Tonight:
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Ivy venture features host of works by leading artists
Louise Jury, Chief Arts Correspondent23.09.08
It is the exclusive new club which is carefully shunning publicity for its well-connected patrons.
Owned by millionaire restaurateur Richard Caring, the clientele of the Club at the Ivy is invitation only, drawn from the artist/acting/media regulars of the other dining hotspots in his stable - The Ivy restaurant next door, Le Caprice, Scott's, and J Sheekey.
Bill Clinton, reputedly, has been offered membership. And on any particular evening since this month's opening the likes of Peter Blake, Kirsty Young and Hollywood star Josh Hartnett have been spotted on the elegant sofas.
For those not invited, the Standard can offer a glimpse of one aspect the management are not shy of promoting - the venue's art. It is a veritable gallery, with about 50 paintings, video works and sculptures, and more to come.
Russell Norman, operations director for Mr Caring's company Caprice Holdings, said: "We don't actually like publicity. But probably the most interesting public aspect of the club is the art."
Maggi Hambling has loaned a portrait of the late jazz star George Melly complete with hat, cigarette and drink, while in one of the private dining rooms a cream-coloured butterfly painting by Damien Hirst bedecks the walls.
On the shelves below the stained glass windows stand sculptures by Sixties pop artist Gerald Laing. Younger artists include Sebastian Horsley - supplying a "self-portrait" incorporating syringes and lipstick - and former Turner Prize nominees Sam Taylor-Wood and Jim Lambie.
Royal Academician Tom Phillips has designed the menu cover and Lana Locke an ashtray for the smoking terrace. There is also work by David Bailey, Ed Ruscha, George Condo, Andy Warhol and Peter Blake.
A few pieces are bought, others have been commissioned, and most are on loan in unspecified barters including club membership worth around £1,000 a year. Mr Norman visits galleries and studios to select the work and close the deals.
Gerald Laing, 72, said it was a "superb space" to show off art that he does not want to sell but would otherwise languish in his studio. "This is a wonderful place to put them, in a club that is dedicated to the arts," he said. "It's good for them to have the sculptures and it's good for me to have it there. They have a really interesting and eclectic selection."
Membership of the club was a welcome perk, he added - and potentially lucrative. Toby Ziegler, a 36-year-old Londoner, has already had queries about sales after his painting Study For The Grand Cause was given a prominent position.
