Larry Gagosian Quotations

The art market is global now, and there's becoming more of an international consensus about what constitutes good art.

I was always very focused on how people dressed.

I'm not in the luxury-goods business. I sell unique objects. I wish I was in luxury goods because then I could just call the factory and say, 'I need 10,000 more of whatever.' But I can't - because then it's not art, it's something else.

I never really took a proper art class in college. I just started reading art magazines and going to galleries.

Honestly, I grew up in pretty modest circumstances. We were a middle-class family.

The art world is never going to be popular like the NFL, but more people are buying art and I think that's cushioning, to a great extent, our art-market cycles.

When a great artist gets my attention, I pursue it. If I don't, someone else will, you know what I'm saying?

You get to a point where you really can't manage more artists, because representing artists takes a lot of time.

Physically, it's getting impossible for me to travel that much. I want to support my artists by showing up at their openings, but I can't always be in Hong Kong one minute and Geneva the next.

When a collector says, "You've got to educate me," or "What's a good investment?" then I don't know what to say. I have no idea. Let's face it, I'm probably going to recommend artists that I represent.

The way you present your work has a lot to do with how people receive and regard it.

A lot of artists are involved with fabrication. Artists today are making more objects and many of them need the participation of a dealer in order to facilitate and provide support for projects. So that has changed. But I don't know if what it means to be an artist has really changed. I hope that it hasn't.

For me, collecting is sort of a natural extension of being an art dealer, because if you don't want to collect the artist, then you probably shouldn't be representing them.

The so-called "secondary market" has also always been something that I'm comfortable with. I'm not a dealer who turns his nose up at that part of the business. I'm an art dealer - my primary responsibility is to represent the artist.

Working with younger artists kind of tests your judgment. You're not always right, but when you are, it's exciting.

I don't think you can tell somebody how they should collect. I think it's just about being turned on by art.At the end of the day, some people just kind of get it. They don't all get it in the same way or get the same artists, but it's a journey that excites them.

I've had people say to me, "Well, how do I start collecting artworks?" Well, you start by buying. Buy what you like, buy what you can afford - and I'm not just saying that because I'm a dealer. You can't be so paralyzed to where you keep saying, "I've got to learn more." The best way to learn is to go home and actually put something on the wall. Then you've got an investment. Then you're living with it. Then you're in the game.

I play hard. So the critical stuff doesn't surprise me or bother me.

Professionally, what comes first is representing the artist.Whether they're alive or dead.

I think functioning as a business manager can be a hindrance to having a real dialogue with the artist. I do think that artists need good lawyers and accountants, because they're dealing with serious money. But an artist who stands behind a manager? That's a little different. I think that can be a bad buffer.

The sun never sets on my gallery.

The art market is global now, and theres becoming more of an international consensus about what constitutes good art.

I don't know what 'loyal' means,