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Nearly £100,000 was spent on two paintings to adorn the walls of 10 Downing Street as Boris Johnson drew up plans to cut public sector pay and slash benefits.

Official documents show the works were bought through the Government Art Collection fund, which is bolstered by taxpayers... Accounts show £70,200 was spent on a painting by Belfast-born artist Cathy Wilkes, 54. The untitled 24in by 28in work is egg tempera on linen.

A second piece, costing £18,775 from photographer, video and installation artist Willie Doherty, has also gone on display.

The Health Secretary Matt Hancock has briefed the nation on COVID19 in front of a ‘Spin Art’ painting by YBA artist Damien Hirst. The painting chosen from the Government Art Collection is in-situ in the former Culture Secretary’s office... For over 120 years, the Government Art Collection has championed British art, history and culture around the world. ..

Works of art from the Government Art Collection (GAC) are displayed in UK Government buildings in nearly every capital city, making it the most dispersed collection of British art in the world. The role of the Collection is to promote British art while contributing to cultural diplomacy.

The Government Art Collection might be one of the least known of the UK’s large public collections. It was founded in 1898 with a grant of just £150, and its brief is to supply embassies around the world and offices of state, including Number 10 Downing Street, with works of art.
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Its director Penny Johnson explains that in the early days the works were primarily historical portraits but today the Art Collection owns 14,200 works by British artists such as Paul Nash, Gary Hume, Bridget Riley and Damien Hirst, plus international luminaries such as Andy Warhol. Some 9,500 works are on display in 155 cities.

Now, thanks to a gift of £500,000 by US film-maker Sybil Robson Orr and her British husband, entrepreneur Matthew Orr, a new name and a fresh work will soon be adorning the walls of government buildings around the world.

The money, the largest single donation the collection has been given, will support TenTen, the Government Art Collection/Outset Annual Award, in which one leading artist will be commissioned to create an original print each year for the next 10 years.

Thirty copies will be made, half of which will be sent on their travels while 11 will go to Outset, an arts organisation that brings together individuals and businesses to support contemporary artists. As its co-founder Candida Gertler puts it, Outset “dreams up partnerships between philanthropists and artists”. In a virtuous circle, Outset will raise funds by selling its prints and donating the proceeds to the GAC, while the remaining four will go to the artist, his dealer and sponsor.

Intelligence Squared was founded by two media entrepreneurs, Jeremy O'Grady and John Gordon, in 2002.[1] In 2012, the company was bought by art consultant Amelie von Wedel, CEO of Serpentine Galleries Yana Peel, and Commonwealth Bank of Australia Executive General Manager David Legg.

Yana Peel has several advisory positions including the Tate International Council, V-A-C Foundation, and the NSPCC therapeutic board.

Serpentine Galleries chief resigns https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesig ... ef-resigns

Yana Peel steps down, citing ‘misguided personal attacks on me and my family’..The head of the Serpentine Galleries has resigned after the Guardian revealed the ownership structure of NSO Group an Israeli cyber intelligence company whose software.

Last week, the Guardian revealed the Peel’s family’s links to Novalpina Capital, a private equity firm that in turn controls a majority stake in NSO Group, a $1bn (£790m) Israeli technology firm, according to corporate records in the US and Luxembourg.

Novalpina was co-founded by Peel’s husband, Stephen. Novalpina took a majority of NSO shares, and NSO’s Israeli founders hold a minority stake.

Human rights groups, activists and surveillance experts have accused NSO of licensing its powerful Pegasus software to countries, including Saudi Arabia, that used it to target individuals, hack into their phones and monitor their communications...

Omar Abdulaziz, a Saudi dissident based in Canada, alleged in a lawsuit filed in Israel that Saudi spies used NSO software to hack his phone and access his conversations with Khashoggi, who was later murdered by government operatives...A group of Mexican activists and journalists is also suing NSO in Israel. They allege Mexican authorities targeted their phones with Pegasus after paying NSO $32m to license the software.