Artists, owners 'devastated' by blaze

A fire that destroyed hundreds of artworks thought to be worth millions of euro has “devastated” artists and owners, experts said today.

Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin and Charles Saatchi are among the artists and collectors believed to have owned work destroyed in the warehouse blaze in east London.

“Everyone is distraught,” said Carole Hastings, director of Momart, the art handler whose unit in the warehouse was gutted.

“We have a fantastic relationship with our clients. We have grown up with lots of them,” she said.

“We are very, very sad about it.

“The whole estate has gone, 24 units. We have lost probably 5-10% of our artwork.

“It was very, very mixed stuff. Some of it was our own company’s art collection, as well as clients’ stuff and heirlooms owned by staff.

“Everybody is hurt in this. We are devastated.

“We are hoping to get access later today. The firemen are still damping down.”

Ms Hastings said it would be “inappropriate” to name the artists whose work has been lost.

She could not give a valuation of the lost artwork.

Four fire engines were still at the scene this morning but it would be hours before they could assess the full damage, said fire brigade spokesman Nick Comery.

Dangerous gas cylinders inside some units were being doused in water to cool them down before firemen moved in to begin an investigation into the cause of the blaze.

Pockets of fire were still smouldering at the Leyton warehouse in east London, where Momart owned one of the units alongside panel beaters, mechanics workshops and other small businesses.

Works said to have perished in Monday’s fire include Tracey Emin’s tent, entitled Everyone I Have Ever Slept With, and Hell, by Jake and Dinos Chapman.

The warehouse housed many works owned by collector Mr Saatchi and paintings and sculptures by several major British artists belonging to Momart were stored at the site.

A Saatchi spokesman said: “We are waiting for Momart to give us final confirmation. Charles is absolutely devastated.”

He added: “We are hoping that things aren’t as bad as first indications suggest.

“Obviously works have been lost but until we can confirm more, it’s probably wrong to comment.

“Everybody here is just devastated.”

Fifty firefighters battled with the blaze in the single-storey warehouse.

Around 500 people were evacuated from the area surrounding the fire on an industrial estate amid fears that the gas cylinders had overheated and threatened to explode.

A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said that as the fire was still burning, no investigation could yet be carried out into the cause.

The Chapman brothers confirmed that their work Hell, featuring soldiers molesting each other, had been destroyed in the fire.

Saatchi reportedly paid half a million pounds for Hell, which took two years to create, for a retrospective at his gallery. It is a series of nine miniature landscapes with bloody scenes of disaster and destruction displayed in glass tanks.

The brothers, two of the UK’s most controversial artists, cast and hand painted more than 5,000 figures, including skeletons, Nazi soldiers and human mutations.

They reacted to the news by saying the piece “was only art” and said they would make it again.

Jake Chapman earlier joked to The Daily Telegraph: “It can’t be burnt because it’s hotter in hell than it is there.

“I suspect, in fact, it will, in fact, have gone up in value if it has been burnt to death.”

Turner Prize-nominated Emin won notoriety with her tent, Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963-1995, embroidered with the names of all her lovers.

Saatchi is thought to have paid £40,000 (€59,900) for the controversial artwork with 102 names in it.

Work by Sarah Lucas, famous for substituting cucumbers and kebabs for genitals, is also feared to have been destroyed in the blaze.

Momart is responsible for packaging and transporting works around the country and installing major exhibitions, such as the 1999 Monet at the Royal Academy.

Its client list includes the National Gallery, Tate Modern and Britain and Buckingham Palace.

Most of the works in the warehouse will have been insured individually by galleries and collectors.