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Saatchi launches pop art idol
By Katharine Barney, Evening Standard 02.03.07
Web works: 2,000 entries have been posted on the website for Charles Saatchi's Showdown competition
A Pop Idol-style competition has been launched to find a new exhibitor at Charles Saatchi's latest gallery.
Anybody can submit images of their work to Saatchi's website, where they will be judged by their peers in an giant online talent contest.
The winner of the Showdown competition will receive £1,000 and hanging space at the west London gallery when it opens in October. A runner-up will receive £750.
The website has received more than 35 million hits since going live on Monday. Submissions so far include the crushed remains of a New York taxi, a photobooth that dispenses random photographs of Hungarians, and an oil painting of TV art critic Sister Wendy.
There are already about 2,000 entrants and over the next six months the contenders will be whittled down to 12 in a series of fortnightly votes.
Saatchi first revolutionised the contemporary arts scene with his travelling exhibition Sensation.
Since then the former advertising executive's patronage has propelled the like of Damian Hirst, Tracey Emin and Sarah Lucas to fame.
He now searches corners of London as well as the internet for the next big talent. Showdown is an extension of Your Gallery, an online arts exchange that is already part of the Saatchi Gallery website.
Saatchi, whose previous gallery on the South Bank closed in 2005, said: " Showdown is a great way for artists to have their work shown to a wider audience.
"It's very hard for most artists to get their work widely seen and this competition gives thousands of artists the chance to have their work seen by a global audience."
A Saatchi Gallery spokesman said: "The winning artist's work will have been selected by a big international audience, and will have every chance of becoming a global name overnight."
Saatchi was inspired by the controversial Hot Or Not website, which invites men and women to enter pictures of themselves and asks others to rate their attractiveness.
www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/showdown
Reader views (3)
I think it is much more advantageous for me as a young artist to utilize tools like the web to promote my art. I mean when I look at certain art websites ( something like putiton.com ) I really believe I can make more money and promote myself better without tarnishing my image through things like this than through reality TV.
It is sad that the older generation like Saatchi do not yet realize that the vibrant artistic communities are thriving organically! Maybe they could pump some money into that instead!
It is also true that the quality of art has suffered through these moguls wanting to make money.
Vincent Van Gogh would never have gone on a show like this, or would have been ridiculed on TV, because everyone thought he was nuts. But NOW everyone acknowledges his work and even try to paint like him!
Funny that both Judges are BOTH standard goldsmiths post- modernist stock, and are BOTH Saatchi proteges...
This just reminds me why we need an artistic revolution. Personally I think it is already happening... Let them have the show. They will only look like ridiculous stereotypes of themselves anyway!
- Thomas Crowning, la usa
I would like to inform you that the Saatchi Showdown show is in fact the second Pop Idol style show for the art world. Seeking Picasso actually launched on the 14th February and was actually the world's first on-line reality show for artists to compete in. It profiles ten new artists over 12 weeks with 75 artworks being produced. Each week an artist is knocked out based on 3 criteria; a public on-line poll; points from a judging panel during the live Wednesday night show; the revenue earned through selling the work on an on-line auction site. The winner is chosen on the 2nd May and 25 percent of all revenue accrued through the selling of the 75 works will put put into a winner takes all prize fund and we are hoping to award a 5000 pounds cash prize to the winner. Although is spending hundreds of thousands on it we are on a budget of under a thousand pounds which we are well under at the moment. We aim to show that using free existing web technologies like YouTube, Ebay, Wikepedia it is possible to produce a quality show on a shoe string. We are up against Saatchi and his millions but I really believe we can win this David and Goliath battle of on-line reality shows for artists. We are getting increasing coverage (BBC News 24 are going to do a small feature on us) and hopefully we will be on BBC Breakfast show soon too. All the best to Mr Saatchi but let's wait and see who wll come out on top!
- David Campbell, Brighton UK
Great competition, I'll be there!
- Germano Serafini, Rome, Italy
