Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/193668
Meyers: It's an instance of how I think of how certain people or creative types get to the action. And then, after the feeling, the research follows. Lévy: By the way, the feeling sometimes can be a very negative one. I remember going to one of Cy Twombly's last shows and, at the exhibition, he was so upset because I told him how he was my idol, but how I hated the show! I left the show and it kept making me so angry and angry and angry, so I went back and I went back again. And by the fifth visit, something clicked and I had this overwhelming sense of humility by the risk and courage that the artist was taking with these works. Today I think they're masterpieces. Similarly with design, the first time I saw the work of Hella Jongerius, I really hated it. And Didier pushed me and pushed me, and so I bought a piece and then when I lived with it, I got very intrigued by the mix of materials, the kitsch and so I slowly started getting it. Now I have three or four pieces and I enjoy them. Meyers: Right, exactly. That's the best part about learning— to keep growing. And it never stops. Lévy: I'm so grateful to all of the new artists because, I feel, they make the world such a better place. Meyers: I totally agree. Meyers: What do you think about the globalization of our business? Lévy: On one side, it's exciting and great because of the access to people that you would never have met—and that's extraordinary. And the fact that there are more people interested in foreign art allows for more creativity and building more museums—really just more of everything. Now the other side: is more of everything really what I believe in? Is bigger better? Is having artists produce more rather than create always good? I don't want to criticize because the answer is, I don't know. But I'm doubtful. Meyers: I can be doubtful too. But if you go back 100 years and you're a New York art dealer looking at, say, Impressionist art and you go to Paris to exhibit—or to buy—you go on a boat and you'd be there for at least three weeks. Now, we go to 102 CULTURED Basel, we come back in five days, 10 days—some people, two days. But this is how the world has sped up. Lévy: The more people involved is the great side of it. The more we travel, we learn, we seek—all that more is great. But I'm not sure that pushing artists to produce more is the way to keep up the pace. You go to art fairs and the first day everything is sold out, and the next day there's all new work...I think today there's no editing in the art, and I feel that is a problem. Because, honestly, when we go to art fairs, not all of them, but some, there's what I would call—and it's the only disrespectful word I would use—what looks like junk. So repetitive, it's all quantity, it's overflowing and that I find difficult. It hurts my eyes, it hurts my passion and my sensibility. Now, you know, some artists can sustain that pace, and you can see some artists who have, but for how long, I don't know. Meyers: When I try to relate this, I use the musician example because there are people with their hit song that are known as one-hit wonders. Similarly, many people in the design world are known for that one chair. Lévy: I know. Meyers: Think of people like Joris Laarman—even Ron Arad. Where's his new furniture? So our responsibility as dealers is to look for talent that will have a second, third and fourth decade in their career. It's about longevity—not just what they're doing today, but how the work develops into more than a singular output. Lévy: And that's what I think today's dealers have forgotten to do. That's why I find the whole thing at least legitimate to question. Meyers: There are two kinds of dealers—both in the design world and in the art world: the ones who make the market like we do and like Didier does, and that's based on passion. And then you have everybody else. Lévy: The day I'm sitting here and thinking, "Well, I have no clue what to do," that's when I'll know the creative juices have stopped. I need to be challenged and I need to be excited.