ARTVIEWS

"The Tate gallery" is still embroiled in what has been termed by The Independent newspaper "one of the biggest rows in its 100-year history". The flak began to fly a month after the Tate made the triumphant announcement in July 2005 of a new major acquisition, The Upper Room, by former Turner Prize winner Chris Ofili. It is a purpose built room made from walnut by architect David Adjaye housing thirteen Ofili paintings, each of a different colour-themed rhesus macaque monkey and based on (but not intended to insult) the biblical Last Supper. The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, is rather more phlegmatic than the former Mayor of New York, Rudolph Giuliani, and didn't utter a squeak about the lump of elephant dung adorning each primate apostle.

Chris Oflis depiction of the Last supper at the Tate Gallery

 Chris Ofili says "This is a way of - quite literally - incorporating Africa into the work". 
 

The Upper Room was the trumpeted centre piece of a major rehang of Tate Britain, sponsored by BP (formerly "British Petroleum", now rebranded as "beyond petroleum"), whose products and services "contribute to a better quality of life" (except for those living in large areas of the Brazilian rain forest). The backing of a sponsor so keen to draw a PR veil over certain of its activities now seems ironically apt. There was one thing the Tate failed to mention in its successful media presentation and certainly none of the press reports picked up on it at the time. I only noticed it by chance on the Tate web site: Ofili was a Tate trustee.

 

Furthermore, when, a few months earlier in July 2004, the Tate had launched its Building the Tate initiative, stating that they did not have sufficient funds to buy contemporary acquisitions and appealing for artists to donate work, Ofili had enthusiastically backed this with an article in The Guardian newspaper. It is now apparent that at the same time a secret fund-raising drive was still taking place at the Tate to buy his work for £705,000 (negotiations had started after the work was first exhibited in 2002).

The Freedom of Information Act was implemented in the UK in January 2005. I applied under it for trustee minutes relating to the purchase, which I was sent, and the price of the work, which the Tate initially refused to divulge. The Tate's reliance on an entrenched tactic of autonomy and secrecy turned a PR difficulty into a PR disaster, as the story was dragged out over five months in the national press with a series of "damaging" (i.e. truthful and long-overdue) revelations, all pointing to the Tate's hitherto remarkable lack of public accountability.

This is because it is a QUANGO (quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisation), defined by the government as "a body which has a role in the processes of national government, but is not a government department or part of one, and which accordingly operates to a greater or lesser extent at arm's length from Ministers". Actually, QUANGOs received a lot of bad press for being a waste of time and public money, not helped by the silly sound of the acronym, so such institutions are now dignified with the term of NDPB (Non-departmental Public Body).

Politicians feel nervous about meddling in the arts, because as soon as they do, they are accused of being censors or out of touch. They much prefer to appear non-censorious and in touch by schmoozing with the right people in front of the cameras. Tony Blair in his early days was notorious for this gambit with "Cool Britannia", resulting in the unlikely presence of Noel Gallagher of Oasis at number 10 Downing Street, with the new Prime Minister showing how in-touch he was by joking with Gallagher about his (that is Gallagher's) famous cocaine habit.

 

The rhesus monkey is the subject of Chris Ofilis The Upper room.

PHd Howard Gardners book Frames of Mind, multiple theories of intelligence, He addresses the IQ in humans and the intelligence of rhesus monkeys. In one case he references a experimental of a rhesus monkey that was presented with a bowl of peanuts. The aperture for this bowl was wide enough for the monkey to reach in and grab a handful, but with the clenched fist, was unable to remove the hand. The monkey had two options. 1. Release the peanuts and remove the hand.  2 . Keep holding on to the peanuts and starve to death. The monkey starved to death. 

Nicholas Serota  ©Mary Barone Artnet

A letter from Ofili's dealer, Victoria Miro, was received at Serota's office on 5 April 2004 thanking him for the money. He has blamed this wrong application on "a failing in his head".

The Tate, then, along with similar national institutions, is at arm's length, where the risky business of the arts can do least potential damage to politicians. Responsibility is devolved to a trustee board of the worthy, who are responsible for the conduct of the institution. Trustees at the Tate serve four years, and then the Director, Sir Nicholas Serota, along with the trustee Chairman, helps to select a new trustee, who is finally appointed by the non-censorious Prime Minister (although the distinctly meddling Margaret Thatcher once blocked a trustee appointment on political grounds). The Director serves for seven years, and is then re-appointed (or not, as the case may be) by the trustees. Does this begin to sound a little incestuous? Wait--the Director then recommends that the trustees' work is accepted into the Tate collection. Three of the twelve trustees are normally artists. All artists trustees during the directorship of Serota have had work bought or accepted through donation.

If something is amiss at the institution, the trustees are responsible for addressing it, but there are external supervisory authorities also: two of them to be precise. The Tate is a charity, so it comes under the remit of the Charity Commission. It is also a NDPB so, somewhat contradictorily, it does ultimately come under a government department, in this case the DCMS (Department of Culture, Media and Sport), although the whole idea of the NDPB trustee set-up is that the government doesn't have to get its hands dirty or take the blame: that's what the trustees are there for.

 

The Charity Commission were quick off the mark and have been holding "discussions" with the Tate, although they stress this is not with a view to an enquiry. There is a good reason for this. The Tate is not just a charity, but, because of its dual affiliation, it is also an "exempt" charity, which means that the Charity Commission does not have its full range of normal powers, including, for example, the "power to institute inquiries", although it can "provide advice". Something of a muzzled watchdog then. It can "take legal proceedings with reference to a charity", although how it can be expected to do this without the power to institute an enquiry, or even the "power to call for documents" would be best answered by Alice in Wonderland.

