Larry Gagosian Quotes

“The more people who look at great art, the better for our culture.”

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

“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.”

“I've never been what they call a 'pure gallerist.' I find that somewhat pretentious, honestly - I'm an art dealer. I like to show great artists of our time, but I also like dealing. And I think they reinforce each other.”

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

“My journey is different from some other major galleries because I started from scratch. I didn't have family in the business. I never worked for another gallery. I never worked for an auction house.”

“I love the challenge. I love winning.”

“It's very easy to open a gallery. To open a small gallery—which I did, I started with nothing—it doesn't take a ton of capital, and you can find insane capital to open a bootstrap gallery.”

“Auctions are a necessary evil. I think they've helped, because auctions create confidence in the market—I'm speaking as a dealer here.”

“In a larger sense, I think it's a unique economy. The less you fiddle with it, the healthier it'll be.”

“I saw that and I said, 'Jeez, I could do that.”

“Sadly, I sold them all. Wish I still owned them!”

“It's sort of a halfway house, halfway between having to be in business for yourself and being a stone-freak-do-nothing hippie.”

“He inverted this thing where normally the art dealers were trying to emulate their clients. Larry's clients are trying to emulate him.”

“I was terrified of Larry, with Andy telling me all of these stories. And then Andy did a show with him, and when I asked why he was doing it after terrifying me for years about this guy, he said, 'Oh, well, it's cash and carry.'”

“I am a very visual person, whether it's a beautiful woman or a beautiful painting. I like the way things look.”

“It's a blood sport. I love the challenge. I love winning.”

“I enjoy what I do. I don't know what else to do.”

“To me, ambition is energy with a purpose. There was always the energy, but there was no purpose.”

“If the money is correct, if the transaction is correct, I'm not going to be a moral judge.”