Art rises
from ashes
Geller:
creates memorial from Saatchi warehouse
remains
SONNING psychic Uri
Geller has created a new work of art using the remains of a
controversial modern art collection destroyed by
fire.
Mr Geller commissioned the piece, called Burn
Baby Burn, after hearing about the fire at the Momart storage
warehouse in Leyton, East London.
More than 100 artworks
from Charles Saatchi’s famous collection were destroyed,
including pieces by Brit-artists Tracey Emin and Damien
Hirst.
Mr Geller commissioned 23-year-old artist Stuart
Semple to create the work, which is being stored at his
Sonning home.
It is made up of Perspex boxes containing
the charred remains from the blaze – including a scrap of
material from Tracey Emin’s famous tent in which she stitched
the names of all the people she had ever slept with.
Mr
Geller hopes to eventually donate the work to London’s Tate
gallery.
He said: “When the fire was raging we were all
in shock in the art world.
“I have been a collector for
30 years and thank God I didn’t have anything stored
there.
“The idea came out of a throwaway joke. Someone
said we should take the ashes from the place and I thought it
was interesting.”
Mr Geller said he drove to the
warehouse with a shovel and a bag and asked the security guard
if he could take some of the remains.
He then
telephoned Mr Semple and asked him to come to his house to
create something from the pieces he had salvaged.
Mr
Geller said he met Mr Semple through his involvement in the
young art world.
He said: “Being a painter myself,
lots of young artists come to me for help.
“I knew
Salvador Dali and I knew Andy Warhol.
“I met Stuart and I
thought he was amazing.”
Mr Semple said he was heavily
influenced by 1997’s Sensation exhibition which contained many
of the works that were later destroyed.
He said: “When
I heard Uri was going to Momart I thought I would love to make
something out of those pieces as a memorial so people can
remember how fantastic they were.”
Describing the work,
Mr Geller said: “The idea is the solid factor here, to create
some kind of memory capsule that we can focus on to remember
the tragedy and the impact these art works
had.”
Speaking about the reaction of some critics, who
have described the new artwork as a miserable attempt to cash
in on a disaster, Mr Geller said: “How can a critic criticise
if they haven’t seen the work?
“We haven’t heard from
the Tate yet. We hope it will go into a museum not a private
collection because it is important that the public can view
it. |
