The David Roberts Art Foundation an independent, non-profit foundation and a registered charity founded in 2007 is about to open a new gallery in Camden in a disused furniture factory. The foundation seeks to develop a challenging, international and collaborative programme of exhibitions, productions and live events. The center will join other prominent exhibition spaces in the area such as the highly respected Zabludowicz Collection.
DRAF wishes to provoke, engage, experiment, and share. DRAF is responsible for a collection of more than 1800 works, representing more than 700 international artists. The collection is not focused on a specific medium, generation or geographical area, but is a diverse and independent organism: its focus is on contemporary works but also includes historical positions that are of key relevance to current discourses. We are proud to preserve the history of the collection and the very first works acquired when the collection began in the mid 90s. Many artists are collected in depth, which allows for a close understanding of their practice. Works are mainly acquired directly from galleries and artists.
Their mission is to create a structure of production and presentation capable of responding to the specific and heterogeneous needs of contemporary art, able to activate discussions and to create its own context. We refuse any hierarchy between projects. We invite the visitors to create intimate relationships with artworks, as well as to explore different formats of an exhibition.
The collection is not focused on a specific medium, generation or geographical area. It can be considered as a collection of collections: it naturally changed over the time, and we are very proud to maintain the history of the collection and the very first works acquired. To support artists means following their practice, in a long term relationship built on trust. Many artists are collected in depth, which allows for a close understanding of their practice. Works are mainly acquired directly from galleries and artists. We consider each work from the collection not solely as an object but as a system constituted by its specific histories, and the discourses or narratives it provokes.
The David Roberts Collection represents more than 600 artists, including (selection):
Caroline Achaintre, Horst Ademeit, Craigie Aitchinson, Doug Aitken, Danai Anesiadou, Ida Applebroog, Charles Avery, John Baldessari, Miroslaw Balka, Fiona Banner, Sara Barker, Phyllida Barlow, Yto Barrada, Nina Beier, Neil Beloufa, Walead Beshty, Huma Bhabha, Pierre Bismuth, Karla Black, Peter Blake, Katinka Bock, Louise Bourgeois, Carol Bove, Martin Boyce, Boyle Family, Candice Breitz, Cecily Brown, Peter Buggenhout, Daniel Buren, Gerald Byrne, Miriam Cahn, Varda Caivano, Anthony Caro, Maurizio Cattelan, Patrick Caulfield, Etienne Chambaud, Jake & Dinos Chapman, Marieta Chirulescu, Dan Colen, George Condo, Nigel Cooke, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Keith Coventry, Tony Cragg, Michael Craig-Martin, Martin Creed, Gregory Crewdson, John Currin, Aaron Curry, Keren Cytter, Dexter Dalwood, Enrico David, Berlinde De Bruyckere, Richard Deacon, Wim Delvoye, Thomas Demand, Jason Dodge, Peter Doig, Tara Donovan, Alex Dordoy, Michael Elmgreen & Ingar Dragset, Shannon Ebner, Gardar Eide Einarsson, Tracey Emin, Inka Essenhigh, Cerith Wyn Evans, Valie Export, Tessa Farmer, Hans-Peter Feldmann, Spencer Finch, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Lucian Freud, Simon Fujiwara, Barnaby Furnas, Cyprien Gaillard, Neil Gall, Ellen Gallagher, Dora GarcÌa, Kendell Geers, Gilbert and George, Adrian Ghenie, Luigi Ghirri, Jim Goldberg, Antony Gormley, Laurent Grasso, Rodney Graham, Harry Gruyaert, Subodh Gupta, Andreas Gursky, Marcus Harvey, Mona Hatoum, Eberhard Havekost, Raphaele Hefti, Jeppe Hein, Lothar Hempel, Damien Hirst, Alexander Hoda, Jenny Holzer, Jonathan Horowitz. Thomas Houseago, Peter Howson, Zhang Huan, Graham Hudson, Des Hughes, Marine Hugonnier, Gary Hume, Bethan Huws, Pierre Huyghe, Jorg Immendorff, Matthew Day Jackson, Richard Jackson, Chantal Joffe, Rashid Johnson, Jitish Kallat, Anish Kapoor, Anselm Kiefer, Martin Kippenberger, Leon Kossoff, Yayoi Kusama, Gerald Laing, Jim Lambie, Michael Landy, Elad Lassry, John Latham, Lars Laumann, Leigh Ledare, Sol Lewitt, Roy Lichtenstein, Liliane Lijn, George Henry Longly, Nate Lowman, Sarah Lucas, Nina Beier & Marie Lund, Markus Lupertz, Tala Madani, Lee Maelzer, Benoit Maire, David Maljkovic, Victor Man, Mark Manders, Christian Marclay, Kris Martin, Patrizio Di Massimo, Paul McCarthy, Bruce McLean, Susan Meiselas, Marilyn Minter, Joan Miro, Donald Moffett, Jonathan Monk, Henry Moore, Katy Moran, Helmut Newton, Roman Ondak, Julian Opie, Tony Oursler, Eduardo Paolozzi, Marlo Pascual, A.R. Penck, Grayson Perry, Seth Pick, Pablo Pijnappel, Falke Pisano, Reto Pulfer, Marc Quinn, Nathaniel Rackowe, Benedict Radcliffe, Rashid Rana, Man Ray, Paula Rego, Tobias Rehberger, Anselm Reyle, Manuela Ribadeneira, Gerhard Richter, Bridget Riley, Damien Roach, Pietro Roccasalva, James Rosenquist, Ed Ruscha, Doris Salcedo, Wilhelm Sasnal, Thomas Scheibitz, Markus Schinwald, David Schutter, Indre Serpytyte, George Shaw, Raqib Shaw, Conrad Shawcross, Cindy Sherman, Erin Shirreff, Yinka Shonibare, Jamie Shovlin, David Shrigley, Santiago Sierra, Lorna Simpson, Dirk Skreber, Andreas Slominski, Anj Smith, Bob & Roberta Smith, Kaspar Sonne, Simon Starling, John Stezaker, Catherine Sullivan, Eve Sussman, Adam Thompson, Mark Titchner, Ryan Gander and Mario Garcia Torres, Rosemarie Trockel, Oscar Tuazon, William Turnbull, Ian Tweedy, Keith Tyson, Lesley Vance, Joana Vasconcelos, Banks Violette/ Gardar Eide Einarsson, Ulla von Brandenburg, Andy Warhol, Rebecca Warren, Gary Webb, Ai Weiwei, Feng Zhengjie, Jakub Julian Ziolkowski, Thomas Zipp