Larry Gagosian is a world-renowned art dealer who has made riches from his keen eye for art and ability to showcase that art and be a successful businessman. The Gagosian galleries showcase many successful artists. The success of the Gagosian galleries can be attributed to many factors, but most significant are the tenacity of Larry Gagosian, his reputation, and his marketing strategies.
Known for being an unrelenting businessman, Larry Gagosian is very intense when it comes to selling art. He has never bothered to hide his interest in making loads of money2. Developing his eye for art, in addition to his business techniques, has allowed him to continue to successfully make more riches. Gagosian is a man who is known for going after what he covets. Other dealers have claimed that he is known for “poaching” artists from his competitors and bringing them into his own gallery6. While some dealers may not agree with his methods, Gagosian has made it a successful strategy to become one of the most powerful dealers with one of the largest blue-chip artists within his gallery. His brand alone is known to add multiple zeros the price tag of artworks created by newly signed artists. With at least 10 galleries across the globe, and over 50 artists having been or currently being showcased in his gallery today, it is hard to not know of Larry Gagosian1.
In order to promote his brand, Gagosian utilizes a variety of methods to make his galleries stand out. On the Gagosian gallery website, the viewer is immediately captured by the use of intricate colors to commanding the viewer to look deeper into the gallery site1. On the homepage a promise of a signed spot print by Damien Hirst dedicated personally to the person who visits all eleven Gagosian Gallery locations1. To many art fans this is more than just en enticing task, it is one that may drive people to action and visit the galleries---a success for Gagosian. In addition to website tactics, Gagosian utilizes his artists and their works. Gagosian showcases artists with controversial art that is shocking to the public. Damien Hirst, and Jeff Koons for example are two very well known artists in the art world. Koons’ and Hirst’s artwork usually invoke passionate responses from critics, making them a very talked about artist. Gagosian uses his brand name to generate discussion about his gallery and the brand name of his artists associated with it1.
The government and politics can also play a significant role in how much attention is given to a particular gallery. Government politics can dictate the amount of focus given to cultural aspects of a country, with art being one cultural aspect influence. Biennials are art exhibitions that take place in different cities across the world. The occurrence of these exhibitions is subjected to interests of local governments with non-cultural agendas so they started to become less frequent when certain political powers come into power3. Despite the changing hands of politics, there still seem to be at least five art fairs that take place across the globe each month of the year4. It seems as though art shows and biennials are becoming more abundant than art fairs. This transition to a different kind of art exhibition could represent the desire to view a different kind of art exhibitions that show more art and involves more curators and artists. In some cases, politics drives inspiration for art5. Propaganda is abundant during times of war and many pieces of artwork are found in newspapers in conjunction with a certain message the government or media wants to relay to the people. In one instance, the Iraq War led to many pictures in the media, depicting the violence and brutality of war.
Example of War Propaganda:
References:
2http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/g/larry_gagosian/index.html
3http://metropolism.com/magazine/2008-no3/the-art-fair-age/
6[http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/g/larry_gagosian/index.html
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