Jay Jopling has established himself as a key figure in the art world and has been instrumental in repositioning London as the leading international centre for contemporary art over the past two decades.

Born in 1963, Jay Jopling was brought up in Yorkshire and educated at Eton and Edinburgh University, where he studied English Literature and History of Art. After completing his MA in 1984, he moved to London and began working with the young artists of his generation.

Jopling opened the original White Cube, on the first floor of 44 Duke Street, St James’s, in London’s West End, in May 1993. Located in the most traditional art-dealing street in London, the gallery was surrounded by Old Master galleries and specialist art bookshops. Its exhibition policy was to provide a one-off showcase for both British and international artists.

White Cube has presented solo shows of the most challenging British artists over the last two decades including Darren Almond, Jake & Dinos Chapman, Tracey Emin, Lucian Freud, Gilbert & George, Antony Gormley, Mona Hatoum, Damien Hirst, Gary Hume, Runa Islam, Marc Quinn, Neal Tait, Sam Taylor-Wood, Gavin Turk and Cerith Wyn Evans.

A second, larger gallery space was set up by Jopling in April 2000. White Cube Hoxton Square is located in London’s East End, in a converted 1920s light industrial building. Its programme of exhibitions expanded to include international artists such as Franz Ackermann, Miroslaw Balka, Ashley Bickerton, Candice Breitz, Chuck Close, Gregory Crewdson, Carroll Dunham, Katharina Fritsch, Damián Ortega, Richard Phillips, Robin Rhode, Doris Salcedo and Fred Tomaselli.

Jopling’s most recent venture, opened in 2006, is White Cube Mason's Yard, situated off Duke Street, St James’s, home of the original White Cube, and the largest of Jopling’s galleries. The site on which this gallery stands was previously an electricity sub-station and was the first free-standing structure built in historic St James’s for more than thirty years. The inaugural exhibition marked Gabriel Orozco’s first with the gallery, and the programme has gone on to include internationally renowned artists such as Georg Baselitz, Andreas Gursky, Robert Irwin, Anselm Kiefer and Jeff Wall.

Jay Jopling was married to the artist Sam Taylor-Wood; the couple had two daughters before announcing their amicable divorce in September 2008.