[2][5] Ralph Rugoff in a 1998 edition of Frieze called them "Neo-Publicists", describing them as not just seeking press coverage, but using mass media as an artistic medium.
[6] As well as staging art projects, events, and club nights, Decima deals in limited edition books and prints, specialising in Gilbert & George[7] and Stephen Gill.
A 2008 article in The London Paper described the gallery as "infamous" for its headline-grabbing stunts in the late 1990s, including the hoax "Fuckart & Pimp" exhibition where Angela Marshall pretended to offer her artwork in exchange for oral sex, the show "Was Jesus a Homosexual?"
"We use the media as a canvas for art", explained West:[10] "Stunts have included running a clinic for soap opera addicts and launching The Dennis Nilsen Tour Company.".
In April 1998, Decima staged "Fuckart & Pimp", a hoaxed show that purported to feature a female artist producing paintings while having sex with clients.
On 21 August 1998, Decima sent a fax to the Tate informing them that they would be bringing a real cow to the Gallery to "show where food and sex connect with the world of art".
The Independent's Pandora column reported that: Gilbert and George have installed part of a 100-year-old fountain they purchased recently, which featured the inscription "Jesus said if any man thirst let him come to me and let him drink".
Charles Sayer's canvas of a naked woman, legs apart, is displayed alongside eight framed biblical texts and entitled Anti-Christ I awake thee.
Decima opened an art gallery in a former peanut factory in London's Hackney Wick area [7][23] on 23 February 2008 with a launch show "The Famous, The Infamous and the Really Quite Good".
They comment in an article by Fay Nicholson "Relational Aesthetics"[25] The Hackney Wick Decima Gallery space closed late 2008 - early 2009.
[26] West and Chappel responded with a statement to the Hackney Gazette, saying that "In many ways we were just trying to highlight how Madeleine McCann's image has been used and abused by the press over the past 21 months."