Category: Gallerist
Nationality: German
Last Year: 7
‘I am a good salesman because I peddle good stuff.’ So said David Zwirner back in March. One can’t fault the man for straight talking. This past year saw Zwirner closing sales on $2 million paintings by Martin Kippenberger, $1m paintings by Neo Rauch (to Brad Pitt, no less) and nearly entire shows by Lisa Yuskavage. (One thing he supposedly couldn’t sell was a portrait of Bernie Madoff by Yan Pei-Ming; but we think he’s got balls for even trying.) In addition to the estates of Sandback, Taylor and Matta- Clark, Zwirner picked up those of Alice Neel and Dan Flavin. And to show all this ‘good stuff’? This autumn a new space, which will pick up Zwirner’s side of his now-closed partnership with Iwan Wirth (the new space is appropriately branded just Zwirner), opens across the street from the current gallery, on what we might as well call Zwirner St.