On 15 April, 2003 Charles Saatchi will open the new Saatchi Gallery in a spectacular renovated County Hall across the river from Westminster. The enterprise will be the focus for Saatchi's vision of radical, ground-breaking British art in a venue that is accessible to the widest public. 100 is the book that will mark the occasion with one hundred works that Saatchi believes made a difference to the perception of British art.
The work of twenty-seven artists has been chosen from Saatchi's collection and of course the selection includes the shark and the sheep in formaldehyde, the head made of blood and Tracey's bed. It will be a landmark publication for a landmark occasion. After the provocation of the famous Sensation show at the Royal Academy in 1997, a generation of young artists have become household names. What was once so provocative has now entered the visual vocabulary of a wider public. What was once so daring is now demonstrated to be more than ephemeral. Saatchi's vision is defined in 100.
Indian art has gone through a boom period in parallel with the extraordinary economic rise of the subcontinent from an agrarian state to a high tech axis of the new global economy. With new money came a new gallery system. With bigger spaces came bigger art and the sheer scale of ambition led to a break into the international market, which is always keen to find a new spectacular presence in the art world. The new art has also been created against a background of communal tension and violence. The exploration of identity, a common enterprise for artists internationally, is all the more challenging in the context of India under transformation. Above all Indian artists are faced with the legacy of their history and the ghosts of the Raj.
This book is the first comprehensive account of the art of one of the most remarkable artists working in Britain today. It traces his career from the highly original work that he completed as a student at Glasgow School of Art down to the sombre and powerful works that he has created over the last three years. The book explores Campbell's inspiration and shows how he has used the forms of figurative and narrative painting to comment on the human condition.