The Art Newspaper

Kenny Goss and George Michael visit Frieze with Dallas in mind

By Gareth Harris | From Frieze daily edition, 16 Oct 08
Published online 16 Oct 08

George Michael and Kenny Goss at Frieze yesterday

At Frieze yesterday, Texan Kenny Goss and his partner, singer George Michael, revealed that they are planning to build a new 10,000 sq. ft gallery in Dallas for their collection of British contemporary art. “Our plan is to have one of the most interesting contemporary art spaces in the United States. If all goes as planned, we should be in our new home in the next three to four years,” said Mr Goss.

The couple opened a 6,000 sq. ft space in the Texan city last year, which hosts exhibitions of works drawn from the Goss-Michael Foundation’s collection. But the space is proving too small for their burgeoning collection of over 500 works. Dallas-based Buchanan Architecture has been commissioned to design a new building.

The couple have been buying art for 11 years and now own a collection of work by more than 40 British artists, with an estimated value of over $200m. These include Chris Ofili, Jake and Dinos Chapman, Angus Fairhurst, Gilbert & George, Bridget Riley, Gary Hume, Mark Titchner and Michael Craig-Martin, among others.

“Our collection is always expanding so the need for more space is important. We would love to have enough space to have permanent displays as well as short exhibits,” added Mr Goss, who is at Frieze with his art advisor Aphrodite Gonou. He bought three works by Jim Lambie and a piece by Simon Perrotin.

“Sarah Lucas, the next artist to be featured at the Foundation (25 October-31 January 2009), has just created one of her signature bunny pieces especially for George and me, Pepsi & Cocky,” said Mr Goss. Other recent acquisitions include two sculptures by Gary Webb and pieces by Richard Long and Rebecca Warren.

Mr Goss added that the amount they spend on art every year varies, based on “what catches our eye or touches our soul and what our bank account will allow!” Most of their acquisitions are made through galleries but the pair purchased The Immaculate Heart–Sacred, 2008, a mixed-media sculpture made of a bull’s heart and dove’s wings by Damien Hirst, for £313,250 from the Sotheby’s “Beautiful Inside My Head Forever” sale in London last month. The couple own one of the largest collections of work by Hirst, having also bought the artist’s Saint Sebastian, Exquisite Pain, 2007, a vitrine of a cow pierced with arrows, from White Cube in London last year.

This work, along with another Hirst piece, Incorruptible Crown, 2006, was recently loaned to the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver. Mr Goss and Mr Michael also plan to collaborate with the Dallas Museum of Art, the Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, and the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, as well as local collectors Cindy and Howard Rachofsky.

Future shows in the current Goss-Michael Foundation space will be devoted to the Dallas-based British artist Richard Patterson and the UK sculptor Marc Quinn.

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