You may have missed the most interesting arts story in Sunday’s New York Times, because “Pulling Art Sales Out of Thinning Air” appeared in the business section. It was a profile of Larry Gagosian, with a “nut graf” — the paragraph giving the gist of the story — saying: “Everyone is vulnerable. Especially Larry Gagosian.”
Some of the choice bits:
His business is the ultimate black-box operation, a never-ending and international swirl of cash and canvas that is built for maximum secrecy. What is certain is that his overhead is a multiple of his competitors’. Also certain is that the prices of work by the young artists he has been luring into his galleries — prices that have doubled or tripled in some cases, courtesy of his imprimatur — are falling like bank stocks. Worst of all, the days of the $75 million private deal have ground to a halt.
And:
One of his talents is simply ingratiating himself with the richest collectors in the world, which gives him access to their homes, which allows him to take note of what great works are where. By all accounts he has an excellent memory, but his secret weapon, if it can be called that, is the lowly camera, which he’s been known to use on the Q.T. “I was in Larry’s office once and I saw Polaroids of pieces that were in my home,” says Douglas Cramer, a former television executive and longtime collector. Mr. Cramer was startled, then amused, and surmises that Mr. Gagosian took the photos while Mr. Cramer was answering the phone or in the bathroom.
And the kicker, from Ed Ruscha:
“If it springs a leak,” he says of the Good Ship Gagosian, “I will roll up one of my paintings and plug the hole. As long as Cy Twombly does the same.”
The story doesn’t answer every question about Gagosian (one art dealer dismissed it as “nothing new,” but I disagree). But it has one glaring omission — an odd one, considering that the other cover story in the section is headlined “Last Days of the Oligarchs?” — and that’s a discussion of Gagosian’s business with Russians. Many people say it’s substantial. Even as he denied that he planned to open a permanent gallery in Moscow, he held exhibitions two there, in 2007 and 2008. Last fall, Bloomberg reported that the gallery sold “about two-thirds” of the 40 artworks on offer during its 10-day show at a luxury mall in a Moscow suburb in October, 2007. But it’s likely that his big Russian sales are taking place at his London gallery.
Here’s a link to the Times piece. Unfortunately, Gagosian’s business a still a riddle wrapped in a mystery.