‘LONDON HAS SAATCHI, EDINBURGH AND GLASGOW WILL HAVE D'OFFAY'
Away from the Flock by Damien flirst
D'Offay’s open secret
Alexander Kennedy discusses the impact on Scotland if the rumoured deal with art-world shaker-maker ANTHONY D’OFFAY goes ahead.
s it too snivelling or soon to say thank you. Mr
d‘()ffay‘.’ It‘s a rare thing to be writing about a
future event that would change the art scene in Scotland forever. but if the deal to bring Anthony d‘()ffay‘s universally important collection of modern art to Scotland is successfully brokered by the Scottish National Galleries and the Scottish Executive. countless letters of thanks would be penned by at least one humble writer.
D‘Offay closed his London gallery in 200]. and since then has strengthened his relationship with his friends in the north — Richard Calvocoressi. director of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. and Bridget McConnell. director of culture and leisure for Glasgow City Council. As a student of the University of Edinburgh in the l94()s and impassioned admirer of Scotland‘s collection of Old Masters. d‘()ffay has strong links with Scotland. and hopes that his 7()() plus collection of major works by this century's most eminent artists would be split between Edinburgh. Glasgow and other Scottish cities.
As art dealer. buyer and collector. his personal cache includes work that moves from Abstract Expressionism. through Pop Art to today‘s Young British Artists and beyond. The hoard includes work by Mark Rothko. Andy Warhol. Gilbert and George and Damien Hirst. In selling his collection to SNG at a knock down price of £l()()m (likely to be purchased in the form of a gift in lieu of tax). he hands Scotland the fruits of 40 years of experience and honed taste. (‘ynics could see this as a shortcut to glory for directors and advisors who should have been picking this work up earlier. but. this aside. the decision to start bartering now (or over the last three years. according to some sources) with a keen seller. shows
guts. brains and that most intangible of things — canny insight.
Ask any gallery-going member of the public. any artist. historian or critic and they will tell you that the modern art owned by and exhibited in Scotland is depressineg slight. Although we have GoMA and SNGMA. there is little sense that the collections are of international importance. In this respect Scotland has not led. it has followed. but these recent developments will rectify this. London has Saatchi. Edinburgh and Glasgow will have d'()ffay — it‘s a
good deal. The Saatchi collection reeks of
businessmen‘s wrangles and filthy lucre. a celebration of the unadulterated bond between art and money — art as investment in the l98()s. Art is big money and there is no use forgetting it. and d‘()ffay‘s mothballing of his collection could be viewed as an economic gestation. but he‘s selling low rather than making NGS buy high.
Information is always ‘accidentally‘ leaked at opportune moments. and with the recent announcement of the forthcoming arrival of John
Leighton next March as the new director general of
Scottish National Galleries. it's not difficult to pin down the spin. Even so. this is a make-or-break situation. yet publicly very little has happened. It could be an enormous disaster if the deal falls through. or a magnificent entrance and powerful statement of intent if it is accepted. All signs point to the latter. Scotland's cultural cachet and heritage would be enhanced beyond recognition when handshakes. smiles and signatures seal the deal in the near future.
www.natgalscot.ac.uk; www.doffay.com
Visual Art
* Like it Matters Glasgow- based Karla Black, Mick Peter (pictured) and Michael Stumpf create uncanny sculptural objects that will unsettle the most stolid viewing subjects. Everyday materials are transformed into the stuff of high art, domestic debris becoming props in disconcerting scenarios. See preview. page 90. CCA, Glasgow, until Sat 29 Oct.
* The Richard Demarco Archive High art, promotional materials and lowly merchandise are exhibited in a grain barn next to a nuclear power station. Down on the farm significant works by Josef Beuys will be shown alongside newly commissioned objet
d an by contemporary artists. Skateraw Farm, Dunbar, until Fri 30 Sep.
* George Wyllie - The Cosmic Voyager The veteran prankster and sculptor celebrates his 84th birthday this year by showing new work exploring the cosmos as he knows it — a pulsating space filled with rubbish and daft ideas sprouting shoddy wings of hope. Col/ins Gallery, University of Strathc/yde, until Sat 8 Oct.
* The Embassy ‘Gang Show’ One in, all in — the artist/ambassadors of the Embassy show some of what they’ve all been up to for the last year. Be prepared for the best and not-so-best art works by the cream of the contemporary art scene in Edinburgh and beyond. See review, page 91. Embassy, Edinburgh, until Fri 30 Sep.
'2'.) Sup (5 Oct 3005: THE LIST 89