“Charles Saatchi, by far the most influential figure on the contemporary British art scene, has been reported to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) for allegedly monopolising the art market.
Charles Thomson, a gallery owner who has made it his mission to burst the BritArt bubble, has now taken the extraordinary step of submitting a formal complaint to the OFT. He claims that Mr Saatchi’s pre-eminent commercial position as the key patron of dozens of young artists is monopolistic and anti-competitive.
Mr Thomson’s attack comes in the form of a five-page letter, delivered to the OFT late last week, in which he alleges that Mr Saatchi, the man who “made” conceptual artists such as Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin and Jake and Dinos Chapman, “abuses” his position “to the commercial detriment of smaller competitors”.”
It is stories like this that might someday drive me to Ayn Rand. Do I even need to add that the activity “buying art” is open to anyone with the dollars? Here is the full story.
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