7 minute read
In the frame: Maddox Gallery's Jay Rutland
Maddox Gallery founder Jay Rutland tells us how he turned his passion for contemporary art into a multinational empire designed to champion emerging contemporary artists
Words: Freddy Clode
On Mayfair’s Maddox Street, behind the blooms of an eminently Instagrammable floral archway, is the flagship of Jay Rutland’s artistic empire. In just five years, the prestigious Maddox Gallery has grown from this single exhibition space to one of the UK’s leading champions of emerging contemporary art, with galleries in London – including Shepherd Market and Westbourne Grove – Los Angeles and Gstaad.
Rutland launched Maddox Gallery in December 2015, aiming to operate the business as a holistic luxury brand rather than a simple gallery space, creating not just a home for artists to showcase their works, but taking control of a more assertive representation process.
“I’m personally quite passionate about collecting art. Even very early on, I knew that I wanted to support emerging artists, and create a home for works but with a much more aggressive marketing strategy than most galleries,” Rutland says. “This approach has come to define us over the years, as we continually give a platform to artists who are evolving past the early genesis of their careers.”
This loyal and proactive approach has ensured that Maddox Gallery’s roster of artists includes some of the most intriguing – and highly valued – emerging contemporary artists working today, including photographer David Yarrow, the Connor Brothers, Coco Dávez, RETNA, Joseph Klibansky and Mr Brainwash.
“It’s been a pleasure working with these artists. What David Yarrow has achieved has been phenomenal – I don’t just mean international acclaim, but we’ve now seen six-figure results at auction. The Connor Brothers’ work has become synonymous with celebrity collectors and even gifted to Prince Harry; and we’ve hosted Coco Dávez’s first solo exhibition in the UK, which was an immediate sell-out and created phenomenal demand for commissioned work.”
One of the gallery’s next projects, not yet publicly announced, will specifically look to exhibit bodies of work by graduate artists – inspired by the success of Sebastian Chaumeton, whose first showcase was an in-studio event at Maddox Gallery Shepherd Market. “It’s our way of giving something back,” Rutland says. “By nurturing and supporting talent, we hope to represent the artists who will define a generation in their category of art. There’s opportunity there to uncover future stars.”»
Clockwide from left: Maddox Gallery Westbourne Grove; Banksy's Girl With Balloon; Connor Brothers' ...Christ, Now What? ; Harlon Miller's High on Hope (© Maddox Gallery)
MAKING HISTORY
Maddox Gallery Westbourne Grove
©Maddox Gallery
In addition to supporting emerging artists, Maddox Gallery is known for its eye for blue chip contemporaries, and exhibitions – including seasonal contemporaries – that tap into the zeitgeist.
“Within the cultural context of the art world, some themes, like International Women’s Day, are always on our calendar,” he explains. “But Maddox is also here to make connections between the wider world and what we hang on the walls of the gallery, in order to keep our programme relevant. For examples, Black Lives Matter is something that’s reflected in some of the latest pieces we’ve seen from our artists.”
Equally, Maddox Gallery is an active fundraiser for various charity initiatives, including Art for HEROES – which has raised more than £1.8m for NHS staff – Caudwell’s Children, and the London Air Ambulance. Rutland says: “Artists, like the arts in general, are extremely generous when it comes to charities”.
The gallerist is also skilled at showcasing the history of artistic genres through exhibiting artists such as Richard Hambleton, the godfather of street art.
“Hambleton deserves to establish his place in street art history. Banksy attributes his involvement in street art to Hambleton; that certainly strikes a chord for a lot of modern collectors, to say Hambleton was Banksy’s original inspiration.”
The Gstaad gallery’s latest exhibition – also available to global fans via virtual gallery until 29 August – is the world’s first retrospective of photographer Terry O’Neill, entitled Every Picture Tells a Story.
