Art & Photography

Frieze 2013: The Players

Ahead of next week’s art show, Nick Rainsford looks closer at some of the key players
Iwan Wirth, together with wife Manuela Wirth and mother in law Ursula Hauser, own and run the Hauser and Wirth Gallery. Recently ranked fourth in ArtReview’s power 100 and owning 4 galleries in London, New York and Zurich, Iwan Wirth is a champion of contemporary artists.From humble beginnings as a poster seller, Larry Gagosian is considered to be the most powerful dealer in the art world. He owns 12 galleries worldwide, representing more art floor space than the Tate. Though splitting with Damien Hirst, Gagosian represents and has represented some of the biggest names in art.Owner of the White Cube, Jay Jopling represented the YBA’s from the early 90s, such as Damien Hirst, Marc Quinn and the Chapman Brothers. Owning galleries across London, Jay is responsible for the sales of two of the most famous pieces of YBA art; Hirst's shark The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living and Quinn's sculpture of his head created from his own frozen blood, Self.

Charles Saatchi was an early champion of YBA’s Damien Hirst and Marc Quinn. Saatchi opened his first gallery in 1985 to exhibit the art that he had collected. The YBA touring exhibition Sensation, brought Saatchi renown and cemented the position of the YBAs.Owner of the Lisson Gallery and Roald Dahl’s nephew, Nicholas made waves in the 1960’s working with John Lennon on Yoko Ono's exhibition and opening Londons first commercial art gallery. Working now with artists who are slow burners, Nicholas roster of artists includes Ai Weiwei, Anish Kapoor and Richard Deacon.The Zabludowiczs are two of the UK’s most prolific contemporary art collectors, they display as the Zabludowicz Collection, which is a free exhibition space running since 2007 in a converted Methodist chapel in Camden. Their extensive collection of contemporary art stands at around 2,000 works by 350 artists from 33 countries.

Related articles