Article translated by Amritee Mahabir

Charles Saatchi’s triumph, and his quickly accomplished fame for the most part based on English contemporary art exhibits, reassumes with great simplicity the revolution that took place in the artistic world in Great Britain, employing great avant-garde leaders similar to authentic showbiz stars and guaranteeing a mass following of art that he didn’t have in previous years. Within the artistic circuit Saatchi has always been held as a collector, a dealer or a promoter but none of these definitions seem to be correct. We could define him simply as a “guru” able to lay the foundations of new art relations, articulate his ideas, force dialogue, and make challenges where his artists can become true celebrities of the art system. We can all recall how in the nineties, the London gallerist managed to introduce Damien Hirst. The latter is not the only Charles Saatchi “miracle”. The two Chapman brothers, Dinos and Jake belong to the new generation of English artists bred at the heart of the Saatchi team. By now they’ve acquired international fame which has led them to exhibit at the most prestigious galleries and to be introduced to the most important museums. Their sales are constantly on the increase as shown by data from the Art Basel Miami Beach fair last year: at the White Cube stand, the work “The Model Village of the Damned” of 2007 was sold for around 1.3 million dollars.

The art economy seems to really appreciate hermaphrodite beings with all kinds of genetic anomalies manifested in absurd anatomical combinations created by Chapman’s brilliance. These fantastic biological growths are not only distressing, but they also possess a certain fascination, although it is not a pleasure to admit it. The artists have managed to assemble the true poetry of the nineties, centred upon the observed body whether from a point of view of beauty and seduction or as a mysterious and horrendous place in which to hide wounds or diseases. By now the Chapman brothers have also consolidated their role within the auction houses: in 2006 “The Whimper” went under the hammer at Christie’s in London for 65,000 pounds (estimated at 20-30 million pounds); the “Cyber-Iconic Man” sculpture raked up 58,000 pounds, again at Christie’s London (estimated at 40-50 million pounds); “Fuckface” from 1994 was sold in 2005 for 38,000 pounds (estimated at 12-18 million pounds).

Lately, Jake and Dinos Chapman were discussed not for their profane works, but for their economic negotiations. In fact, it was recently declared that the Tate had acquired some of these two English artists’ works from Charles Saatchi. The said works are “The Chapman Family Collection”, a series of compositions from 34 wooden sculptures and later painted sculptures that were presented for the first time at the White Cube gallery in London. In 2002 “The Chapman Family Collection” was bought by Saatchi, who at the moment of acquisition declared to have payed around 1 million pounds for these masterpieces. It is a marvellous series that the Saatchi Gallery lent several exhibition spaces to: from Country Hall at Kunsthaus Bregenz in Austria to the Tate in Liverpool recently used for the very famous retrospective dedicated to Jake and Dinos. For now the news that have transpired only regards this particular economic business between the Tate and Saatchi. Unfortunately the Tate was not clear in their public budgets in which they failed to declare how much the affair amounted to. Some indiscretions reckon that the acquisitions were among the most expensive in recent years in the contemporary art sector.