“Terry’s work is phenomenal. He’s probably my favourite photographer of all time and we’ve got a number of his works at home,” says Rutland, who lives between London and Gstaad with his wife Tamara, née Ecclestone, and their daughter. “My father-in-law [ former Formula 1 chief Bernie Ecclestone] knew him really well, and he photographed my wife and her sister [Petra] around 10 years ago.”
The move to virtual has been implemented by many galleries and museums around the world in 2020, a process accelerated by necessity due to the ongoing global health emergency caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. But, says Rutland, it has also been a future-proof resource for collectors and artists alike.
“Everything about how art fairs, galleries and museums do business is changing now, to adapt to a post-coronavirus world,” he says. Using advanced gaming technology, Maddox Gallery resolved to build hyper-realistic virtual gallery spaces in 4K resolution for its first two digital shows created for David Yarrow and, immediately after, the Connor Brothers.
“What’s great is that people think it’s the real gallery space, not something we’ve virtually created,” he says, adding each had more than 10,000 visitors. “We didn’t expect the exhibitions to be so successful; it took us by surprise. We very quickly realised that this new format, allowing people to experience art from the comfort of their home, will be an integral part of how we do business going forward. I don’t think it will ever replace a visit to Maddox Gallery, but will augment the customer experience.”
A PASSION ASSET
by The Connor Brothers
©Maddox Gallery
A successful entrepreneur who began his career as a City stockbroker, Rutland is, perhaps somewhat surprisingly, led by his heart when it comes to working with artists.
“Art is subjective, to say the least. I believe that, if approached too clinically, it can become soulless,” he says. “Choosing artists looking to join the Maddox family is a collaborative process – we ask everybody from sales to logistics for feedback.”
Rutland is an avid collector himself, inspired as a teen by his brother-in-law’s collection of Banksy pieces – indeed, his first purchase was by the same artist – and says that his tastes run exactly parallel to Maddox Gallery’s expertise.
“I have at least one piece in my personal collection by each of the artists we exhibit, from Basquiat to Yarrow, Andy Warhol to Keith Haring,” he says. “My collection ranges in size and value – certainly the pieces we have aren’t worth millions – and are a mix of original works and prints. One of my favourite pieces is a flexible Basquiat print, for which I paid something like $50,000 a couple of years ago. The original sold for $45m.”
Rutland believes that one of the keys to growing a collection is to understand – and be excited by – the story behind a piece of art or the artist themselves. It’s in this way that he inspires other collectors around the world.
“All three Maddox locations have got quite thriving art markets. Contemporary art has a fairly global appeal,” he says. “We were born in London, so that will always be our home, but then venturing to Gstaad in 2017 was an obvious choice, as it’s home to some of our most passionate collectors and art lovers in the world.” Among those is Rutland’s father-in-law (“he knows everybody,” he says).
“We opened Los Angeles in 2018, due to the overwhelming talent in the US – and LA’s own diverse artistic culture and fairs – and because a significant number of our clients are from North America.”
While Maddox Galleries are now balancing the “interesting period” of reopening postlockdown – and wondering when and in what form their famed events and opening parties can resume – Rutland is already turning his eye to the brand’s next move.
“I’ll be honest: in mid-March when we had to shut all the galleries, we were nervous. I wasn’t sure if we were going to see business fall off a cliff but, actually, it’s been a successful period,” he says. “We are now looking at opening another space in London, in collaboration with [bespoke kitchen and furniture brand] Smallbone, at Brompton Gate,” he says. “It’s 15,000sq ft of retail space over a couple of floors, and will be a really interesting lifestyle concept, with a Japanese restaurant, Samsung partnership, Smallbone and Maddox Gallery space. The whole idea is to redefine the way people consume luxury.
“The obvious attraction to us, aside from the collaboration, is that it’s a significantly larger space than anything we have at the moment, and will enable us to throw quite grand and lavish exhibitions and openings very safely,” he says. “We did have to pause and think, of course, whether this is the right time, but we’re going to brave and embrace it. After all, many of our artists have just spent a solid three months in the studio, so in many ways, lockdown has been a really productive period for them. How we support their talent is, ultimately, what defines us.”
