School of Saatchi: Episode 4 (final)
Goodness! We appear to have come to the final episode of School of Saatchi! It’s time to find out exactly who is accompanying that reclusive advertising chap to St Petersburg for a show in the Hermitage…
Before launching into the recap I think I should say my own personal choice would be Matt. I wasn’t bowled over by his initial piece but then it was an installation so it’s hard to gauge whether, if one had been able to engage with it in the way the artist intended rather than see it on a screen, it would have been more successful. I began to be drawn in watching him worry over that fake rock debacle in Hastings “Am I just a weird amateur builder?” but still thought perhaps he was just pottering along. Then there was last week. I was absolutely amazed by his wine jelly glass orb for Sudeley Castle chapel. It was simple, it was beautiful, it was an intelligent and sensitive response to the task, and it was art.
Who did you want to win? Tell me what you thought in the comments section!
We begin with a montage of Saatchi-approved art with Collings’ “kingmaker” quote echoing over the top. Saatchi makes artists into rockstars, catapults careers, stratospherically influences – you know the drill.
After a recap of the previous two projects Collings tells the six they must put on a show at the Saatchi gallery. Saatchi is providing the space and absolutely nothing else – not a single advertising postcard or an hor d’oeuvre.
We catch a glimpse of the six hopefuls’ former lives – art handlers, art students, struggling artists, commission artists… – and are told that this will be the “ultimate test”. Ultimate test eh? Better see what they’ve got planned then.
Ben Lowe is jettisoning paint in favour of cardboard. He explains a project which is labour intensive and involves cardboard memory cells covered in paint and wax. It reminds me of bees but much as I do love bees I am concerned that it will suffer somewhat in the execution.
Sam Zealey has decided to buy a Van der Graaf generator. He will be putting wig on it thus, he explains, eliminating the middle man. Surely the fun of a Van der Graaf generator is being the middle man? That aside, it is the first time Sam has delegated the production out. Collings thinks that this might mean instead of getting it slightly wrong as he usually does Sam might be the one to get it right. I often get the feeling Sam is at the tinkering stage rather than the stage where he knows what works and what doesn’t.
Matt Clark has returned to the small rooms motif he began with. He wants to transform a caravan into an imaginary world peopled by invented characters. The main character in the scenario is a caravanning prophet who gives lectures to one person at a time.
Suki Chan wants a column with one side open as a ladder leading to an empty attic space. Suki is very good at minimalism but this is bordering on sterile. What happened to the beautiful, undulating bird migration video she showed at the very first panel?
Eugenie is handmaking a sponge grappling hoop to accompany a rope and a shelf. She talks about people escaping situations and her idea reminds me of a locked room mystery. The grappling hook looks a bit Not Good and Collings thinks there’s an element of the chaotic in her practice which threatens to overwhelm any seriousness.
Saad Qureshi has artist’s block. I am familiar enough with reality telly narratives not to be worried in any way by this. To try to inspire himself he is listening to music while writhing around inside what looks like a duvet. He emerges jubilant, anouncing that fabric is the key.
Sam and Saad have been tasked with designing the invitation to entice the art elite from their ivory towers and into Saatchi’s gallery. I may sound incredibly jaded but I’m sure a mention of free food and drink wouldn’t go amiss. I would also be willing to be that the BBC and Saatchi himself wouldn’t actually let the show fall on its face. Ralph Rugoff – director of the Hayward Gallery – tells them that the invitation design is appalling. He also invokes “design college” as if it were the worst possible epithet.
While trekking to buy a drill Eugenie has seen a log wedged on top of a fence and would like to take it for her art project. Ralph likes it as an attack on the nature of boundaries and Collings thinks she should abandon the grappling hook entirely. He notes that if she can get the fence to work in the gallery “she will be a bit of a genius”.
Saad has recently been to Pakistan and seen shelters being used by manual labourers. He wants to expand on the idea of the structure and would like to create a second piece with leather discs and racial remarks. There are a lot of stories attached and Collings thinks it might end up being too politely PC.
