Art is not a luxury product like Hermes bags: Larry Gagosian
Gagosian Gallery owner Larry Gagosian on Friday explained why he doesn’t consider art to be a “luxury good” and how the art world has benefited from globalization.
“It’s not a luxury good. It’s not a luxury product. I mean it may appear to people who buy Hermes bags, but it’s not a Hermes bag. Sometimes people try to categorize it as a luxury. It’s a disservice to art in my opinion. And it really distorts the nature of the market,” he told FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo on “Wall Street Week.”
Gagosian believes that the art market is in a healthy place and a myriad of things can be attributed to its success.
“Naturally, liquidity is a big factor in any market that seems to be a lot of money in the world, and there’s a lot of discretionary money. Art has become at the same time a much more popular pursuit [or] hobby. Some people buy art because they’re confident that it’ll be a good store value, and this is kind of a recent phenomenon,” he said.
Last May, entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa made history in the art world by purchasing a Jean-Michel Basquiat painting for $110.5 million dollars.
Gagosian discussed how globalization has helped fuel the art market and help promote art pieces from around the world.
“So what’s different now is that you can transmit information very quickly. We have sixteen galleries literally all over the world and for instance somebody who works in our gallery in Hong Kong, they have access to a particular painting and they liaison with our gallery in Geneva,” he said. “It’s also allowed collectors to have more communication and to have access to more transparency about prices, which gives the market more confidence.”
On Wednesday at a Christie’s auction in New York, a rediscovered painting by Leonardo da Vinci sold for a whopping $450 million, becoming the most expensive piece ever sold.
“I literally saw it because I was at Christie’s, and I was sitting there and I mean it was just jaw dropping. Nobody expected the price to go that high. Nobody I knew,” he said.
Tune in to FOX Business’ “Wall Street Week” for Maria Bartiromo’s exclusive sit-down with Gagosian Gallery owner Larry Gagosian, on Friday, Dec. 22nd, at 8 p.m. ET.