David and Serenella Ciclitira, Coutesy Global Eye Programme, Photo by Jean Goldsmith
1 Hi David can you tell us a bit about yourself and how you ended up running an art fair?
First and foremost I’m an art lover. The idea to found the new art fair, START, came through the work my wife Serenella and I have been doing with the Global Eye Programme, an initiative we established (in partnership with the Saatchi Gallery) to support emerging artists. START is the next project in what has been an enlightening and inspiring enterprise.
The initial idea of the Global Eye Programme was motivated by our love of collecting contemporary art. When we travelled to Korea we realised there was no infrastructure in terms of scholarship, exhibitions or funding to foster the international success of emerging artists there. We decided to launch an initiative to provide young artists with exhibitions and features in published catalogues as platforms from which to showcase their talent. This resulted in Korean Eye (2009) which was followed by Indonesian Eye (2011); Korean Eye 2 (2012), Hong Kong Eye (2013) Prudential Malaysian Eye (2014) and the Prudential Eye Awards (2014).
2 Why is START different from all the other art fairs London has?
The genesis of all of our projects comes from our desire to support and foster artistic talent. In a way I don’t really see START as an art fair in the traditional sense, because of its emphasis on young, emerging galleries and artists. The fair provides a unique opportunity for gallerists to come to one of the world’s most important artistic centres and to present their artists to culturally engaged audiences. It’s also about the chance for the gallerists and artists from different regions to meet each other and to find out more about what is going on in contemporary art scenes around the world.
The Prudential Eye Zone section of the fair further emphasises the START’s distinction. This specially curated section of the fair showcases some of the most exciting and important work being made by emerging artists in Greater Asia today. Featuring in artists who have participated in the Global Eye Programme to-date (which has held eighteen exhibitions worldwide and been viewed by over 2 million people), all profits from the Prudential Eye Zone will go directly to the exhibiting artists.
Painting I Krakow, Leonora Hamill, 2009, Ctype Print, Courtesy Tristan Hoare Gallery
3 Why have you chosen June? And why the Saatchi gallery as venue?
Everyone loves summer in London – the city comes alive, but in terms of contemporary art exhibitions, it can be very quiet time. I saw this gap and felt that the end of June just seemed like the perfect time to present exciting, young, international artists to the capital. I also liked the idea of running START, a fair focused on emerging young artists, at the same time as Masterpiece, a fair with an emphasis on antiques, art and design from established names. There is an interesting contract between the two fairs.
We were very keen to partner with the Saatchi Gallery when we first came up initial concept for the Global Eye Programme because of the gallery’s ethos of making contemporary art accessible to the widest possible audience. The gallery provides an innovative platform for emerging artists to show their work, which directly reflects the philosophy of the Global Eye Programme.
4 How long have you been planning the Fair?
The fair has been in the pipeline since last year.
5 Which exhibitors are you particularly looking forward to seeing in London?
My wife Serenella and I travel a lot to Asia, so it will be wonderful seeing the galleries and artists we know from emerging markets like South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia exhibiting in London along side young galleries from more established artistic centres like the UK and Europe. I’m also looking forward to seeing the work from Athr Gallery, a pioneering gallery from Saudi Arabia, and Yone Arts from Myanmar. Both galleries are trailblazers in their country’s contemporary art scenes. I’m also intrigued by the joint digital art project from Arcadia Missa (London) and Preteen (Mexico).
6 How can people find more about START?
The website is a good place to begin. You can find out about the galleries exhibiting and keep up to date with news about the fair. On the website you can also find bite-sized videos we commissioned the galleries and artists taking part in the fair to create. The results have been intriguing, strange and funny:
www.startartfair.com
7 Final question, if you had $49,000 to spend on an artist who would it be?
I’m going to cheat and say I’d buy a smaller work from every artist at the fair!
