Thank every god you can think of for the Paul Hamlyn Foundation.

Jeanette Winterson’s keynote speech: Awards for Artists 2015

Tonight we were honoured to welcome Jeanette Winterson OBE as keynote speaker for Awards for Artists 2015. Her words were truly inspiring.

Two things happened this week that bear upon this evening and these awards.
First, the Modigliani—Reclining Nude—sold at Christie’s New York for $170million. The second highest price ever paid for a painting. Picasso still holds the record for Women of Algiers. The Modigliani was bought by a Chinese collector.

I could talk about women, I could talk about nudes, money sex, power, and I could talk about China buying the West, but instead I’d like to talk about value—and bring you the second happening of the week—right here in London.

Southwark Council turned down the application from Rohan Silva of Second Home in Spitalfields (that’s the entrepreneur and creative hub on Hanbury St) and Hannah Barry, the founder of Bold Tendencies, to create 800 artists spaces in an old multi-storey carpark in Peckham where Bold Tendencies has been working for years doing events and pop-ups. Their scheme had the backing of Tate Modern and the Serpentine, and promised jobs as well as art. It was a good scheme but the Council preferred Pop Community Ltd – a Mayfair property developer, with a hip name hiding the usual aim – Make More Money.

They will allocate 50 studio spaces. The Council spokesperson said that they didn’t want a ‘closed artist commune’—whatever that is.

We live in a mad world my masters. On the one hand a Chinese tycoon pays over £100 million for an elongated nude painted by a man who died penniless in Paris at 35. On the other hand London is so expensive that artists have nowhere to work, and when a chance like Bold Home comes along, the Council that has the power to change things runs behind the net curtains and says it doesn’t want a commune—whatever that is

Thank every god you can think of for the Paul Hamlyn Foundation.

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