Charles Saatchi Q & A Sunday Times

Why China?
If China's economy keeps growing as it has, our children will all be speaking Chinese in 50 years' time. When I first looked at the new Chinese art, I thought it was horrible, and most art that looks horrible at first stays looking horrible. Occasionally, though, the really awful ones nag at you to go back for a second and third look, and they worm away until you finally get it.


Why now?
Now that I have the zeal of the newly converted, I feel compelled to proselytise.


Is the exhibition about Saatchi the collector, or Saatchi the salesman?
It's about the art, stupid.


Do you believe in it all?
I am not clever enough to be a cynic, so belief is the only option available to me.


Is there not a paradox somewhere? How can you be so shy and yet so voluble?
I am neither shy nor voluble. I don't like going to parties, but I do like showing off my art. I am quite comfortable with my schizophrenia.


Have you ever taken advantage of anyone in the art world?
If you asked the Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa or Mahatma Gandhi if they had ever taken advantage of anyone, they would be lying if they claimed they hadn't. So you can put me right up there with them, thanks.


What is your proudest achievement?
I don't do pride. That's not to say I don't have an ego the size of an aircraft hangar, but I'm not even very proud of that.


Do you feel responsible for the British art scene as we know it?
No.


What keeps you going?
What's the alternative?


Do you still care about money?
I have never cared enough about money to worry about spending it, and have been fortunate to make enough to be spoiled rotten.


Do you care what people think?
Everyone cares what some people think, but luckily I seem to care less than most.


Professionally, what was your greatest mistake?
That is a really depressing question. I have made so many mistakes, and such really stupid ones, I would start blubbing away if I could remember even half of them. But do not dwell on cock-ups, I say. You don't learn by your mistakes - at least I don't - so best to blunder on making fresh ones.


Is modern art political?
Is modern politics art?


What do you buy apart from art?
I have a shocking Frappuccino habit, so what doesn't go on art goes to Starbucks.


What is the nature of the relationship between Charles Saatchi and the artists?
I don't buy art to ingratiate myself with artists or socialise in the art world. Most of the artists I meet are rather like everybody else you meet: some are nicer than others.


Did Charles Saatchi's activities make London the centre of contemporary art?
London is not the centre of contemporary art.


What about Manchester? Could it happen anywhere else?
Not Manchester, I think. But they do football pretty well.


Of which artist are you most proud?
How can I feel proud about an artist's work? I didn't have the idea, and I didn't make the art. There's no pride to be had by simply buying it.


What are your thoughts on the rise of the artist as celebrity?
Better to be a celebrity because people talk about your art, rather than your wedding photos, in Hello!


What do you like about the "old geezers" piece in the show by Sun Yuan and Peng Yu?
I'm rather looking forward to my wheelchair years. Nigella has already fixed me up with caring Wife No 4 to push me about and wipe the drool, and brutal Wife No 5 to make me welcome death gratefully.


How do you decide where to put each work?
No subtlety here. I just go by what shapes and colours work together in a room. Occasionally I try putting things together that have a meaningful "link", and then back off quickly. The poncy way some curators try to demonstrate their "vision" by highlighting connections gives me the collywobbles.


How free are Chinese artists?
Free? Have you seen the prices they ask?


After the semen paintings displayed in your 2006 show USA Today - is there anything you wouldn't show at Saatchi?
Anything I don't like.


After China, what next? Can you envisage an Islamic how?
Funny you should say that. I'm working on a show for 2010 called Out of Arabia. What I've found so far from Iran and Iraq is encouraging.


Have you got any Chinese stuff at home?
What's with the "stuff"? This is art, mate.

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