Anyone who opens a new gallery with almost a thousand square meters of exhibition space in London's posh Mayfair district not only needs start-up capital, but also self-confidence. This - and an infectious enthusiasm - has Phoebe Saatchi Yates, the 27-year-old daughter of the British art collector and former advertising entrepreneur Charles Saatchi. Growing up with her father's collection, she initially worked for a number of years for his non-commercial exhibition hall, the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea. In October 2020 she opened the gallery "Saatchi Yates", together with her husband Arthur Yates, in the traditional Cork Street, which wants to concentrate on building up as yet unknown artists. However, their plans already go beyond the London location: “We are very ambitious.We want to position ourselves as a global gallery and we want our artists to become global stars, ”says Phoebe Saatchi Yates. The dealer couple can also find their artists on social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok. The two see a lot of young talent in Germany, "because of the many good art schools". The gallery absorbs the risk of concentrating on not yet internationally positioned artists with trading in the secondary market, which has already proven to be an important, second pillar during the lockdowns.To concentrate on not yet internationally positioned artists, the gallery starts trading in the secondary market, which has already proven to be an important, second pillar during the lockdowns.To concentrate on not yet internationally positioned artists, the gallery starts trading in the secondary market, which has already proven to be an important, second pillar during the lockdowns.

Saatchi Yates is currently organizing the third exhibition for the Ethiopian painter Tesfaye Urgessa, who lives in Germany. Born in 1983, Urgessa first studied technical drawing and art education in his hometown of Addis Ababa before joining the Stuttgart Art Academy in 2009 with a DAAD scholarship to study painting. Urgessa, who lives with his family in Nürtingen, has been known beyond Germany since his solo show in 2018 in the Uffizi in Florence. During his stays in Italy, Caravaggio made a special impression on him with his dramatic chiaroscuro. This can be seen in his new paintings as well as his admiration for the “London School”, Lucien Freud and Francis Bacon.The influences combine in Urgessa's large-format figurative pictures with his own history and cultural identity.

The focus of his pictures is the human body: almost or completely naked, unprotected, vulnerable, statuesque and in motion at the same time. The figures are mostly closely related to one another, sometimes seem to merge with one another. Two-dimensional, the face in front or in profile, they appear self-determined and a little inaccessible. Urgessa's strong reference to the ancient, Christian-Orthodox art of Ethiopia is clearly evident. The bodies shown have something like a block, raised hands and pointing fingers seem to point out important things to the viewer. Above all, feet and eyes refer to topics that move the artist: the painful experiences of migrants who undertake hardships to get to Europe; the experience of surveillance and a lack of privacy,through institutions or fellow human beings who treat immigrants with suspicion. In his most recent pictures one meets again and again a couple, sometimes with a child, who can refer to the Holy Family beyond the apparently private character.

Until August 15th. Prices from 35,000 to 60,000 pounds.