100 Most Influential People in the Art World: Part Two

Larry always makes the list.

Larry Gagosian. Courtesy of David Crotty, © Patrick McMullan.
Kara Walker Photo: Sari Goodfriend.

Kara Walker
Photo: Sari Goodfriend.

This year, we’ve watched records break at high-profile auctions and attendance grow at an abundance of international art fairs. At the same time, high art and pop culture keep intersecting and informing one another in curious ways, as evinced by fairs such as Art Basel in Miami Beach.

There’s no question that the art world is a powerful force in contemporary society, but who are the individuals with influence driving this well-oiled machine? From billionaire patrons to biennial curators, celebrity collectors to internationally celebrated artists, we made a list of the 100 most influential people in the art world today. (See Part One here.)

hito-steyerl-eye-prize-2015

Hito Steyerl.
Photo: Vanabbemuseum, Eindhoven.

34. Hito Steyerl
The artist and theorist’s hybrid practice explores surveillance, militarization, and the circulation of images; it feels increasingly relevant in this post-internet moment. This year, she had solo exhibitions in New York and Berlin and showed new work at the Venice Biennale.

Ingvild Goetz. Photo: Courtesy Suddeutsche.de

Ingvild Goetz.
Photo: Courtesy Suddeutsche.de.

35. Ingvild Goetz
The Munich-based collector founded the private museum Sammlung-Goetz, which specializes in new media. It then comes as no surprise that Goetz owns one of the largest video collections in the world.

Isa Genzken: German artist whose broad spectrum of work encompasses paintings, photographs, collages, drawings, artist’s books, films, and three-dimensional works

Isa Genzken.

36. Isa Genzken
The German artist has a huge influence on younger artists, especially within Europe. For the last two years, her solo retrospective has been traveling internationally, and has included stops at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Dallas Museum of Art, and beyond.

Texte zur Kunst publisher Isabelle Graw Photo: Christian Werner.

Texte zur Kunst publisher Isabelle Graw. 
Photo: Christian Werner.

37. Isabelle Graw
The art historian and critic is a professor at Staedelschule in Frankfurt. She co-founded the publication Texte Zur Kunst in Berlin, which celebrated its 25th anniversary this year and continues to drive the evolution of art criticism and influence global conversations.

Iwan and Manuela Wirth. Photo by Vincent Evans (2014). Courtesy of Hauser & Wirth.

Iwan and Manuela Wirth. Photo by Vincent Evans (2014).
Courtesy of Hauser & Wirth.

38. Iwan and Manuela Wirth
The major international gallerists and power couple added to their galleries in New York, London, Zurich, and Los Angeles last year, opening a large complex Hauser & Wirth Somerset in rural England which includes galleries and an educational center, proving their understanding that collectors want to be sold more than just objects. They also announced a partnership with former MOCA chief curator Paul Schimmel for their LA location, which cements their presence on the West Coast.

Jack Shainman. Photo: Jackie Nickerson, courtesy Jack Shainman Gallery.

Jack Shainman.
Photo: Jackie Nickerson, courtesy Jack Shainman Gallery.

39. Jack Shainman
The New York gallerist has a niche for showing African and Asian artists and in recent years expanded with a massive upstate New York space. This spring, he showed a retrospective of Ghanian-born sculpture El Anatsui’s works shortly after the artist’s Venice Golden Lion win.

Jay Jopling Photo: J Grassi/Patrick McMullan

Jay Jopling.
Photo: J Grassi/Patrick McMullan.

40. Jay Jopling
The English art dealer and founder of White Cube galleries has been instrumental in England’s repositioning as an art-world center. This year he added Theaster Gates to the gallery’s roster and married Paddle8 co-founder and fashion maven Hikari Yokoyama—who is also an art consultant for Gucci.

Jeff Koons. Photo via: cakechooser.com

Jeff Koons.
Photo via: cakechooser.com.

41. Jeff Koons
The American artist notorious for reproducing banal consumerist objects with shiny surfaces maintains the record for the most expensive artwork by any living artist for his Balloon Dog (1994). This year, he unveiled a new statue at Vienna’s Natural History Museum and his retrospective from last year at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York toured to Paris’s Pompidou and the Guggenheim Bilbao.

