The Art Business

Khalil Akar (b.1992) is a Nigerian-Lebanese art director working at the Signature African Art gallery in London. Having been brought up in Lagos, he spent his formative years at his dad’s Signature art gallery studying and learning about art, both traditional and contemporary. He insisted on trying a new field at university to widen his horizon, and earned a Bachelors in Civil Engineering with Sus...

Kojo Marfo's work has become familiar to Londoners living and working in the West End over the last two years since appearing in the 'Isolation Mastered' open competition finalists' exhibition at JD Malat Gallery in Mayfair in the summer of 2020 following months of lockdown.  His magnificent portrait paintings caught the eye of important collectors, so much so that Kojo was given a solo show in th...

Conrad studied Pure & Applied Mathematics at Warwick University and his early career was in oil derivatives trading. He took my summer school in Art & Its Markets at Sotheby's Institute of Art and was inspired to become an art consultant and dealer.  In 2014 Conrad launched the Emerging Artist Prize which now has over 2,000 global artists applying with over 5,000 artworks every year.  We talk abou...

Tot is best known in the art world for his London contemporary art gallery, Riflemaker which he co-curated with Virginia Damtsa from 2003-2018. His first novel The Story of John Nightly was published in 2017.  We talk about his early days in London as a session drummer and his first experiences with the art world from regular visits to Sotheby's to his time spent studying music at Goldsmiths which...

JD Malat is a contemporary gallery founded in 2017 and located in Mayfair just down the road from Claridges Hotel and alpha galleries and auction houses including Gagosian, Sadie Cole and Philips.  We talk about London as an art world hub, how galleries develop their artists as well as how they have coped with the pandemic.   music   ‘Baby, I Miss The Internet’ (Rama, Rama, Rama)  by TOT TAYLOR is...

Jacqueline is an alumna of the MA in Art Business, Sotheby's Institute of Art London.  Since joining Bonhams in 2017, Jacqueline has been involved in some of the company's most important sales and events, most recently the previously unseen single-owner sale ‘Kusama: The Collection of the late Dr Teruo Hirose’. As Head of Sale, she brought the first mural by Keith Haring to market, achieving a new...

Anna Somers-Cocks OBE is one of the best-known names in the international art world.  After her early career as a curator at the V&A Anna went into art journalism and founded The Art Newspaper in 1980.  She is also renowned for her work with the Venice in Peril Fund as well as the Illicit [Antiquities] Trade Advisory Panel.  We talk about the power of art, walking and spirituality, the illicit tra...

Ruth Millington joined Sotheby's Institute of Art London this summer as Director of Careers Services.  We discuss life and art and Ruth's forthcoming art-historical book Muse (Penguin, due April 2022) which looks at the proactively creative roles of muses, both female and male, in art.   music   ‘Baby, I Miss The Internet’ (Rama, Rama, Rama)  by TOT TAYLOR is used by kind permission of the artist...

In this opening episode David Bellingham, Programme Director of the MA Art Business, Sotheby's Institute of Art, London, speaks with Craig Brown, Head of Fair Development and Exhibitors, Masterpiece London, about African art, art fairs and Masterpiece London.   music ‘Baby, I Miss The Internet’ (Rama, Rama, Rama)  by TOT TAYLOR is used by kind permission of the artist ©Tot Taylor/Songmatic Music (...