Ben Lowe has taken over and totally reworked the invitation. As an ex graphic designer he thinks he should have perhaps done it from the start. He goes with the pictore of the log on the fence to advertise the show (that implies that within their group they have already decided it’s the piece that best represents their talent and potential). Voice Over Man thinks the invites being late means there is a very real danger the art world might not turn up – don’t worry Voice Over Man!
Matt is going slowly crazy in his caravan and is becoming absorbed by it. He sheepishly confesses that “somewhere deep in my mind is a bunch of weirdos struggling to get out” but later explains that this is not the time to make things easy on yourself. . Voice Over Man thinks this is a good time for a caravans-in-art montage. Collings says he needs to embody sincerity in his caravan if he doesn’t want to seem derivative.
Sam’s Van der Graaf generator has arrived. It looks appropriately scientific and the group have fun giving themselves electric shocks. It’s not all good news though -Voice Over Man announces “Sam hadn’t considered the fact that a huge machine producing mini lightning bolts may have side effects”. The generator’s instructions include health and safety information including the fact that it could be lethal to people with pacemakers. This gives the group a curating headache although Ben is relatively relaxed – “the dangerous, noisy, lethal thing? I’m fine with it”, he shrugs. Suki decides it’s best to ask the gallery.
Eugenie has got permission to remove the section of fence plus log. I must say it looks pretty damn good. I’m wondering what would happen if the log fell off the fence prongs in transit. Voice Over Man has no such qualms and is more concerned about Matt who, while she is “transporting a natural accident from one side of London to the other” Matt is still holed up in his caravan. He is determined to pour his heart and soul into this project and if that means working 24/7 then so be it.
Rebecca Wilson has come to check out Sam’s death machine. Sam switches it on. Rebecca asks him to switch it off. She points out that the noise if unfair to all the other artists and that the gallery refuses to exhibit anything which will endanger visitors. There’s a montage of art which has injured people. Sam now has a giant forbidden generator, no money, and a big panic. “I’m finished” he tells Saad before walking out of the gate.
Having had a chance to think Sam returns to Rebecca with a possible solution. He wants to do it as an event where the piece is switched on for a healthy 2 minutes like “a rare blossoming flower”. Sam paces while Charles considers and eventually packs his generator in the car and returns to Essex to wait it out. Rebecca tells him that his solution is acceptable. Sam is quietly ecstatic – I think he’s about to cry.
Hey – I’ve just noticed – we haven’t heard anything about this cardboard beehive business of Ben’s – frankly I’m concerned.
Not much time to worry about that though – the exhibiting is open and lots of people are arriving. They mill about and peer at things. Women in heels climb Suki’s ladder while nosy neighbours peer into Matt’s caravan. Matt’s mum is very proud. After the event the six share a lovely hug on the steps of the gallery. You wouldn’t get that on The Apprentice.
The panel arrive for an after-hours poke about. Their basic pronouncements on each artist are as follows:
Saad is ambitious but the fabric shelter has “overdone it in the wrong way”. Collings tells Saad that the panel have found him delightful but that he may have reached in the wrong direction in this show and ended up playing it safe or holding back.
Ben’s work feels full of potential but not managed to communicate his idea properly. He has also included a painting but this is dismissed as a poor man’s Francis Bacon. Tracy hopes this opportunity has helped his career and he has done brilliantly.
Eugenie has exhibited both the truncated trunk and the grappling hook piece. Collings hates the grappling hook – “it isn’t worth looking at – I feel insulted that I have to look at it”. The fence log is loved by the whole panel. Kate Bush thinks the two pieces represent her habit of veering from the sublime to the ridiculous.
Sam’s is initially good but falls after the first impressions due to a lack of substance. He gets hung up on making his art work and it ends up as a literal demonstration. The ambition is possibly too big for the piece or it might just be a case of working out how to address his technical problems.
