New York art dealer Larry Gagosian is the stuff of legend, a self-made man who rose from selling posters on the streets of LA to hobnobbing with celebrities, bidding on artworks for hundreds of millions of dollars, and occasionally even dating artists decades his junior. Art world insiders devoured Patrick Radden Keefe’s sprawling, 17,000-word profile of the dealer, “How Larry Gagosian Reshaped the Art World,” in the New Yorker in 2023, but he’s the kind of art dealer who gets profiled for the general public on CBS Sunday Morning, talking about the “brutal business” of the art world.
As of yesterday, the New York Post’s Page Six had sleuthed out unconfirmed rumors that director Barry Avrich was working on a documentary about the art world giant.
Now, ARTnews can confirm that “Shadow Man: Inside The Secret World of Larry Gagosian” is in the works, per an email direct from Avrich. Gagosian’s gallery did not respond to a request for comment.
“Former employees and artists are lining up to tell their juicy Larry stories and scoop on the inner workings of the Gagosian empire,” writes Page Six, claiming that “a rep for the gallery was unaware of the doc on Wednesday.”
(L-R) Artist Richard Prince, art dealer Larry Gagosian and artist Damien Hirst attend the private view of Prince’s exhibition at Gagosian’s London space in 2008.
Photo by Dave M. Benett/Getty Images
Gagosian’s 18 locations span the world, from New York to Beverly Hills and from Paris to Hong Kong, and the roster of artists on his website, including some 112 names, features Francis Bacon, Carol Bove, Maurizio Cattelan, John Currin, Urs Fischer, Theaster Gates, Lauren Halsey, Jamian Juliano-Villani, Anselm Kiefer, Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami, Cady Noland, Pablo Picasso, Richard Prince, Ed Ruscha, Richard Serra, Cy Twombly, Anna Weyant, and Christopher Wool.
Avrich has studied the art world before, including writing and directing the 2020 documentary Made You Look: A True Story About Fake Art, about the scandal that brought down the storied New York gallery Knoedler & Co. The film earned plaudits from Variety, whose critic opined, “In a sly way, ‘Made You Look’ shows you that to be enthralled by a fake painting is to exist in an innocent state of foolish grace.” The Los Angeles Times said it was a “fascinating depiction” of those involved.
He also directed 2017’s Blurred Lines: Inside the Art World, which featured artists like Marina Abramović, Damien Hirst, Rashid Johnson, and Jeff Koons, as well as museum directors Michael Govan and Glenn Lowry and market giants like Amy Cappellazzo. Hyperallergic said that Blurred Lines offered “star power and obvious ideas.”
Avrich has also helmed documentaries on subjects including music producer and musician David Foster, comedian Howie Mandel, and jazz pianist Oscar Peterson, as well as docs on subjects like sexual misconduct in Hollywood, terrorism in Europe, and the demise of democracy in Turkey.