Artworld feud picking over the bones of a dead artist.
Every June they fly in like an air force of contemporary art: the world’s top dealers and collectors landing in Basel, Switzerland, for the year’s most significant fair. Of that glittering throng, four figures stand apart. The mega-dealers occupy booths no different from the rest. They just sell a lot more art: not a million dollars here at Art Basel, but tens of millions. Not tens of millions over the course of a year, but hundreds of millions. Or, in the case of Larry Gagosian, $1 billion. If, that is, you believe those numbers: the mega-dealers may boast of a particular sale, but all are private, and they stay mum on profits in what is, notoriously, the world’s largest unregulated market of legal goods.
To read more on Vanity Fair:
https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2019/03/duel-of-the-mega-dealers
You may also like to read:
* Mark Grotjahn, 'Pink Cosco' @ Gagosian Gallery, Grosvenor Hill
* The Art of Larry Gagosian's Empire
