ArtReview Power 100: Larry Gagosian among most influential people in art
The Indonesian collective ruangrupa tops the 21st edition of the ArtReview Power 100, the annual ranking of the contemporary artworld’s most influential people and movements.
Founded by artists in Jakarta in 2000, ruangrupa is the first Asia-based curator of the quinquennial Documenta, regarded by many as the most important recurring exhibition on the global contemporary art calendar. It is the first time an artist collective has taken the first position on the list, as well as the first time an artist group has directed Documenta, the magazine said.
Cecilia Alemani, the curator behind the 59th Venice Biennale, comes in second on the list, followed by the activist movement unions.
Larry Gagosian, an American art dealer of Armenian descent who owns the Gagosian Gallery chain of art galleries, is among the most influential people in art, placed at number 20.
"The man who invented the megagallery – by growing his gallery each and every year, this year adding a permanent exhibition space in Gstaad and a ‘boutique’ fourth site in London to the operation’s 20 addresses – knows he adds value to any artist. ‘I think if you are not aggressive in business you are not going to go very far. It’s the only way I can function,’ Gagosian told the Financial Times in February. Just ask painter Anna Weyant, whose works were selling for $400 three years ago, but since her embrace by Gagosian now fetch $1.6m at auction. This year the gallerist picked up established names too, including Ashley Bickerton, Jadé Fadojutimi, Jordan Wolfson, Stanley Whitney, Harold Ancart and Deana Lawson. And there were debut shows for photographer Tyler Mitchell and Awol Erizku, as well as the usual bigshots. Gagosian’s own rags-to-riches tale is set to be immortalised in a forthcoming unofficial biography. And given rumours circulating about the gallery’s impending purchase by lifestyle group LVMH, perhaps by the time it’s completed he’ll be richer still," ArtReview says.