I was lucky enough to see amazing shows at the old Saatchi Gallery in St John’s Wood, Anthony D’ Offay and Lisson, as well as many alternative spaces such as City Racing and Cabinet in Brixton. There was a lot of excitement in London at the time and these exhibitions felt incredibly fresh and vibrant – art became realistic option, not something distant and confined to museums.

Which are some of your favourite galleries?
Of the current contemporary galleries there are a number which I visit regularly and enjoy their programmes, but my dream galleries are those no longer around, such as Nigel Greenwood in London, Wide White Space from Antwerp, Leo Castelli and American Fine Arts in New York. These galleries did what every good gallery should do; they had ambitions greater than just selling art, through their artists, programming and ethos they changed things.

Which artists especially interest you?
My major interests are often artists that are unvalued or unappreciated – ones that history has not been too kind to, or who have slipped under the radar at some point. A good example in the current sale is Paul Thek who was a major art star in 1960s; at the height of his fame Susan Sontag dedicated her classic Against Interpretation to him. During the ‘70s and ‘80s his work received little attention although he continued to practice as an artist until his death. Slowly more attention was paid to his work by contemporary artists and critics, and he is now recognised as one of the major artists from the ‘60s. We’re lucky enough to be offering a very rare work from 1969 entitled Meat Rope. The majority of his works from the ‘60s are in museum collections, and this will be the first major work offered at auction in the last ten years.

What’s great about the South Kensington sales in particular?
The Post-War and Contemporary sales at South Kensington offer a great opportunity to start the building blocks of a collection or to add select pieces to an existing collection. I hope that we also offer works that appeal to the connoisseur collector. Often at South Kensington we’re able to take chances on a young artist; a great example of this is Matthew Day Jackson, who we’ve championed and offered two major pieces in 2008 and at the start of 2009. This artist’s work is now being offered in our 2010 King Street evening sales, with much higher estimates.