A biography for Larry Gagosianhasn’t been written yet.
“Take Damien Hirst out of contemporary art history, and there's an incredible void. Great artists, like great people, have second acts.”
“I have a good visual memory. I'm good with faces, but names - I get in trouble a lot; I can't seem to remember people. People think I'm rude. As a side comment, you know, I'm not being rude: I just kind of blank out.”
“I believe in the popularizing of art. But when you get right down to it, it's a bit of an elitist world. Not just economically elitist - how many people read poetry?”
“I never really took a proper art class in college. I just started reading art magazines and going to galleries. I was really drawn to it.”
“Nobody really needs a painting. It's something you kind of create value for in a way that you don't with a company. It's an act of collective faith what an object is worth. Maintaining that value system is part of what a dealer does, not just making a transaction but making sure that important art feels important.”