When you see something special, something inspired, you realise the debt we owe great curators and their unforgettable shows - literally unforgettable because you remember every picture, every wall and every juxtaposition. Charles Saatchi More Quotes by Charles Saatchi More Quotes From Charles Saatchi Being a good artist is the toughest job you could pick, and you have to be a little nuts to take it on. Charles Saatchi artist nuts jobs My aim in life isn't so much the pursuit of happiness as the happiness of pursuit. Charles Saatchi pursuit aim happiness Art collectors are pretty insignificant in the scheme of things. What matters and survives is the art. Charles Saatchi insignificant-things what-matters art By and large, talent is in such short supply that mediocrity can be taken for brilliance rather more than genius can go undiscovered. Charles Saatchi mediocrity genius taken If I stop being on good behaviour for a moment, my dark little secret is that I don't actually believe many people in the art world have much feeling for art and simply cannot tell a good artist from a weak one, until the artist has enjoyed the validation of others - a received pronunciation. Charles Saatchi dark believe art If you study a great work of art, you'll probably find the artist was a kind of genius. And geniuses are different to you and me. So let's have no talk of temperamental, self-absorbed and petulant babies. Being a good artist is the toughest job you could pick, and you have to be a little nuts to take it on. I love them all. Charles Saatchi baby jobs art I liked working in advertising, but don't believe my taste in art, such as it is, was entirely formed by TV commercials. And I don't feel especially conflicted enjoying a Mantegna one day, a Carl Andre the next day and a brash student work the next. Charles Saatchi next-day believe art The most abiding memory of visiting Lucian Freud's studio were his eyes, with the gimlet gaze of a Hooded Falcon. But he made for very relaxing company, quick to be amused at the world and his own peccadilloes. He enjoyed the seedy squalor of his rooms in a posh house in the most desirable part of Holland Park, and living up to his persona as an oddball bohemian. Charles Saatchi eye house memories There are no rules about investment. Sharks can be good. Artist's dung can be good. Oil on canvas can be good. Charles Saatchi sharks oil artist Nothing is as uplifting as standing before a great painting whether it was painted in 1505 or last Tuesday. Charles Saatchi greatness uplifting tuesday Be the Worst You Can Be: Life's Too Long for Patience and Virtue Charles Saatchi worst virtue long Its obvious nonsense, but it makes nice people feel good about themselves to do their bit for the planet. Its vanity of a grotesque kind to believe that mankind, and our carbon footprint, has more impact on the future of Earth than Nature, which bends our planet to its will, as it sees fit. Charles Saatchi vanity nice believe The fact that in the last 10 years only five of the 40 Turner Prize nominees have been painters tells you more about curators than about the state of painting today. Charles Saatchi lasts today years I may not be much good at most things, but if I didnt have the pleasure of planning and installing shows, and doing it better than anyone else, I would have stopped buying art many years ago. Charles Saatchi may years art I don't buy art in order to leave a mark or to be remembered; clutching at immortality is of zero interest to anyone sane. Charles Saatchi zero order art Being an art buyer these days is comprehensively and indisputably vulgar. It is the sport of the Eurotrashy, Hedge-fundy, Hamptonites; of trendy oligarchs and oiligarchs; and of art dealers with masturbatory levels of self-regard. Charles Saatchi self sports art Lots of ambitious work by young artists ends up in a dumpster after its warehouse debut. So an unknown artist's big glass vitrine holding a rotting cow's head covered by maggots and swarms of buzzing flies may be pretty unsellable. Until the artist becomes a star. Then he can sell anything he touches . Charles Saatchi stars artist ambition Artists need a lot of collectors, all kinds of collectors, buying their art. Charles Saatchi buying art needs I have never cared enough about money to worry about spending it, and have been fortunate to make enough to be spoiled rotten. Charles Saatchi rotten enough worry Who's to say what will one day appear to have been trendsetting? Sometimes artists who receive breathless acclaim initially, seem to conk out. Other artists who don't register so keenly at the time, prove to be trailblazers. Charles Saatchi one-day artist sometimes