Not to worry, the DCMS also has jurisdiction. In the early days of the "Ofili scandal" Serota wrote a pre-emptive letter to Dame Sue Street, the Permanent Secretary of the DCMS to tell her that the press might stir up some trouble about the purchase of The Upper Room, but that everything was in order as Ofili had left the room while the decision was made. You might have thought that Dame Sue might have had her curiosity aroused by such a letter, with the hint of guilt as its motivation. You might have thought that at the very least she would have enquired as to the ramifications of the trouble Sir Nicholas was concerned about. No such thing. She replied intrepidly that she had total confidence that everything was in order as Ofili had left the room.

 Stuckists demonstrate outside the Tate Gallery in London

David Lammy Minister for culture in London

 

However, things moved on apace, and more and more dubious aspects of the purchase created more and more press stories (I got up to 50 cuttings, then stopped counting). I sent my own report to the Charity Commission and to the DCMS. The Charity Commission informed me of their "discussions with the Tate", and were at pains to point out they were "not undertaking a formal evaluation with a view to opening an enquiry". So it's back to the DCMS again then. How will they be investigating the matter? Wait for it. Dame Sue is leaving no stone unturned. She responded, "I am keen to see the Charities Commission's conclusions and what lessons, if any, we can draw from that for the future."

Thomas Hoving, the former Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, didn't have much trouble seeing lessons in the purchase of a trustee's work and was fairly unequivocal in describing the conflict of interest as "staggeringly obvious". He added, "to think they thought there's not even a perception of a conflict ... For goodness' sake, it's so obvious." The official DCMS guidelines for trustees are equally unequivocal: "no-one should use, or give the appearance of using, their public position to further their private interests. This is an area of particular importance, as it is of considerable concern to the public and receives a lot of media attention." The trustee minutes show that Serota and the trustees were quite clear that they were flouting these guidelines, but were willing to take the risk.

There is a member of the government with particular responsibility in this area. He is David Lammy, the Minister for Culture in the DCMS, who, as it happens, was guest of honour at last year's Turner Prize. He has refrained from intervention in the Ofili dispute so far. His office wall displays an artwork--presumably a favourite--borrowed from the government's art collection. It is Afro Lunar Lovers by Chris Ofili.

Serota has proved himself somewhat cavalier about rules. In December 2004 he applied for a grant towards The Upper Room purchase from the Art Fund charity (also known as the NACF or National Art Collections Fund) and signed a form stating that there was no prior commitment to purchasing the work--a condition of grant application. In fact eight months earlier the Tate had paid an initial installment of £250,000 towards it. A letter from Ofili's dealer, Victoria Miro, was received at Serota's office on 5 April 2004 thanking him for the money. He has blamed this wrong application on "a failing in his head". What the hell does that mean? The obvious answer is "lying and thinking no one would ever find out", which at that time with Tate's bastion of secretiveness would have been the case. The Freedom of Information Act changed the rules and came as a rude shock (Chris Hastings of The Sunday Telegraph used it relentlessly to find out about the Art Fund and other information). Michael Daley of pressure group ArtWatch UK had also asked awkward questions about the grant.

Afro Luna by Chris Ofili hangs in David Lammys office

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Serota acted swiftly when he realised he had been caught out, and wrote to the Art Fund offering to refund the money. They magnanimously accepted the application had been a "genuine mistake" (!) and said the Tate could keep the money after all. The Chairman of the Art Fund is David Verey, who is also Chairman of the Blackstone Group "a leading global investment and advisory firm". Verey was appointed Art Fund Chairman in 2004, prior to which he was--wait for it--Chairman of the Tate trustees, in which capacity he had endorsed not only the Ofili purchase but also that Serota should seek external funding. However, the Art Fund stated their decision represented no conflict of interest, as Verey was not in the room while it was taken.

This game of musical chairs continues with other Art Fund trustees, including Professor Michael Craig-Martin, who was previously a Tate artist trustee in the same position as Ofili of having his work bought while he was on the Tate board. William Govett, another Art Fund trustee, was also a Tate trustee during Serota's directorship. The Hon. Felicity Waley-Cohen is an Art Fund trustee who has been a serving trustee of the Tate Gallery Foundation since 1987, and was Founder Chairman of Patrons of New Art; she is listed in the Tate Report (2002-4) as a member of the Tate International Council. Jon Snow, the news presenter for Channel 4 television, is a current Tate trustee and a member of the Art Fund's Committee of Honour.

 

 

Holders of public office in the UK are required to follow the Nolan principles. The first of these is selflessness. These principles have also been brushed aside as if they count for nothing. I wrote to Ofili and pointed out that he chose to accept public office and the duties attendant on it. I pointed out that if he was genuine about asking artists to donate work, then he should set an example by refunding the money for, and hence donating, The Upper Room, apparently his "most important" work. If the Tate is reliant on donations of work, then it is up to a trustee to set the example that the best work should be donated. I have not received a reply from him.

Stuckist artists demonstrated about the Ofili acquisition outside the Tate on the occasion of the Turner Prize last December. At one point Serota approached us (he is a very approachable person, to give him credit) and I made the point that Ofili should donate the work. Serota looked appalled and said it would cost Ofili "£300,000/£400,000". It was obvious that Serota has existed in the bubble of an elite and privileged art world for so long that he has values quite out of touch with the majority of artists, 40% of whom earn less than £5000 a year. Ofili's auction prices have doubled since the announcement of the Tate's purchase (from 1998-2004 they actually sank by 24%). His auction record is now £550,000 ($1,000,000) for a single painting, achieved at Phillips, de Pury & Co in New York on 12 May 2005.

© Kim Andreolli   Chris Oflili lives in Trindad