Business of art

"It's about society's obsession with happiness," said Leo Koenig about the current exhibition of paintings by Nicole Eisenman in his gallery in the Chelsea district of New York City.

The paintings depict people sitting in beer gardens and drinking. In one work, Koenig himself is pictured, arm in arm with the American painter Tom Sanford. Eisenman portrays the excesses of New York society prior to the finance crisis.

"I know the feeling," said Koenig, 32. "Everything's fine, everything's wonderful, everything's going smoothly - but you're sure a disaster is just around the corner."

Setting a new tone

Koenig's own balancing act began in 1999, when he opened his first art gallery at the age of 21. Two years earlier, he had left Germany - where his father heads Museum Ludwig in Cologne and his grandfather publishes art books - for New York, the city he was born in.

From the very beginning, he established close friendships with his artists - including Nicole Eisenman, whom he met in 2000. Today, they're on the same triathlon team and participate together in competitions.

Nevertheless, friendships with artists can "sometimes be a real hindrance" in his professional life, conceded Koenig. After all, a gallery owner should be objective and the business "doesn't always run congenially." Sometimes Koenig takes a cut on his commission to help out an artist friend with a sale.

Indeed, the young gallery owner is indebted to the artists for his rapid success. A decade ago, he got together with the artists and developed a plan to make a grand entrance onto the art scene - which apparently worked. Koenig quickly gained a reputation as the young, wild gallery owner from Germany - with parties, beer and even a bar fight, which artist Tom Sanford later captured in oils and acrylic.

Stuck with bad press

For years now, Koenig's name has been known by everyone who's anyone on the New York art scene. Paris today, Tokyo tomorrow - he meets clients all over the world and sells works grabbing seven digits.

In 2006, for example, he sold the entire collection of German painter and sculptor Georg Baselitz - and his historic villa, Schloss Derneburg, along with it.

Koenig's rocketing success made him a symbol of the New York art boom prior to the global financial crisis. He was portrayed in newspapers and magazines as a go-getter with a penchant for bacchanal excesses, his own cattle ranch, and a cat sitter.

These days, in times of global belt-cinching, Koenig deliberately plays down his previous immoderation and contradicts the picture the media had given of him. The cattle ranch was just a run-down farm house where he used to spend his summer vacations, he said, and he has no idea where the cat-sitter rumor came from.

After 12 years in New York, he can laugh about the mistakes he made back then in dealing with the publicity, but he can't entirely get rid of the playboy image he's been saddled with - everything is just a mouse-click away.

Athletic art lover

The only thing he indulges in these days is sports, he said. For several years, he's competed in triathlons and trains every day for three hours before opening the gallery. He's also been traveling less, preferring to concentrate on New York instead.

Koenig said he likely won't be in the red this year, but probably won't make a profit either. The main reason for that, however, is the second gallery he's invested in to take advantage of current low rental prices.

The end of the New York art boom came as a relief to the young gallery owner. "I could finally stop comparing myself to others," he said.

Koenig's new outlook on life is partly a response to the media's less-than-flattering portrayal of him. When The New Yorker published a 10-page spread on him, Koenig said he was confronted with "crazy jealousy" and "blind hate" in the report.

The experience shocked him, but he also learned from it. He's become quieter, he said. Nevertheless, his eccentric, impulsive flair is still hibernating under the surface.

The business of art

Koenig doesn't have long-term plans for his gallery. What's important right now is the current Nicole Eisenmann exhibition, he said.

Every morning, he wakes up with a different idea about what he could do with his life. Sometimes he even wonders if his business skills wouldn't be better applied in a different area. He opened a gallery because he loves art, but he's not a collector himself, he said.

"I sell art; I'm a businessman," said Koenig. "Art lovers - aren't we all?"

Author: Aarni Kuoppamaki (kjb)

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