Larry Gagosian's power might be waning (maybe), but the mystery surrounding the infamously press-shy dealer is as appealing as ever -- particularly as he fights numerous of legal battles and faces almost a full stable of defecting artists. Eric Konigsburg published a lengthy, in-depth look into the life and career of the art world's most dominant dealer in New York Magazine this weekend, which will appear in the January 28 print issue.
While much of the information about Gago's career and recent trials has been published before (including a number of articles on ARTINFO), the piece has a number of choice quotes from a variety of collectors, dealers, auction house personnel, and friends of Gagosian -- adding depth, and some intrigue, to the complex world of the contemporary art market. Without further ado, ARTINFO presents the six best quotes of the profile:
"I hate that Basquiat, you?" -- Mugrabi to Gagosian, discussing joint purchases at a Sotheby's auction
"But it's insane that the market has gone down and I have to pay the same price because there is some stubborn guy? ... That's surrealist. He's a surrealist." -- Also Mugrabi
"I have no intention of leaving Larry," he says, and adds that the art-world preoccupation of talking about which artist shows with which gallery turns artists into "horses in their stalls." -- artist Richard Serra, after noting he will be showing with David Zwirner soon, along with Jeff Koons
"I do remember Henry [Geldzahler] saying, 'You must eventually give this to a museum,' but I sold it around 1984. I remember seeing it in the Sotheby's catalogue a few years ago, and it bothers me that it's not mine anymore, so I didn't really want to know what happened to it." -- Diamond dealer John Reinhold, on a Warhol he once sold
"Larry and Richard Prince exploited the crap out of Richard's market for several years, and it began to backfire" -- an anonymous auction-house executive
"Damien told me, 'I want to slow down, and therefore there's no point in staying with Gagosian.'" -- James Kelly, Damien Hirst's business manager, on Hirst leaving the gallery, apparently on good terms with the dealer
-Author, Shane Ferro BLOUIN ARTINFO
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