Sunday Times Wine

The Great Pretender

How an artist struggling to meet large buyers? Russell Thoburn tells how he KATE SPICER blagged his way in.

For the artist Russell Thoburn, it is not enough simply to be the private view. He wanted an invitation to the very important after the party, these little exclusive drinks, dinners and tours at Groucho club to which only the really important players in the world of art is invited, he wanted the equivalent of art access "all areas" backstage pass.

After the opening of Damien Hirst in-a-Gadda-Da-Vida at Tate Britain show in 2004, he rang tabloids Hirst and asked what was happening next. Nothing, they replied. Thoburn was better. When he saw the gallerist Maureen Paley hot leaving with photographer Wolfgang Tillmans, it follows that the cabin. Even if he lost sight of their taxi, they were so close to the dining room art world, St. John, he has assumed - correctly - that was their destination. Saying he was "with Damien," he went through and sat down as if he belonged.

"It was less than fifty people, but everyone was there. It was like watching TV. They were all the faces or major collectors. I felt a little nervous. At one point, a gallery owner looked familiar above, and we had a second analysis of these five, but she said nothing. Imagine the embarrassment was someone approached me to see Damien had indeed invited. There is always an air of ambiguity. "

Over the past three years, Thoburn, 36, became an expert to enter the world of art is more exclusive gatherings. He appreciated the "sublime" bottles of wine at the Groucho and brushed with Jude Law. Yet this modest figure, dressed in jeans with neat jumper and jacket, is not an animal desperate to get closer to the list A. All Thoburn wanted was to have access to some power players who decide the fate of the artist. "My frustration was that I knew my art and my ideas were good, but I did not know the right people, he laughs." Either I had not slept with the right person. "

"The only thing about the world of art, he says, is that it is a game and people use different strategies. How, as Russell Thoburn, was I going to get tickets to something as the point of view private Frieze Art Fair? Not even exhibiting artists are invited to this question. I thought, "Who is fashionable or popular, with links to the world of art?" I arrived with Alex James of Blur. He studied at Goldsmiths and was definitely around the lot. I created an e-mail to his name and, before long, Frieze sent me a VIP package.

"The parties are important, very, very. This is where everything happens. In private point of view, everyone is networked. I do not feel guilty. Once I was Russell Thoburn.

Thoburn accepts that comes from outside the sphere of influence. "The way to succeed is to be the assistant to the artist, like the Chapman brothers were Gilbert and George," he said. "It helps to have the Royal College of Art stamp of approval, which operates as a network of old boys of all kinds. The time I went down to London was very Goldsmiths engine. But my teachers n ' have no connections. Saatchi never bought anything from Sir John Cass, my college - it was totally off the radar, even if it was opposite the Whitechapel Art Gallery. And I was not at the forefront of round feet and get an internship at the Tate so that I can possibly meet the right people. All I want is to earn a living. I feel like I'm hurt because my art did not receive the attention it deserves. "Bu I am not the first nor the last artist to be overlooked."

To get there, it was not just "Alex James." Gary Hume ", insisted the Victoria Miro to check galelrist Russell Tho.