White Cube

I worked for Bonham's of Venice, which was then a, a independent, and then it became part of the Christie's group.

I worked there for six years, left there, and then my journey at galleries and auction houses were very simply, I worked for White Cube.

Mm.

Amazing time there.

I left White Cube because of the, you know, the classic offer that one could not refuse, which came from Phillips.

Uh, and I worked there as a deputy chairman.

I then left then because I'd had enough of auction.

Betty Parsons also understood that the physical environment surrounding an artwork could change its meaning.

She helped establish what we now recognise as the contemporary white cube.

Pale walls, strong overhead lighting, and very little to distract the eye.

This setting feels completely familiar today, but it was radical when Parsons opened her New York gallery in the 1940s.

An object displayed alone on a pristine wall under carefully positioned lighting immediately announced, this is art.

Pay attention.

For Parsons, the white cube created a powerful setting in which to introduce art many collectors did not yet understand.

But it also contributed to the sense of distance some people continue to feel when entering a contemporary gallery.

Before any of this, this fog of suspicion and second-guessing, there was us.

We met almost exactly five years ago in a gallery that was more warehouse than White Cube, mid-winter, heat clanking in the pipes and art students spilling red wine on the floor.

I'd come with a friend, desperate for a distraction after my first solo sure had earned polite shrugs.

Nothing more.