Editing Young British Artists (section)

===Charles Saatchi's involvement===

[[File:Hirst-Shark.jpg|thumb|right|''[[The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living]]'' by [[Damien Hirst]] (1991). An iconic work of the YBA art scene.]]

One of the visitors to ''[[Freeze (art exhibition)|Freeze]]'' was [[Charles Saatchi]], a major contemporary art collector and co-founder of [[Saatchi and Saatchi]], the London advertising agency. Saatchi then visited ''Gambler'' in a green Rolls-Royce and, according to Freedman, stood open-mouthed with astonishment in front of (and then bought) Hirst's first major "animal" installation, ''A Thousand Years'', consisting of a large glass case containing maggots and flies feeding off a rotting cow's head. (The installation was later a notable feature of the ''[[Sensation exhibition|Sensation]]'' exhibition.)

Saatchi became not only Hirst's main collector, but also the main sponsor for other YBAs–a fact openly acknowledged by Gavin Turk. The contemporary art market in London had dramatically collapsed in mid-1990 due to a major economic recession, and many commercial contemporary galleries had gone out of business. Saatchi had until this time collected mostly American and German contemporary art, some by young artists, but most by already established ones.

His collection was publicly exhibited in a series of shows in a large converted paint factory building in St John's Wood, north London. Saatchi's Gallery inspired young artists to produce large concept artworks that would not fit in the usually small galleries in London at that time.<ref>Blanché, Ulrich (2018). Damien Hirst. Gallery Art in a Material World. Baden-Baden, Tectum Verlag, p. 62-63.</ref> Previous [[Saatchi Gallery]] shows had included such major figures as [[Andy Warhol|Warhol]], [[Philip Guston|Guston]], [[Alex Katz]], [[Richard Serra|Serra]], [[Anselm Kiefer|Kiefer]], [[Sigmar Polke|Polke]], [[Gerhard Richter|Richter]] and many more. In the early-1990s, Saatchi altered his focus to emerging British art.

Saatchi put on a series of shows called ''Young British Artists'' starting in 1992, when a noted exhibit was Damien Hirst's "shark" (''[[The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living]]''), which became the iconic work of British art in the 1990s,<ref name=brooks>Brooks, Richard. [https://archive.today/20100601054509/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article413037.ece "Hirst's shark is sold to America"], ''[[The Sunday Times]]'', 16 January 2005. Retrieved 14 October 2008.</ref> and the symbol of Britart worldwide.<ref name=davies>Davies, Serena. [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2005/01/08/bapaint08.xml "Why painting is back in the frame"]{{dead link|date=July 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}, ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'', 8 January 2005. Retrieved 15 October 2008.</ref> In addition to (and as a direct result of) Saatchi's patronage, the Young British Artists benefited from intense media coverage. This was augmented by controversy surrounding the annual [[Turner Prize]], (one of Britain's few major awards for contemporary artists), which had several of the artists as nominees or winners. [[Channel 4]] had become a sponsor of the competition, leading to television profiles of the artists in prime-time slots.