Shedload Of Art

The Guardian reports that nothing quite prepares you for the unalloyed oddness of encountering the public gallery of millionaire art collector Frank Cohen which opens its doors to the public next week. This "space" - as one is obliged to called any place these days where art is shown - is, in fact, two vast prefab sheds on a light industrial estate north of Wolverhampton. This is only appropriate, since the 64-year-old, often dubbed the "Saatchi of the north", made his many millions by flogging DIY materials in out-of-town shopping centres in the Midlands. Cohen, who left school at 15 and worked the market stalls of Manchester before building up his empire of DIY stores, has been collecting contemporary art since the 1990s. He has, he thinks, about 1,500 works in his collection. The most he's ever spent is $2.5m on a Jeff Koons, and then there was $1m for a Richard Prince. He tells these details with gusts of laughter and evident enjoyment. Since he sold his shares in Glyn Webb in 1997 for £25m, his art collection has become his full-time occupation, and that of four employees. But he has always collected something or other. He bought a lot of modern British art - Edward Burra, Maggi Hambling, Eduardo Paolozzi. Later, although he missed the boat for the early work of Damien Hirst, Sarah Lucas, et al, he started to acquire contemporary art voraciously. For the past few years he has been buying Chinese work, currently super fashionable. (For full source and article click the Headline). Irish Art