Welcome to the fifth birthday edition of the Artlyst Alternative Power 100. This is a list of merit awarded, by our panel, to art industry insiders who have made a major contribution to the discipline of Contemporary Art, in the previous twelve months. I would like to thank Paul Black, Sara Faith, Olivia McEwan, Alice Pelot, George Micallef- Eynaud for all of their valuable research and assistance.
Each autumn Artlyst releases its own alternative Art PowerLyst, this is the definitive answer to Art Review’s Power 100. Many believe that AR’s list is built on the sheer financial power of its art world players, and NOT on the power of greatest importance: that of creative influence.
As Artlyst champions industry excellence artists, curators and art professionals who have made a significant contribution to the area of the Visual Arts, we also champion the notion that with true creativity comes the ability to effect our cultural environment for the better of our artistic society and that of broader culture in general. It’s this influence that is celebrated in our alternative power 100, not the sheer financial muscle and domination of monied art-stars, bored millionaire gallerists, or other insider influences, present in the world’s most unregulated market.
So we say NO to the usual Machiavellian Power List that frankly still has more in common with the Times ‘Rich List’ than it does with a list that should reflect the currents and critical thought that effect the evolution of Contemporary Art.
Paul Carter Robinson/Paul Black – Artlyst Editors
Artlyst Top 20
1. Ai Weiwei
2. Nicholas Serota
3. Alex Farquharson
4. Anita and Poju Zabludowicz
5. Tim Marlow
6. James Lingwood/Michael Morris
7. Sarah Lucas
8. El Anatsui
9. Maria Balshaw
10. Sean Scully
11. Luc Tuymans
12. Hans Haacke
13. Gabriele Finald
14. Chris Dercon
15. Zavier Ellis
16. Vanya Balogh
17. Jenni Lomax
18. Milovan Farronato
19. Victoria Pomery
20. Cornelia Parker
The List In Alphabetical Order
1.Marina Abramovic – Serbian New York-based artist, and the self-professed ‘grandmother of performance art’, who began her ground-breaking career in the early 1970s.
2. Philly Adams – Chief Curator and Director at Saatchi gallery
3. El Anatsui (Artist) Ghana born artist awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement. at Venice Biennale
4. Michael Archer: Programme Director of BA Fine Art at Goldsmiths, University of London, art critic and freelance writer,
contributing regularly to the Guardian Culture section on contemporary art from 1960 onwards.
5. Ziba Ardalan: founder and Director/Curator of Parasol Unit Foundation for Contemporary Art, a privately-funded educational charity and a not-for-profit art gallery.
6. Karen Ashton – Founder and Curator of the Art Car Boot Fair
7. Assemble – a collective of 18 who work across the fields of art, design and architecture, 2015 Turner Prize nominees
8. Frank Auerbach – heavy impasto figurative artist, subject of current retrospective at Tate Britain
9. Vanya Balogh – artist/ independent curator, known for his art exhibitions in unusual spaces including underground car parks
10. Maria Balshaw CBE – Director of Whitworth Gallery which recently won Museum of the Year,
11. Banksy – graffiti artist who continues to challenge important political issues, creator of Dismaland
12. Sir Peter Bazalgette – Chair of Arts Council England
13. Kurt Beers – Director of Beers Contemporary, London who focuses on encouraging new talent, author of Thames and Hudson’s 100 Painters of Tomorrow
14. Tiffany Bell – Curator of Agnes Martin exhibition, Tate Modern
15. Peter Blake – English Pop artist, now in his 80s who continues to be a major force in the art world
16. Iwona Blazwick – Director of Art at the Whitechapel Gallery, former Head of Exhibitions and Displays at Tate Modern, and Chair of Cultural Strategy Group, London.
17. Erica Bolton/Jane Quinn: PR gurus and organisational magicians at Bolton & Quinn Ltd.
18. Pablo Bronstein – Argentinian artist known for his faux historic architectural drawings, subject of recent show at Nottingham Contemporary and designer of cover of new Tfl pocket Tube map.