Jeffrey Deitch. Photo: Andreas Branch, courtesy Patrick McMullan.

Jeffrey Deitch.
Photo: Andreas Branch, courtesy Patrick McMullan.

42. Jeffrey Deitch
The American art dealer returned to New York after three years as the MOCA director in Los Angeles, and recently reopened Deitch Projects in Soho. He is collaborating with uber-gallerist Larry Gagosian at Miami Basel this year, and already got the party started at DACRA on Monday evening.

Joe Nahmad. Image courtesy of Nahmad Gallery.

43. Joseph Nahmad
The young gallerist comes from a family of billionaire collectors. At his first show, he exhibited Ray Nachum, an artist known for his celebrity collectors, as well as for his artwork on Rihanna’s latest album. We’ll see what he does next.

Juan A. Gaitán.Image: Courtesy of www.summeracademy.at.

Juan A. Gaitán.
Image: Courtesy of www.summeracademy.at.

44. Juan A. Gaitán
The former curator of the Berlin Biennale began directing the Museo Rufino Tamayo in Mexico City, which currently hosts a show of artist Leon Golub‘s work.

Jussi Pylkkanen Photo via Christie's

Jussi Pylkkanen.
Photo via Christie’s.

45. Jussi Pylkkanen
The Christie’s auctioneer has been key to the house’s record-breaking successes in recent years, and this year was no different. He is a master of “the auctioneer’s pause,” as the Financial Times notes.

Kara Walker at the Creative Time gala in 2014. Image: Courtesy of creativetime.org

Kara Walker at the Creative Time gala in 2014.
Image: Courtesy of creativetime.org

46. Kara Walker
This year the American artist known for her explorations of race, gender, and history made headlines with shows in London and Brooklyn and was appointed Tepper Chair at Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts.

Chief Curator of MANIFESTA 10 Kasper König

Chief Curator of MANIFESTA 10, Kasper König.

47. Kasper König
The Berlin-based curator has been named artistic director of the upcoming Skulptur Projekte in Münster in 2017. This follows his tenure as curator of Manifesta last year.

Kemal Has Cingillioglu

Kemal Has Cingillioglu.
Photo: Courtesy of Vebidoo.

48. Kemal Has Cingillioglu
The influential London-based collector hails from one of Turkey’s wealthiest families and is a member of Christie’s European Advisory Board. He made headlines this Fall for flipping Warhol’s “Four Marilyns” (1962) only two years after he purchased it.

Larry Gagosian. Image: ©Patrick McMullan. David Crotty/PatrickMcMullan

Larry Gagosian.
Image: ©Patrick McMullan. David Crotty/PatrickMcMullan.

49. Larry Gagosian
With his empire of 13 galleries worldwide, the American art dealer has had another year of impressive museum-quality shows, and looks ahead at a collaboration with Jeffrey Deitch at Miami Beach in December.

Lauren Cornell Photo via: Broadway World

Lauren Cornell Curator and Associate Director, Technology Initiatives at the New Museum. 
Photo via: Broadway World.

50. Lauren Cornell
The co-curator of this year’s New Museum Triennial was later named the institution’s curator and associate director of technology initiatives. The former executive director of Rhizome has developed a reputation for finding emerging talent and specializing in new media.

Leonardo DiCaprio and artist Walton Ford are close friends. Photo: earthstrongtt.org

Leonardo DiCaprio and artist Walton Ford.
Photo: earthstrong.org.

51. Leonardo DiCaprio
The Hollywood actor is developing a reputation as one of the world’s most prolific art collectors, adding a Frank Stella to his hoard this year.

Leonid Mikhelson. Photo: courtesy Skolkovo, Moscow School of Management.

Leonid Mikhelson.
Photo: courtesy Skolkovo, Moscow School of Management.

52. Leonid Mikhelson
The Russian art dealer has used some of his energy-industry fortune to found Victoria – the Art of Being Contemporary, which has lived up to its mission statement of promoting post-avant-garde Russian art at home and abroad over the past several years.

Lin Han.Photo: via SCMP Pictures.

