Sunday, 24 June 2007
In the week when Damien Hirst became the world's most expensive living artist and Tracey Emin returned triumphant from representing Britain at the Venice Biennale, Charles Saatchi, the man who discovered them, was poring over the work of hundreds of art students, hoping his patronage can bring another generation to prominence.
This time, with the help of Channel 4 and some of the biggest names in British contemporary art, he has launched an "art-idol" competition to find the new Young British Artists.
Hundreds of final-year art students have submitted entries to the 4 New Sensation competition, named after the Sensation exhibition of 1997. This week they were whittled down to a shortlist of 20, made available exclusively to The Independent on Sunday.
From those a final four will be chosen by a panel of the country's leading names in contemporary art - sculptor Antony Gormley, artist Sadie Coles, Tim Marlow, who runs the White Cube Gallery in Hoxton, Anita Zabludowicz, who is one of the UK's biggest collectors of contemporary art, and Kevin Lygo, Channel 4's director of television.
The shortlist includes a wide range of media from sculpture and photography to painting and video.
Ms Coles said she would be looking for artists to "develop a language that is theirs alone". "I will be looking for something that surprises me, that indicates potential for development and makes me think," she added. "Homage to other artists is OK. Pastiche or plagiarism is not. There is so much more good contemporary and old art to see in London that it should have a positive effect."
Sarah Maple, 22, one of the shortlisted artists, from Brighton, said her work is inspired by her upbringing by a father with a Christian background and a Muslim mother. "Identity and self image are my big influences," she said. "The integration of Muslims in Western society - it's hard for them to combine their culture and religion with a Western upbringing."
The final four will each have a short film about them broadcast on Channel 4. All 20 will also have their work exhibited at the Saatchi Gallery in October.
Charles Saatchi added: "Many of the students are just great, and I think the public will enjoy this strong new generation of artists."
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