Suki’s white tower is very polished and well executed but, as Tracy puts it, “so what?” There is a lack of spirit and a sterility to the work. Kate Bush observes that the piece didn’t achieve what it wanted to but she will follow Suki’s career with interest.
‘Professor T Elephas and the Regular’s Table’ (Matt’s caravan – gets mixed reviews. Collings can take or leave the narrative while Kate Bush likes the whole piece complete with imaginary cast.
Once Saatchi has had a wander round Voice Over Man announces that the panel are unanimous and there is one standout work of art. Well that’s removed all illusion of tension! It’s the fence. Why are we messing about? Of course it’s the fence! If they had been judged last week it would possibly have been Matt going to St Peterburg but it wasn’t and I do agree, that fence is the best thing there (certainly from a 5 minutes to assess it on telly perspective) and it’s VERY Saatchi – all impact.
To keep up the illusion of a competition the panel say it’s come down to Matt versus Eugenie. Rebecca-as-mouthpiece-for-Charles says that Matt has produced consistently fantastic work while Eugenie is more ambiguous however the prize is awarded based on the most outstanding work and that is Eugenie’s fence. “Fuckin’ hell” she says.
HOWEVER, it’s not all bad news for Matt – Saatchi has been impressed and asks him to make a new work to go in the Newspeak exhibition once it arrives from Russia in London. Ah yes – it has all been a 240 minute advertisement for a coming exhibition. Well, you know what? I’ve enjoyed it.
All the others seem genuinely to wish Eugenie well and she, in her turn, thanks Saatchi for providing the gallery space, studio space, and Russia – the latter is possibly slightly beyond even his remit. As part of her reward Eugenie has been given use of a fantastic studio space. She is still in art school so has given it to Matt for a year. He seems a little emotional, muttering “I can’t thank Genie enough”. I am embarassingly touched by this.
Finally we see Eugenie going to the Hermitage to check out her work. “I like seeing the piece knowing that it’s come from the north circular motorway near Bow”, she smiles “I’m really pleased”.
There we go! Should Eugenie have won? Will you be going to see the exhibition? and did you enjoy the show?
I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Hmm, Eugenie did nothing more than notice an everyday piece of artwork created by the natural world (with a little help from the local Council) and flutter her eyelashes to have it moved to the studio space by a group of burly men. The panel failed to dwell on the fact that they massively disliked her grappling hook piece, the only piece that she ‘sculpted’ herself, and instead went for shock tactics. However, had the viewing public and the irritatingly elusive Saatchi all agreed on a worthy winner, the art simply wouldn’t have been ‘provocative’ enough. No, I’m afraid I was very unhappy with the result!
In response to that comment I would urge one to think about photography. Some of the worlds greatest photographs have come by coincidence to the photographer but still remain beautiful or powerful images in art. In many cases the photographer has not created situations but is merely documenting them for the benefit of the public, but this does not make it any less of an art form. So in Eugenie’s case I would say if she had not chosen to use that old chunk of railing and tree as her work, I (and the rest of the public) would not have seen it, and as I find it a beautiful piece I feel it would have been a shame to miss. So as I see it she has effectively been a physical photographer, bringing me an image which provokes her thought, which I feel is both original and beautiful.
side note:
Also one point in the programme made me smile where Tracey Emin referred to Eugenie’s other work as ‘a mess’, failing to see the irony in light of her own questionable work. To me the series was worth watching simply for that one moment.
Couldn’t aggree more with Rosie! Anyone of us, artist or not would have spotted the mysterious object of a trunk randomly embedded on iron railings. As a fine art sculpture student at the slade (which Eugenie is) i found it incredible that when Eugenie was in the process of atually making something she quite simply couldn’t do anything that would visually surpass that of a year 7 comprehensive pupil in an art class. At least Matt put his heart, soul and time into his pieces. I didn’t like his rock collaberation in episode 2 very much but I admire his work ethic and motivation. Eugenie was always going to win it for me however as as she appeared right from the start, to have mastered the art of bull****ing which is sadly, but much needed in contemporary art circles such as Saatchi’s.
