Owner / operator

One of our readers made the point that when we said that the White Cube was Damien Hirst’s gallery that many people would have thought that he ran it. In fact it is owned by Jay Jopling. Our guess is if we had said say, “Ronnie van Hout’s gallery Hamish McKay” or “Ruth Watson’s gallery Two Rooms” everyone would have understood we meant that Ronnie was one of Hamish McKay’s artists and not his boss and that Ruth Watson was a Two Rooms exhibitor not owner operator. But Damien Hirst has taken given the gallery tree a good shake and taken artist branding to a new level. Saying that the White Cube is Damien Hirst’s gallery does indeed sound like he owns the gallery rather than being represented by it. Mind you after the recent auction and blurry ownership of the diamond encrusted skull, even that is probably up for grabs.
Image: Damien Hirst crate being moved into Jay Jopling's Gallery, and thanks for bringing it up C.