Top 39 Quotes & Sayings by Larry Gagosian

San Francisco has always been a great city for art collectors.

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.

Good jazz has been a big part of my life as far as my interest in music, and... It's kind of weird now with music, the way technology is, with downloading and iPods and electronic distribution, and its kind of - you miss something, I think.

You have to be a little bit cautious when the market gets quite strong because there's a tendency to anoint a genius artist every other day. That would be a word of advice for the collectors out there.

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

Nobody really needs a painting. It's something you kind of create value for in a way that you don't with a company. It's an act of collective faith what an object is worth. Maintaining that value system is part of what a dealer does, not just making a transaction but making sure that important art feels important.

I've never been on a board, but I just went on the board for Jazz at Lincoln Center. I'm very happy about that.

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 believe in the popularizing of art. But when you get right down to it, it's a bit of an elitist world. Not just economically elitist - how many people read poetry?

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

I don't wear plaid shirts.

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 was always very focused on how people dressed.

Some people buy art because they're confident that it'll be a good store value, and this is kind of a recent phenomenon.

I have a good visual memory. I'm good with faces, but names - I get in trouble a lot; I can't seem to remember people. People think I'm rude. As a side comment, you know, I'm not being rude: I just kind of blank out.

My gallery represents a lot of figurative artists.

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.

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

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.

The sun never sets on my gallery.

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

Take Damien Hirst out of contemporary art history, and there's an incredible void. Great artists, like great people, have second acts.

I don't think the art market is for everybody. Yeah, of course we have a global gallery. But we're like the one-tenth of the one-tenth of the one-tenth. OK? Not just who's buying but who's really seriously engaged with art.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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 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.

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.

I don't know what 'loyal' means.

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

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

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

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 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.

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.