I have a long (far too long) ream of comments but I’d like to give my thoughts on the ‘winning’ artists (Eugenie and Matt) and the ‘losing’ artists.
If you look at the work of Eugenie and Matt, they do have something in common, which is that they take the audience on an adventure. Eugenie’s work throughout the series was all about imbuing banal objects with her own addictively enthusiastic personality and making the viewer feel like they were taking the next step in the story of these objects. For example, the whistle and handle piece in the first episode begged to be grabbed and played with and the grappling hook – although perhaps failing to hit the mark – invited you to ‘escape’ to somewhere else. Matt’s work was even more clearly ‘telling a story’ as his installations were all built around narratives. Eugenie and Matt’s collaborative work (the empty zoo) certainly relied on the participation of the audience in a narrative, encouraging spectators to read the signs for the ‘animals’. This element of story-telling seems to be quite favoured by Saatchi. After all, Tracey Emin’s work is predominantly autobiographical. The infamous bed invites you into the narrative of Emin’s life at the time. More importantly, Eugenie and Matt’s work was fun, interesting and ultimately encouraged you to look at the world (and its seemingly neglected objects and environments) in a different way.
And now for the ‘losers’ (although as Saad said, they were all winners really in the sense that they got to exhibit in the Saatchi gallery and had the opportunity to show their work to the art elite and to humble members of the general public watching at home). It’s my opinion that the other four failed to say anything new in their work. Saad’s work should have won a bronze medal but as they said on the show, he didn’t really show anything that we haven’t seen before in galleries. I’ve seen plenty of works that address cultural identity/alienation by using cultural artefacts and it seemed that Saad’s work was just another of these, still making a valid point but certainly not a new one. It could be said in his defence that the way a south Asian such as Saad views objects like chapatis and that Pakistani sunshield is going to be entirely different to how people from other cultures view them, making it very difficult such cultural ‘outsiders’ to understand what Saad’s trying to say. Moving on, Sam just seemed to be like a kid constructing strange machines out of Meccano and didn’t seem to imbue his sculptures with any meaning or depth. They were impressive objects but what was the point? On a purely aesthetic level, I didn’t think that his final piece was much to look at either, even when it was turned on and fortunately failing to kill anyone. Ben, bless him, spent the whole series playing catch up on theory, history and technical ability and, like Sam, struggled too much with how to express his ideas, and not enough with the actual expression. I’m not one to say that artists must go to art school, but I think that Ben would have benefited from having such an education. I agree that Suki’s work seemed to lose the soul that had been in her bird video. Perhaps she was worried about producing another such video because Saatchi prefers high impact, tactile ‘things’. Or perhaps the format of the show was not conducive to the production of video art. Video art in the public art episode would have been difficult, given that they were all to be based outdoors. As for the third episode, I’m not sure if you could produce a very effective video based on a single object in a stately home, although maybe that’s my own lack of artistic genius speaking! Anyway, the end result for Suki was that all of her work was a bit dull and, as you put it, sterile, either because installations and sculptures are not really her thing or perhaps because the bird video was a rare stroke of genius from somebody who isn’t generally a ‘great’ artist but is rather a derivative minimalist.
Sorry for such a long essay!
Five weeks ago I bet a colleague that if Eugene didn’t win I knew nothing about the art world! Unfortunately it gave me absolutely no pleasure to collect the £50.0. I felt sick as a parrot.
The fact remains that these very poorly educated (at taxpayers expense I may add) stunt merchants know very little about the purpose of fine art, which is exactly what the man needs to feed the rotten and insatiable appetite of the advertising industry for the past twenty years. They have had an appalling art education – if any! If you make the art education world into your own industrial conceptual art image and likeness and it turns out a rotten, stinking, sour mess who can you blame? – You would think someone should have told him making art fits his needs is stupid,! but then why should the oily sycophants that surround him even bother. I would love to have seen his genuine disappointment at the sheer quality of these artists final works. The best in the Hermitage no less, up against Picasso Braque and Rembrandt! Its just that the rest of us are constantly informed that we are stupid and illiterate, it might be that some of us really know much more about art than these clowns suspect. God help the UK if the hidden man has anything whatsoever to do with the 2012 cultural Olympics!
