Dodgems for the elderly as new Saatchi gallery unveiled
The piece 'Old Persons Home' in Saatchi's new gallery in London. The controversial art exhibit resembles leading statesmen playing 'dodgems' in wheelchairs
Tuesday October 07 2008
A giant faeces sculpture called Indigestion II, replicas of London buildings made from dog chews, and models of elderly men resembling leading statesmen playing 'dodgems' in wheelchairs were some of the artworks unveiled at the new Saatchi Gallery in London yesterday.
More than 20 years after the gallery first opened, its 70,000 sq ft headquarters building on King's Road in Chelsea are ready -- and boasts of being the only completely free-entry contemporary art museum of its size in the world, reaching the widest possible audience.
Yesterday owner Charles Saatchi unveiled its inaugural exhibition, 'The Revolution Continues: New Art from China'. Speaking about his initial hesitations about the collection, Saatchi said: "First I hated it. Then I liked it. Now that I've hung it, I'm mad about it."
Just as Damien Hirst's pickled sharks and works by Tracey Emin did in Saatchi's previous gallery, which he closed in 2005, the 24 Chinese artists on show have made bold and brash statements with their works.
