An avid collector of Modern British art in the 1970s and one of the early patrons of the YBAs in the 1980s, entrepreneur Frank Cohen's tastes have broadened in scope since then. Cohen's collection now includes contemporary art from India and China as well. And he is currently the force behind the major exhibition Dark Materials curated by David Thorp at The Royal Academy of Arts from the 13th of December 2008 to the 19th of January 2009.

Frank Cohen at Initial Access in front of Li Songsong's Cuban
Sugar. IMAGE COURTESY INITIAL ACCESS.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVID SILLITOE.

Born in Manchester, Cohen made his fortune with a chain of DIY stores and is often referred to as the "Saatchi of the North". However, to describe him simply as a facsimile of über-collector Charles Saatchi is to do him injustice. For, Cohen is a prominent supporter of international contemporary art in his own right. He stands at the forefront of the move to bring Chinese and Indian artists to popular attention in the UK with high-profile exhibitions such as Passage to India, which was held from the 15th of March to the 2nd of August 2008, at Initial Access. A sequel to this display, Passage to India Part Two, has already been scheduled to run from March to August 2009.

Like a modern-day Medici, Cohen set up Initial Access in Wolverhampton in 2007 to showcase young artists in his collection and tempt the art crowd away from London, UK's cultural hub. Lee Johnson talks to Cohen about his collection and plans for the future.

Lee Johnson: RUMOUR HAS IT THAT YOU ARE PLANNING TO START A museum.

Jason Rhoades. Untitled. Installation. Polished aluminium
tubes, 48 'My Madinah' lamps (neons). 500 cms x 500 cms
x 500 cms. 2004. View of the work at Lightness of Being:
New Art from the Frank Cohen Collection at Initial Access,
Wolverhampton. 2008. IMAGE COURTESY THE ARTIST AND
THE FRANK COHEN COLLECTION. COPYRIGHT WITH THE
ARTIST.

Frank Cohen: I was in discussion with the Manchester City Council about doing so, but it eventually fell through a few years ago. I would absolutely love to have a museum in Manchester where I'm from - while keeping my space in Wolverhampton too, of course.

L. J.: Has the recession affected your plans and collection? Do you notice any changes in the way your friends buy art these days?

F. C.: No. I am looking for new directions as much as I always was and thinking about exploring new areas. I am still attending all the fairs and still buying pieces that I want either to own or show as part of an exhibition at Initial Access, or, say, the Royal Academy, for example. I see other people being more cautious, but caution is always just another way of picking out the very best.

L. J.: What do you think about the trend towards privately owned museums?

F. C.: Obviously as a collector with my own gallery, I think it is a good idea. I think it's wonderful that people such as Charles Saatchi can open great spaces and show more work to the public for free. That is my aim.

L. J.: Who are your favourite artists?

F. C.: I have so many: Richard Prince, Jeff Koons, Cindy Sherman, Jack Pierson, Grayson Perry, Jean Dubuffet, Banks Violette, Jitish Kallat, Subodh Gupta and Bharti Kher, to name but a few.

L. J.: How does Indian and Chinese art fit into your collection?

F. C.: I like work from India and China that sums up those cultures but which also says something to me in my position in the West. A lot of the new artists from India and China are making work that is based on the respective histories of those two cultures, whether they reference folklore and craft from India or the Communist regime in China. That these artists can do this while simultaneously making these issues relevant for someone who understands the aesthetic appeal of a work of art really means something. This is what is so important about them and why I collect them.

Chinese and Indian artists fit into my collection because even though they are making comments about the world in different ways, they are ultimately artists who work with the same ethos as, say, the American or British artists I collect and show. I've put on exhibitions that highlight the differences and similarities between artists, such as Time Difference, which showcased some of my collection from America and China. Dark Materials demonstrates that artists from Korea and the US are often concerned with similar themes like the apocalypse, which - let's face it - is a very broad concept.

L. J.: Is there a particular style of art you patronise? For instance, at the India show many people noticed that the collection leaned very heavily towards big, rather glamorous installations.

F. C.: I see what you're saying - although there were works in the show that weren't big and glamorous like those by Thukral & Tagra and Atul Dodiya. But then, even those that were big and impressive were often making points about things that were far from glamorous.