I guess like many (most?) people I was outraged at the winning artist’s final pieces. I have to say that I shared al along the invigilator’s suspicions that Eugenie could in fact, be a charlatan. I don’t share that view, because I just think she’s too young to have found her artistic voice yet.
The impaled log is a deeply intriguing image and I can quite see its artistic merit for, say, a photographer who inteprets the found object artistically through a lens. Merely encouraging the council to allow the section of fence to be removed demonstraes only the art of negotiation (probably orchestrated by the TV production company anyway!
I enjoyed the programme overall but I am afaid it will have alienated more people than it converted to the world of fine art.
I also think the programme has reinforced one of the things that frustrates me more than anything else about the art world – and I am an exhibited artists myself – and that is the predjudice and polarity of fine arts. Why is anything but the latest schlok demerited by critics (few of whom are artists)? In literature, music, TV, theatre there is no such detsructive and opposing viewpoint.
Eugenie won because 1) she is a very telegenic gallerina-the camera adored her and so did I; 2)she exhibited the most impressive work of art in the final show – however given the competition, this is not saying very much. All her work up until this point was insipid, confused and banal. The fence thing was a lucky find. Everything we need to know about contemporary neo-conceptual art was contained in this tv show: the corporate art we end up seeing in our public galleries is there by whim and chance, produced by inarticulate inexperienced kids who have little idea of who they are or of the world they live in but who are supposed to be producing works that are based on complex and subtle concepts and philosophies.The over confident power-dressing metrosexuals who select and curate this art are as clueless and shallow as the artists themselves. They are all of them a sad and profound sign of our inexorable cultural decline. It is a depressing age in which we live and we have to cross it like a tundra and hope that one day a more interesting vista opens up before us.
was anybody a bit taken aback when everyone reacted so strongly in the first episode to suki’s video piece? I had seen this video of starlings on otmoor way back when on youtube and this is essentially what got suki into the competition as far as i could make out… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XH-groCeKbE. did she film hers before this was on youtube?
Are people really so naive to believe that Eugenie managed to remove her trunk on a fence simply by batting her eyelashes at some council workers? Do you realise how much red tape you’d need to go through to get that done – & how much it would cost to replace the railings? I cannot believe that this happened without someone at the Saatchi gallery contacting the council & paying (a lot) for the work to be done – & probably replacement railings.
She was chosen because she’s photogenic and no doubt Saatchi thought her ‘work’ would inspire the usual ‘is it art’ ‘what a load of shite’ headlines in the tabloid press. The whole series was merely PR puff to publicise his new show. However, other than the first episode, the show has been ignored by the mainstream media. Not really a surprise when a search of the Times and Guardian online archives reveals neither paper has given a Saatchi show a good review since he opened the new gallery. The idea that he is still a kingmaker is bollocks. I know plenty of successful artists who’ve turned down Saatchi derisory cut-price offers for their work who have flourished without his dubious patronage.
Only Matt came out of the experience well – because he seemed genuine & sincere. (Even though I thought his caravan was not as interesting as the work he made to the earlier briefs in ep 2 & 3.) I disagree with Kev about Saad – he came across as a whining ethnic cliche. I’m half-Afghan & I thought his comment about him being a winner because of his background was laughable. He’s an artist not a member of the police or armed forces. Has Raquib Shaw’s ethnicity & sexuality held his work back – no, he sells work for millions.
