New York Post

Gagosian artfully took fed $

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LARRY Gagosian, the mega art dealer to the world’s wealthy elite, got an early PPP loan for up to $5 million.

He has 18 galleries worldwide, and usually clears around $1 billion in sales each year. His clients are a who’s who of Hollywood, the jet set and Wall Street elite and Gagosian, 75, has reportedly set up a successful online sales operation during the lockdown.

Yet on April 9, Gagosian, based on Madison Avenue, got a $2 million to $5 million PPP (Paycheck Protection Program, designed to help small businesses) loan, via JP Morgan, according to data released on the SBA Web site. He states he has retained 203 employee jobs.

Having shuttered his galleries across the globe from Hong Kong to Los Angeles, with some now reopened, Gagosian has been quarantini­ng at his estate in the Hamptons in an 11,000-square-foot Amagansett house designed by architect Charles Gwathmey.

He told Bloomberg in May that the gallery had furloughed part-timers and paid interns, but more tough decisions may be made. “You want to keep your business healthy,” he said. “You are stupid if you just pretend that nothing is going on.” He added, “Buying art is not a priority even for active collectors,” he said. “They have other concerns now.”

The biggest challenge is getting the art to the customer, Gagosian said. “It’s very difficult to even move a painting, to get a truck, to get someone to do a condition report. All the things the art world takes for granted have become very problemati­c.” However, online sales have been brisk.

Gagosian represents stars such as Urs Fischer, Takashi Murakami, Richard Prince and Jeff Koons and handles works from late artists as Basquiat, Francis Bacon, Willem de Kooning and Cy Twombly. His clients include billionair­es Steve Cohen, Leonard Lauder, Leon Black, Steve Schwarzman, Leo DiCaprio and David Geffen, who calls him “the most important dealer in the world.” A Gagosian rep did not get back to us.

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