Gavin Cheung

Andy Warhol Space. The Final (Art) Frontier / Florida Jewelry, Painting & Sculpture Welcome to the Bazaar Collector Countersues Sotheby’s The Material World Kicking Off Fall Andy Goes to China

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My First Acquisition: The very first works I brought were Chris Ofili prints at his first exhibition in 1998 at the Serpentine Gallery. They were a mere £72, so I bought three of them—because I loved his exhibition and because I had a feeling that he would win the Turner prize two months later [which he did].

Not a bad first buy, especially bearing in mind I knew nothing about art—I was just a young lad from the village who had never really had any interaction with art and had not even taken it in secondary school (and I am a terrible draftsman)!

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My Collection Revs Up: With an inheritance I received when I turned 21, I could have brought a car like most young men that age would have—but I wanted something more. So upon a visit to a gallery on my 21st birthday, I bought an Andy Warhol print, Moon Walk, for a reasonable £6,000. Then two years later [in 2000], the Tate Modern opened with a blockbuster Warhol show, and his prices went through the roof.

Since then I have added originals by Grayson Perry, David Hockney, Richard Long, Terry Frost, Sandra Blow, Mary Fedden, Damien Hirst, Mimmo Paladino, Billy Childish, Gavin Turk, Chrissy Wilson, Roger Cecil and many more. I have also have prints by Takashi Murakami.

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Seeking Student Artists, the Next Big Thing & My Most Recent Purchase: My experiences with work I bought escalating in value inspired me to try and pick out talent before they were recognized; hence, the student shows were my next port of call.

Varda Caivano (who now shows with the Victoria Miro Gallery) was the first student I ever left my number with at a show. She called six months later, but her prices had gone from £600 pounds at her interim show to £3,000 pounds at her final degree show!

My most recent student purchase was of a gifted and very talented painter named Annie Kevans. I left my name and number with her at her student show (I really wanted a painting by her!), and low and behold, she contacted me. Although we did not meet at the first appointment, we did find each other the second time, and I purchased an image of Chairman Mao as a boy—innocence before being tainted by evil—at a cost of £800. What a bargain! About four months ago, Annie had her first solo show—a complete sellout. The works on paper were £1,000 each, and the only canvas of Britney Spears was £3,000.