«IT'S CALLED GOSSIP AND OF COURSE IT'S AN OBSESSION OF MINE»

LONDON— The Magazine, a single-story brick munitions store that was built in Hyde Park to help defend London against a potential invasion from Napoleon, currently houses a kennel for stray dogs, but soon enough it may accommodate a different kind of dog — that relentless cad and bounder of the art world, Damien Hirst. The artist, along with architect Mike Rundell, has put in a bid to the Royal Parks to convert the Hyde Park structure into an art space, a noncommercial gallery of sorts in which he hopes to display his personal collection (including works by Tracey Emin, Frances Bacon, Andy Warhol, and Jeff Koons).Also on the shortlist to take over the building is Julia Peyton-Jones of the neighboring Serpentine Gallery, whom Rundell seems to think may have a better chance of securing the space. “The people who are making the decision seem unaware of the value of our bid, in terms of its heritage,” Rundell said. “Just imagine if Picasso had been given the chance to show off the works that had influenced him.”

-ARTINFO
June 16 2010