Chinese art show draws record crowd

A CHINESE art exhibition in Chelsea has attracted a record number of visitors for a contemporary art exhibition.

About 5,200 visitors each day have seen the free Revolution Continues exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery, which means that by the time the show closes it will have attracted about 525,000 people. Only 300,000 visited Charles Saatchi's 1997 Sensation exhibition at the Royal Academy.

The exhibition's success can be attributed to the recent popularity of Chinese contemporary art. Many of the world's most successful artists either work in or come from China.

Mr Saatchi now hopes to build on the success of the Revolution Continues by staging an exhibition of Middle Eastern art.

Although art from the region is often overlooked because of the tense political situation, the former advertising mogul, who was born in Baghdad, said: "The work is breathtaking - new Arabian artists are about to take centre stage in the art world."

The stars of the new show - called Unveiled - include the brothers Rokni and Ramin Haerizadeh, from Tehran, Khaled Hafez from Cairo and Wafa Hourani from Hebron in Palestine.