19. Bonnie Camplin – artist whose work spans the disciplines of drawing, film, performance, music and writing, 2015 Turner Prize nominee
20. Frank Cohen- Co-Founder Dairy Art Centre, London
21. Michael Craig-Martin – Emeritus Professor of Fine Art at Goldsmiths London, previously a tutor at Goldsmiths where he fostered the talent of many of the YBAs. co-curated this year’s RA Summer Exhibition
22. Catherine Croft – Director of 20th Century Society, responsible for saving the Eduardo Paolozzi murals at Tottenham Court Road tube station
23. Nicholas Cullinan – new Director of National Portrait gallery
24. Penelope Curtis – Outgoing Director of Tate Britain with a scholarly background in British art, especially 20th-century sculpture
25. Jeremy Deller – English conceptual, video and installation artist. Winner of the Turner Prize in 2004, represented Britain at 2013 Venice Biennale whose work consistently champions the rights and interests of the people
26. Chris Dercon – outgoing Director of Tate Modern since 2011 with an enthusiasm for ‘mixing it up’ and promoting current exhibition programme of women artists
27. Philip Dodd – arts broadcaster, writer and curator
28. Peter Doig – narrative painter, Turner prize nominee and darling of the art market, subject of exhibition at Palazetto Tito during this year’s Venice Biennale
29. Emily Druiff: Director of Peckham Platform – a new, independent UK charity that champions social artworks.
30.Marlene Dumas – Artist subject of recent Tate Modern exhibition
31. Olafur Eliasson – Danish-Icelandic artist known for sculptures and large-scale installation art employing elemental materials such as light, water, and air temperature
32. Zavier Ellis – Director of Charlie Smith Gallery, Curator of The Future Can Wait, organiser of Anthology Prize and Young Gods
33. Brenda Emmanus – BBC London’s Art, Culture and Entertainment correspondent
34. Ekow Eshun – writer, broadcaster and cultural commentator and chair of the Fourth Plinth commissioning group
35. Gary Everett – Artistic Director of Homotopia
36. Graham Fagen – artist encompassing video, performance, sculpture, sound and text, represented Scotland at Venice Biennale 2015
37. Milovan Farronato – Curator, recently curated Peter Doig at the Venice Biennale and projects for the Fiorucci foundation
38. Alex Farquharson recently announced to be the next Director Tate Britain, currently Director Nottingham Contemporary
39. Gabriele Finald – new Director of the National Gallery, London who facilitated a settlement with the gallery’s long running industrial dispute
40. Nicoletta Fiorucci – patron and founder of the Fiorucci Art Trust founded with the aim of provoking the most unique and forward thinking of artistic activities using unusual and extraordinary settings.
41. Ryan Gander – London-based artist, creator of the Locked Room Scenario in Shoreditch, awarded the 2010 Zurich Art prize, accompanied by an exhibition at the Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich, and winner of the 2003 Prix de Rome.
42. Kelly Grovier – American poet, literary critic, art historian and curator co-founder of European Romantic Review, author of 100 Works of Art That Will Define our Age
43. David Gryn – Director Artprojx, curates moving image projects for Art Basel, Miami
44. Hans Haacke – conceptual artist whose bronze sculpture gift horse is the current commission for the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square
45. Maggi Hambling – painter and stalwart of the British Art Scene who created the innovative Wall of Water series for the National Gallery
46. Justin Hammond – Curator of the The Catlin Art Prize for recent graduates of British art colleges
47. Joan Jonas – American artist known for her video work, US representative Venice Biennale 2015
48. Sir Anish Kapoor – Turner prize winning sculptor, creator of the ArcelorMittal Orbit at Olympic Park and the controversial installation at the Palace of Versailes
49. Alex Katz – American painter known for his oversized portraits
50. Janice Kerbel – borrows from conventional modes of narrative in order to create elaborate imagined forms, 2015 Turner Prize nominee
51. Omar Kholeif – curator, writer and editor
52. Anselm Kiefer – Painter, sculptor subject of Royal Academy’s 2014 Autumn exhibition
53. Yayoi Kusama– Japanese artist whose work borders on outside art and is one of the most successful women artists
54.James Lingwood and Michael Morris – Co-Directors of Artangel since 1991, responsible for building Artangel into a significant international commissioning and producing organisation.
55. Andrew Logan – Under acknowledged British artist, founder of the alternative Miss World competition in the 1970s
56. Jenni Lomax – Director of the Camden Arts Centre
57. Sarah Lucas – part of the Young British Artist movement that emerged in the 1990s. The subject of major retrospective at the Whitechapel Gallery 2014 and British representative at 2015 Venice Biennale
58. Edward Lucie-Smith – Art critic
59. Sean Lynch – represented Ireland at Venice Biennale 2015
60. Tim Marlow – critic, broadcaster and Head of Exhibitions at Royal Academy
61. Paul McCarthy – controversial American artist, creator of the inflatable ‘Tree’ at Palace Vendome in Paris, said to resemble a butt plug.
62. Steve McQueen – CBE and Turner Prize winning video artist turned Oscar winning Filmmaker
63.Sarah Monk: London Art Fair Directors. Sarah has been Fair Director since 2013 and has worked alongside Jonathan as Fair Manager for the last 13 years.
64.Ben Moore – Founder of Art Below, a London based public art enterprise, founded in 2006 using billboard space in underground stations to display artworks in London and overseas.
