London's Moving Up in the Art World; Three Major New York Galleries Are Opening Up in the West End within Two Weeks of Each Other -- Ben Luke Reports on the New Art Boom

Byline: Ben Luke

LONDON is already blessed with some of the world's top commercial art galleries, from homegrown stalwarts like Jay Jopling's White Cube to global behemoth Gagosian. But the capital's art scene shifts up a gear in dramatic fashion this autumn.

In the space of two weeks from the end of this month, three major international dealers will open new galleries in Mayfair. The Pace Gallery, David Zwirner and Michael Werner are all among the New York elite (and Werner is also European art-world royalty), representing some of the world's leading artists, and regularly presenting museum-quality shows in their various galleries.

This burst of activity confirms London's position as contemporary art's European capital, an idea unthinkable even 20 years ago, as the YBAs began to prick up the establishment's ears, and Jopling and Damien Hirst started their ambitious art-world assault. Then, of course, London did not have a dedicated museum of modern art, and all three of the new arrivals see Tate Modern's presence as the cornerstone of London's success. Suddenly, every dealer in the world wanted their artists to grace this cathedral of contemporary art -- and art collectors flocked to the capital as never before. The Frieze Art Fair harnessed this new excitement, creating a moment every year when collectors, museum directors and curators simply had to be in …

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Publication information: Article title: London's Moving Up in the Art World; Three Major New York Galleries Are Opening Up in the West End within Two Weeks of Each Other -- Ben Luke Reports on the New Art Boom. Contributors: Not available. Newspaper title: The Evening Standard (London, England). Publication date: September 11, 2012. Page number: 38. © Not available. COPYRIGHT 2012 Gale Group.

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