Jay Jopling and Sam Taylor-Wood Separate After 11 Years

By ARTINFO

Published: September 22, 2008

YBA couple Sam Taylor-Wood and Jay Jopling are to separate after 11 years of marriage.

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LONDON—Longtime YBA (Young British Artist) couple Jay Jopling and Sam Taylor-Wood are to separate after 11 years of marriage, reports the Times (London). Staples of the British contemporary art world, Taylor-Wood is a Turner Prize–nominated photographer and video artist, and Jopling is a dealer and owner of the White Cube Gallery.

Both are no strangers to publicity, with Taylor-Wood photographing some of the entertainment world's most famous men, from Paul Newman to David Beckham, and Jopling representing one of the most lucrative artists of all time, Damien Hirst, along with YBAs Tracey Emin and Jake and Dinos Chapman. Last week, Jopling was cut out of the dealing process when Hirst’s landmark auction, “Beautiful Inside My Head Forever,” brought in £111.5 million ($200.9 million) at Sotheby's.

White Cube Gallery spokeswoman Sara Macdonald cited the couple's separation as “amicable” and said that “no other parties are involved,” according to the Daily Telegraph. She added: “For the sake of their two daughters, who are their number one priority, they have asked that their privacy be respected.”