65. Gregor Muir – Executive Director of the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London
66. Sarah Munro: Departing Director of Tramway Gallery, New Director of the Baltic
67. Peter Murray CBE Founder and Executive Director of Yorkshire Sculpture Park
68. Elizabeth Neilson – Director of the Zabludowicz Collection
69. Hans Ulrich Obrist & Julia Peyton-Jones – the Serpentine Gallery’s Co-directors of Exhibitions and Programmes. Julia will leave the Serpentine Summer 2016 after 25 years.
70. Chris Ofilli – Turner prize winning painter, included at the Arsenale at the 2015 Venice Biennale
71. Cornelia Parker OBE, RA, sculptor who created Magna Carta (an embroidery) for the British Library
72. Grayson Perry – artist known for his work in ceramics, and awarded the Turner Prize in 2003, self-curated show The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman at the British Museum 2011, received BAFTA in 2013 for his series All in the best possible Taste and 2014 Reith Lectures for Radio 4 and creator of A House for Essex 2015
73. Michael Petry – multi-media artist, writer and curator. Director of MOCA London, co-founder of the Museum of Installation,
74.Victoria Pomery – Director of Turner Contemporary since 2002,
75. Marc Quinn – YBA artist known for Blood Head and Alison Lapper Pregnant for the Fourth Plinth, subject of recent White Cube exhibition
76. David Roberts – Prolific art collector in the UK, in 2008 started the ‘David Roberts Art Foundation’ to help emerging artists and young curators.
77. Gerhard Richter – German visual artist who specializes in abstract photorealism.
78. Sean Scully RA – one of the finest abstract painters of his generation, twice nominated for Turner prize, internationally exhibited in China, the US, Spain, Germany and the UK
79. Helen Sear – represented Wales at the 2015 Venice Biennale
80. Nicholas Serota – Director of the Tate (1988-present) and the driving force behind the
opening of the Tate Modern. Has participated on the board of The
Architecture Foundation and chaired the Turner Prize jury.
81. Conrad Shawcross – kinetic sculptor and youngest Royal Academician
82. Yinka Shonibare – British-Nigerian artist known for his ‘post-colonial’ hybrid works often relating to the history of slavery
83. Bob and Roberta Smith – contemporary British artist operating under pseudonym, famous for painting slogan-bearing signage in support of various activist campaigns and standing against Michael Gove in the last General Election
84. Donald Smith – CHELSEA Space Director, with the ambition to create ‘a research development centre for invited art and design professionals, providing a gallery space, library research facilities, and a platform to develop personal projects that may otherwise remain unrealised’.
85. Chris Stephens – Head of Displays and Lead Curator, Modern British Art at Tate
86. Alexander Sturgis – Director of the Ashmolean Museum of Art
87. Adam Szymczyk – Documenta 14 Artistic Director
88. Sally Tallant – Director of Liverpool Biennial
89. Paul Thompson – Rector of the Royal College of Art, served as Director of the Smithsonian’s National Design Museum in New York until 2009, trustee of the Victoria and Albert Museum, and a Member of the Wellcome Collection Advisory Committee at the Wellcome Trust.
90. Gavin Turk – Artist who continues to be identified with YBA label but also associated with emerging talent
91. James Turrell – American artist known for his explorations of light and space, recent exhibitions includes the illumination of facade of Houghton Hall, Norfolk
92. Luc Tuymans – Antwerp born painter whose unsuccessful trial for plagiarism in 2015 questioned the use of image appropriation in art
93. Mark Wallinger – sculptor and installation artist, double Turner Prize nominee, won the Prize in 2007 for the work State Britain. . Created Labyrinth for 150th anniversary of the London Underground in 2013.
94.Kara Walker – contemporary African-American artist who explores race, gender, sexuality, violence and identity in her work
95. John Waters – American film director and narrative photographer
96. Ai WeiWei – Chinese political artist championing human rights currently exhibiting at Royal Academy
97. Nicole Wermers – creates sculptures, collages and installations which explores appropriation within consumer culture, 2015 Turner Prize nominee
98. Godfrey Worsdale recently became Director Henry Moore Foundation having previously been at the BALTIC
99. Rose Wylie RA– painter, winner of the 2014 John Moores Painting Prize RA this year and awarded the Charles Wollaston prize at this year’s Summer Exhibition.
100. Anita and Poju Zabludowicz – founded the Zabludowicz Collection in 2007, a space for exhibitions, commissions and residencies, as well as establishing the Zabludowicz Collection ‘Curatorial Open’ and ‘Testing Ground’ programmes to promote contemporary art education.
See Art Review’s Power 100 Here