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

VENICE. British musician and art collector Elton John found time for a spot of shopping yesterday in Venice as he toured a show organised by his friend, the Ukrainian billionaire Victor Pinchuk. John and his partner David Furnish visited the Palazzo Papadopoli on the Grand Canal for a private tour of work by artists shortlisted for the Future Generation Art Prize, a biennial $100,000 award given to a young, international artist by the Pinchuk Art Centre and the Victor Pinchuk Foundation in Kiev.
As the singer and his partner surveyed the contemporary art on display in the frescoed halls of the 16th-century palace, three monumental concrete slabs by the artist Ruben Ochoa from Los Angeles, which appear to have been ripped out of a highway and transposed to the palazzo, caught their attention.After a quick chat with Ochoa, John pointed to the sculpture in the middle of the room and proudly declared "sold". When asked what the pop star had talked about, the artist said: "He showed me a picture of his new baby."

-The Art Newspaper