Brian Sewell 'He didn't start the fire' Charles Saatchi's momart

'He Didn't Start The Fire'

Saatchi art worth millions goes up in flames
By Nic Fleming and Will Bennett

	More than 100 works by some of Britain's leading contemporary artists, thought to be worth millions of pounds, have been destroyed in a fire at a specialist art storage warehouse in London. Many were owned by Charles Saatchi, the country's biggest collector of modern art.
Charles Saatchi Supercollecter

The Chapman brothers' tableau Hell Pieces by members of the Britart generation, including Tracey Emin, Jake and Dinos Chapman, Sarah Lucas, Gary Hulme and Martin Maloney have been lost and work by Damien Hirst may also have been destroyed. They include Emin's tent called Everyone I Ever Slept With, From 1963 To 1995 and the Chapman brothers' Hell, a tableau of thousands of miniature German soldiers, which they sold to Mr Saatchi for £500,000.
	Brian Sewell starting a fire BEFORE the Saatchi blaze!!!

The shell of the Momart warehouse where the art was stored
James Basset, a London Fire Brigade assistant divisional officer, said:
"We have not been able to do any fire investigation because we can't get in there yet"

Brian Sewell
BY ALL MEANS NECESSARY?

We still have an unknown number of gas cylinders of various types in there." Pockets of fire which still being damped down last night. The emergency services were alerted at 3.40am on Monday. Some 50 firefighters and 15 appliances attended the fire and about 500 people were evacuated from the area because of the danger that gas cylinders might explode.
	Saatchi's MOMART full blaze Brian Sewell calmly watches

		A spokesman for Mr Saatchi said: "It's absolutely tragic. Charles Saatchi is devastated and is hoping it is not as bad as first indications suggest. Key works have been lost but we are waiting for Momart to give us final confirmation." Carole Hastings, a Momart director, said she believed no works had survived. "We are completely devastated because there is work that belonged to a number of clients and we are trying to contact them. It is a dire situation
	Saatchi blaze Was it worth it?

It is difficult to know what to say. It would be totally inappropriate to discuss which clients have been affected. "We have a number of warehouses and between five and 10 per cent of the works in our care were in there - in excess of 100. There is a mixture of paintings, big pieces and sculptures. We are all very upset."

Saatchi's MOMART, post roast

Dinos Chapman said:

'I think storage places for art should not be put next to storage places for acetylene gas.

It seems like a very bad idea.'

Saatchi gallery

Stuckism: Saatchi

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'He Didn't Start The Fire'

Saatchi art worth millions goes up in flames By Nic Fleming and Will Bennett

Saatchi art worth millions goes up in flames
By Nic Fleming and Will Bennett