Lin Han.
Photo: via SCMP Pictures.

53. Lin Han
The emerging Chinese collector has made bold moves at auctions and recently opened M Woods, the first private museum in Beijing’s 789 Arts District.

Liu Yiqian drinks from his $36.3 million Meiyintang chicken cup. Photo: courtesy Sotheby's.

Liu Yiqian drinks from his $36.3 million Meiyintang chicken cup.
Photo: courtesy Sotheby’s.

54. Liu Yiqian
The Chinese billionaire and art collector broke records purchasing the most expensive work of art this year and the second-most expensive ever, a Modigliani nude. He founded the Long Museum, a private art museum which already has expanded to a second location in Shanghai.

Loic Gouzer. Image: Courtesy of Instagram.

Loic Gouzer.
Image: Courtesy of Instagram.

55. Loic Gouzer
The Swiss auction-house executive was promoted to Deputy Chairman of Post-War and Contemporary Art at Christie’s this year.

Arne Glimcher, Marc Glimcher.Image: Courtesy of Pace Gallery.

Arne Glimcher and Marc Glimcher.
Image: Courtesy of Pace Gallery.

56. Marc and Arne Glimcher
The father-and-son pair behind Pace Galleries have locations in five cities internationally and a noteworthy presence in mainland China. They also have a mini museum-style gallery under-construction in Chelsea, scheduled to open in 2018.

Marian Goodman: Owner of her eponymous contemporary art gallery in New York Photo: Patrick McMullan

Marian Goodman.
Photo: Patrick McMullan.

57. Marian Goodman
The power-player American art dealer has galleries in London, Paris, and New York as well as a roster of high-profile artists. Exhibitions this year have included shows by Jeff Wall and Rineke Djikstra.

Marina Abramović: 512 Hours at Serpentine Gallery

Marina Abramović.
Photo: Marco Anelli (2014), Courtesy of Serpentine Gallery.

58. Marina Abramović
The renowned performance artist and celebrity figure has finally raised the funds for the Marina Abramović Institute. This year she also made headlines for feuds with Jay Z and her former collaborator and ex-lover German artist Ulay.

Massimiliano Gioni Photo: Marco De Scalzi, Courtesy Fondation Nicola Trussardi, Milan

Massimiliano Gioni.
Photo: Marco De Scalzi, Courtesy Fondation Nicola Trussardi, Milan.

59. Massimiliano Gioni
Gioni is the director of the Milan-based Trussardi Foundation and the artistic director of the New Museum, where he helmed a survey of Chris Ofili this year.

Katherine Ross and Michael Govan.Photo: patrickmcmullan.com.

Katherine Ross and Michael Govan.
Photo: patrickmcmullan.com.

60. Michael Govan
The director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, which celebrated its 50th anniversary this year, straddles art-world credibility and celebrity-fueled projects headlined by Leonardo DiCaprio, Kanye West, and Steve McQueen.

Miuccia Prada Photo: Stefanie Keenan/Patrick McMullan

Miuccia Prada.
Photo: Stefanie Keenan/Patrick McMullan.

61. Miuccia Prada
The iconic Italian fashion designer and entrepreneur has been a long-time art collector. This year she opened a gallery with locations in Venice and Milan.

Philomene Magers (left) and Monika Sprüth <br>Photo: ©Dagmar Schwelle. Courtesy Spruth Magers

Philomene Magers (left) and Monika Sprüth
Photo: ©Dagmar Schwelle. Courtesy Spruth Magers

62. Monika Sprüth and Philomene Magers
The international gallerists Monika Sprüth and Philomene Magers have developed a reputation for ideological commitments and a roster of well-established artists, from Ryan Trecartin to Cindy Sherman. Next year, they will open a third location in Los Angeles after several years operating in London and Berlin.

Monique and Max Burger. Photo: Courtesy Asia Tatler.

Monique and Max Burger.
Photo: Courtesy Asia Tatler.

63. Monique and Max Burger
The Hong Kong-based couple have amassed an impressive collection specializing in post-1980s works. Since last year, a column presented by the Burger collection is featured every month in ArtAsiaPacific.


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