Saad’s piece at the stately home was cringeworthy – as Bengali friend of mine observed would a white W/C northerner have got away with putting 2,000 Fray Bentos pies on a tablecloth? I doubt it. But Saad’s claim to be interested in identity also appeared very superficial. Did he look into the history of that family or how it acquired its wealth? No. & for all we know it could have been enriched through colonialism. I’m amazed this never crossed his mind when he decided to offer his “gift”.
Suki appeared to sink like a stone. & I suspect she very much regrets taking part. However, her birds video – seen in the first week – was identical to one I saw at this last year’s Royal Academy Schools show. I would like to know whether it was just co-incidence that two MA students came up with such similar work.
was it just coincidence that two separate “artists” “came up” with essentially the same video that has been on youtube since Feb 2007… (see my comment above re Suki)??
have to agree with David’s comments. the whole show was patronising in the extreme and the only person to come out of it with any little credit was Matt.
It seems to me that the show succeeded, judging by the comments on this page. Is it art? Is it good/bad/indifferent? And so on…..better to leave a blank page, which would say far more than any comments…..
There is a very very strange coincindence here. In an obscure Hackney gallery there is already a very similar work involving railings mangled in a road accident. Go to http://www.nervosi.com to see what I mean.
Phil, thanks so much for posting these. I missed the last episode and thoroughly enjoyed your snappy synopsis!
millie@jotta.com
I saw all of the programmes and I have to agree that a girlie batting her eyelids alone would not get council workers to say, “OK darling, just take this piece of damaged fence and we won’t breathe a word. It’s a cash job by the way!”
It was luck that made it work fir her, but overall I was surprised about how much I related to the artists and their works when I find Saatchi’s big names Emin and Hirst uninteresting. Maybe the new generation has something to say that I find exciting whereas the others are just “shock value” to me, if it emperor’s new clothes, that is for history to decide .
However, I found it galling Ms. Emin expected the aspiring competitors to explain why their works were art when she famously announced “Because I say it is” wasn’t good enough. The visual arts are in flux (or a mess depending on your viewpoint).
The best work of the whole series? That’s a tough one. Sam Zealey’s Pillar of Potential and Tread Wheel appeal to me, so did Saad Qureshi’s “missing” hut in Hastings. Matt Clark ’s caravan stood out for me as the best in the “final. (I just realised this could look like a sexist bias – I just really preferred what these guys did). Ask me when (if) I have the money to buy or commission!
At the end of the day it is all a matter of taste. These artists showed potential to me, even if I didn’t relate to them or their work.
My big gripe as a musician was the music used for the programme (I wrote to the production company about it but haven’t had a reply at the time of writing). We are looking at modern art being made by living artists and what music do we get for the big moment? Handel’s Zadok the Priest!!! Not even remotely 20th century.
Sorry, if you want to make a really honest programme about modern art for TV, use modern music, not old stuff. But there again, most programme makers are, in my opinion, aurally illiterate. Music is taken for granted, but that is an entirely different subject!
I dont suppose being posh, young and pretty had anything to do with winning, now did it? Saying that that Saad was so rude to Suki regarding sharing the space I know excatly where I would have shoved his jipatis. This programme shows just how detatched from reality the art world is: anyone can blow their nose on a hankerchief, stick it on canvass and call it art.
First of all… I really think Eugenie was a Bullshitter… And from my point of view she was somehow protected (Tracey Emin was all over her in the begining), and finally rewarded… I only see her as a fraud, her works of hanging something was repeating over an over through the series, and to be honest I don´t consider “hanging things” an artist signature (Besides she seems to lack deepness in her view probably because she is so young, and thus making her works almost like a childish joke), and is ironic that the work that made her win the show was something that she didn´t hang… For me Matt deserved to win, but for me, seems that Charles Saatchi likes to go against any logical decision, remember that in the second part, the abandoned zoo (Curiously a work of Matt and Eugenie) was the least liked by the public who visited the works of art in Hastrings but it was Saatchi´s favorite (Go figures!)… So I´m guessing that he likes to go to the most unlikely winner (At least for me)… Now this show was dissapointing and failed to make me admire the world of modern art.