Jonathan Watkins has been director of Birmingham's Ikon Gallery since 2000, steadily building up its reputation as a pro-active centre for international contemporary art.
Formerly the director of the Chisenhale Gallery, one of London's leading contemporary art galleries, he enjoys an international reputation as a curator. Since moving to Birmingham he has been invited to guest-curate a number of prestigious exhibitions including the Shanghai Biennale and Days Like These, for Tate Britain, as well as serving as a judge for the Turner Prize.
A striking characteristic of his regime at Ikon has been his enthusiasm for Birmingham and his encouragement of visiting artists to use the city as inspiration for their work. In this way he has introduced artists from Japan and America, for example, to the city's canals.
Numerous international artists have had their first UK exhibitions at Ikon, while leading British artists like Ian Davenport and Julian Opie have been given major retrospectives.
Under Watkins' direction Ikon has also expanded beyond its main location at Brindleyplace, with a second building for temporary installations in Digbeth. Together with the architect Glenn Howells, who became chair of Ikon at the beginning of this year, Watkins is now actively pursuing the possibility of launching a museum of contemporary art in Birmingham.
First revealed in an article in The Birmingham Post in January, this project already has the support of Tate director Sir Nicholas Serota, who has offered loans from the Tate collection.
As well as taking Ikon forward into new projects and relationships, Watkins also re-established links with the group of Birmingham artists who established the gallery - originally a kiosk in the newly-opened Bull Ring Shopping Centre - in 1965, with a 40th anniversary exhibition.
A sequel to this is the current small touring exhibition of drawings of the celebrated yew trees at Packwood House by Ikon co-founder Bob Groves.
