Preparing for Frieze Art Fair, Regents Park (6) - geograph

Matthew Slotover (born 1968) is an English publisher and entrepreneur. He is co-founder of Frieze, a media and events company, which now includes the

Frieze Art Fair Frieze Art Fair is an international contemporary art fair in London, New York, and Los Angeles. Frieze London takes place every October in London's Regent's Park. In the US, the fair ran on New York's Randall's Island from 2012–19 and in 2 ...

, ''frieze'' and Frieze Academy.

Early life

Slotover was born in London and grew up in South Kensington. He attended

St Paul's School, London (''By Faith and By Learning'') , established = , closed = , type = Independent school Public school , religion = Church of England , president = , h ...

and then studied Psychology at

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...

. His paternal family (originally the Zlotovers) emigrated from Lithuania in the 1930s and settled in Newcastle. Slotover's father, Robert Slotover manages classical musicians including the composer

Sir Harrison Birtwistle Sir Harrison Birtwistle (15 July 1934 – 18 April 2022) was an English composer of contemporary classical music best known for his operas, often based on mythological subjects. Among his many compositions, his better known works include ''T ...

; his mother Jill Slotover is a children's book editor. Matthew's maternal grandfather, Richard Kravitz was an American magazine publisher who introduced '' Esquire'' and

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

to the UK. He first became interested in contemporary art after visiting the YBA art exhibition

Modern Medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...

, in 1990.

Life and career

Slotover launched ''

Frieze In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...

'' in June 1991 with Tom Gidley as co-editor. The pilot issue featured the first ever magazine interview with

Damien Hirst Damien Steven Hirst (; né Brennan; born 7 June 1965) is an English artist, entrepreneur, and art collector. He is one of the Young British Artists (YBAs) who dominated the art scene in the UK during the 1990s. He is reportedly the United Kingd ...

, with a detail of a Hirst butterfly painting on the cover. Amanda Sharp joined ''Frieze'' in July 1991. In 1999, he founded Counter Editions, a low-cost, high-volume edition company, with Carl Freedman and Neville Wakefield. Slotover is chair of the South London Gallery board of trustees. In 2000, he was a judge on the

Turner Prize The Turner Prize, named after the English painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist. Between 1991 and 2016, only artists under the age of 50 were eligible (this restriction was removed for the 2017 award) ...

. And in 1993, he curated a section of the Aperto at the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

, which included Damien Hirst, Mat Collishaw and Rirkrit Tiravanija. Through ''Frieze,'' Slotover has published the books: ''What the Butler Saw - The Selected Writings of Stuart Morgan;'' ''All Tomorrow's Parties - Photographs of Andy Warhol’s Factory,'' by

Billy Name William George Linich (February 22, 1940 – July 18, 2016), known professionally as Billy Name, was an American photographer, filmmaker, and lighting designer. He was the archivist of The Factory from 1964 to 1970. His brief romance and subsequ ...

; and ''Designed by Peter Saville,'' a retrospective of Saville's graphic design. In 2009, Slotover received an honorary degree from University of the Arts London. In 2010, Slotover debated whether "art fairs are about money" with

Louisa Buck Louisa Buck is a British art critic and contemporary art correspondent for ''The Art Newspaper''. She was a jurist for the 2005 Turner Prize. She is also an author or co-author of books on contemporary art market. Early life and family background ...

Matthew Collings Matthew Collings (born 1955) is a British art critic, writer, broadcaster, and artist. He is married to Emma Biggs, with whom he collaborates on art works. Education Born in London in 1955, Collings studied at Byam Shaw School of Art, and Golds ...

, and

Jasper Joffe Jasper Joffe (born 1975) is a British publisher at Joffe Books contemporary artist and novelist who lives and works in London. Life and work Joffe is the brother of artist Chantal Joffe. He studied Fine Art at the Ruskin School of Drawing and ...

for the motion and against the motion Norman Rosenthal, Richard Wentworth, Matthew Slotover. Joffe claims that his criticisms of

led to his work being banned from the fair in 2010. ''Frieze'' replied that Resonance FM had hung a number of works, including Joffe's, against their agreement with the fair, and that to ensure a high quality level, artworks in the fair are included only via the galleries in the fair who are selected by the selection committee. In May 2011, Slotover and Sharp announced the launch of two new art fairs - Frieze New York, and Frieze Masters. In 2010, Slotover and Sharp were placed jointly at number 41 in the

ArtReview ''ArtReview'' is an international contemporary art magazine based in London, founded in 1948. Its sister publication, ''ArtReview Asia'', was established in 2013. History Launched as a fortnightly broadsheet in February 1949 by a retired country ...

"Power 100", a list of influential people in fine arts. Slotover and Sharp were both appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2012 New Year Honours for services to the visual arts.

Personal life

In April 2017, the couple unsuccessfully applied for planning permission to build a townhouse just off

Barnsbury Square Barnsbury Square is a garden square in the Barnsbury district of Islington, North London. It is bounded by Victorian architecture, Victorian Villa#Villas abroad, villas and Regency architecture, Regency and Victorian Terraced houses in the United ...

in Islington, North London. They would have had to make a £50,000 contribution to affordable housing in the borough, if the plans had been approved, but the application was rejected on the grounds that the plans constituted an under-use of the land, and over concerns regarding the destruction of nearby trees. In 2019 the planning rejection was overturned on appeal.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Slotover, Matthew Publishers (people) from London Living people Officers of the Order of the British Empire 1968 births