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A sculpture is unveiled at the Regent’s Park exhibition on Wednesday |
Russian billions shaping the future for sculptors
Establishing themselves in London, Russian oligarchs are pouring money into art. Elena Borissova and Richard Adamson report
THE notorious largesse of Moscow gold has legendarily bankrolled spies, subversives and – most recently – soccer clubs.
But now a new breed of Russian oligarchs are pouring millions into an extraordinary renaissance of artistic patronage in Britain.
London’s burgeoning population of Russian nouveaux riches have spent millions establishing themselves in the heart of British society.
The latest example, a groundbreaking exhibition at Queen Mary’s Gardens in Regent’s Park.
It was jointly opened on Wednesday by Regent’s Art Foundation patrons Baroness Tessa Blackstone and Bill McAllister.
The highlight of the show was a singular exponent of contemporary sculpture that has been compared to the Old Masters.
And these new-wave wealthy art patrons put together a guest list that read like an extract from an oligarchs Who’s Who.
It included Irina and Roman Abramovich, and Mounissa Chodieva, 30, tipped to become Britain’s first female oligarch when the vast mining conglomerate she co-owns with her father gets a London Stock Exchange listing next year.
This year Chodieva, whose personal wealth is estimated at £100 million, made the Sunday Times Rich List – only the second Russian businesswoman to be included – after Irina Abramovich.
Among the western celebs expected at the Regent’s Park show were top Bond Street jeweller Mark Evans, New York collector and financier Lazar Kogan and Sir Paul McCartney.
One of the wealthiest guests was the 36-year–old Moscow-based billionaire Roman Trotsenko, with his wife Sophia.
Trotsenko graduated at America’s Yale University. He made his fortune as an entrepreneurial master of business turnaround technique with which he transformed under-performing industries previously controlled by the Soviets.
With an estimated 1.7 billion dollar fortune, Trotsenko heads up an investment holding company which includes an extensive property portfolio with more than one million square metres of commercial property.
Both Trotsenko and his wife Sophia have had a long love affair with Russian culture and began collecting its modern art five years ago.
“This part of Moscow has the potential to become our first contemporary art district, the equivalent of Manhattan’s Chelsea,’’ said Trotsenko, referring to New York’s vibrant neighbourhood of art galleries.
The aim of the exhibition is to spearhead the establishment of an annual Regent’s Park showcase of young creative sculptors from all around the world.
Regent’s Art Foundation, prime movers behind this project, is a group of wealthy Moscow and London-based young art aficionados.
The exhibition coincides with the 75th anniversary of the Queen Mary’s Garden, which will be marked by an official visit by the Queen on July 27.
The main backer is Moscow-based owner of the biggest collection of vintage Bentleys in the world, Eugeny Erofeev, who graduated from the Institute of London where he studied photography. He has amassed a collection of more then 300 examples of Russian art.
The show’s star attraction is 39-year-old Uzbek-born sculptor Unus Safardiar, who graduated from St Petersburg’s Russian Academy of Art with the prestigious Ilya Repins Prize in 1993.
Since then, Safardiar has been working and living in London. His career was kick-started when he was given a £200,000 contract by a Russian oligarch, who ordered four sculptures after seeing his work at the Thomson Gallery in Cork Street.
Such is the demand for his work that even the three items in for the Regent’s Park exhibition have already been sold.
A fourth exhibit scheduled to go on show was withdrawn after it had been sold for £500,000 and the buyer insisted on anonymity.
Creator of the Regent’ s Art Foundation project is the Tashkent-born Moscow gallery owner Inna Khegay, 39, who sees her mission as fostering the work of struggling young sculptors from around the globe.
“We want Regent’s Park to be the centre for creative, innovative monumental sculpture from all over the world, a centre of global excellence,” she said.
“Without the collaboration of the Royal Parks it wouldn’t be possible.”
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