Sir Elton John and Gagosian. (Courtesy PMC)

Just in case anyone was worried that Larry Gagosian is slowing down, he announced today that he will open a third gallery in London. Carol Vogel of The New York Times has the story in her Inside Art column.

The new 22,000-square-foot space is in the capital city's Mayfair District, where rivals David Zwirner, Michael Werner and Pace have opened galleries recently. It sports 15 foot ceilings.

For the record, this brings Mr. Gagosian's gallery total to a baker's dozen. He also has three galleries in New York, plus two in Paris, and one each in Rome, Athens, Geneva, Hong Kong and Beverly Hills.

Here's hoping this doesn't distract from the dealer's hotly anticipated plans to open a restaurant serving waffles and chili on the ground floor of his 980 Madison headquarters.

Gagosian. (Getty Images)

People like to say that Larry Gagosian almost never gives interviews, but recently he has granted them to various international publications fairly regularly. In the past few years he's chatted with The Financial Times, Abu Dhabi's The National, The Wall Street Journal, Paris Match, Le Figaro, British Vogue and Interview with Peter Brant, letting slip that his forthcoming Upper East Side restaurant will serve waffles and chili. (Really looking forward to that, for the record.)

The latest outlet to interview Mr. Gagosian is Bidoun, which billed its piece in promotional materials as "open-ended, sometimes testy, mildly informative conversation." Actually, he seems fairly genial throughout, even if he does cut things off somewhat abruptly. (To be fair, the man had evening auctions to prepare for.) That said, there aren't exactly any bombshells.

Among the noteworthy moments in the conversation, which was conducted by Negar Azimi on Election Day last year in New York, is that the dealer, who has never exactly been a big joiner, is now part of the board at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Here he is on that:

I like jazz a lot. I just joined my very first board. I've never been on a board but I just went on the board for Jazz at Lincoln Center. I'm very happy about that. Good jazz has been a big part of my life, as far as my interest in music, and… It's kind of weird now with music, the way technology is, with downloading and iPods and electronic distribution and it's kind of—you miss something, I think.

Agreed.

Also, if Mr. Gagosian can't remember your name the next time you run into him, don't get angry. It happens. From the piece:

I have a good visual memory. I'm good with faces, but names—I get in trouble a lot, I can't seem to remember people. People think I'm rude. As a side comment, you know, I'm not being rude, I just kind of blank out.

He also shares a bit about his past selling posters on the streets of Los Angeles. "Did you think a lot about what people liked to put on their walls?" Ms. Azimi asks. "There must have been a fair amount of psychology—"

Not selling posters. It was just like, get them to buy it. You know—ask for twenty dollars and be prepared to take anything north of ten. It was a street business. It wasn't about psychology.

How did the business work?

You buy the print for about a dollar, the frame would cost you two, three dollars, and then you try to sell it and make a profit. And I'd make a couple hundred bucks a night, which was a lot of money.

It's really worth picking up a copy of Bidoun to read the full piece. (It's the "interviews issue," and also has fun talks with Artforum's editor in chief, Michelle Kuo, and Jeremy Deller, among others.) Ms. Azimi and Mr. Gagosian also talk about his friendships with the storied collector and Gagosian director Robert Shapazian, Cy Twombly and others, his love for Gorky and one of the very first artworks he ever bought: a drawing of the sea by Vija Celmins. Here he is on that:

I remember it was eleven hundred dollars, and it's always out on loan…I knew when I bought it that I'd made a good buy, even though it was not cheap and Barry Lowen [the collector who sold it] got the proper price. I knew it would be worth a lot more.

Kusama in 1968. (Keystone Features/Getty Images)

Yayoi Kusama will join David Zwirner, The New York Times' Carol Vogel writes. Shortly after Art Basel Miami Beach last year, The Art Newspaper reported that she was parting ways with Gagosian Gallery. She had her first one-person show with the gallery in 2009. A recent profile of Mr. Gagosian in New York magazine said that a representative for the artist told the gallery last summer that she wanted to cease working together. In late December, the German newspaper Die Welt reported the widely circulating rumor that Ms. Kusama was set to join Zwirner in New York. And now the official word has arrived.

The news comes shortly after Jeff Koons said that he would do a show with Zwirner in New York, though he has also said that he will continue to work with Gagosian and Sonnabend Gallery.

Ms. Vogel confirms that Ms. Kusama will continue to work with Victoria Miro in London, where Zwirner recently opened a space.

The excitement never ends in Chelsea.

"The Lightning Field." (Courtesy Dia)

And in another item from Carol Vogel's Inside Art column in The New York Times: the Dia Foundation has just begun a campaign to repair and better conserve Walter De Maria’s The Lightning Field, originally commissioned by that organization and completed in 1977.

The plan calls for some $400,000 in fund-raising, with Miuccia Prada and Larry Gagosian leading the effort. From the story:

“It’s like a 21st-century Mount Rushmore,” he said in a telephone interview. “Mount Rushmore is like some kind of church, but ‘The Lightning Field’ is more ecumenical, more global.” Mr. Gagosian, knowing Ms. Prada admired Mr. De Maria’s work, called her to see if she would join forces with him.

Restoration should be completed by this time next year.

Larry Gagosian. (Courtesy Getty Images)

Larry Gagosian cannot stop opening art galleries! The New York Times' Carol Vogel reports today that Mr. Gagosian has a second gallery in the works in Paris, where he first opened in the fall of 2010. This will be the dealer's 12th gallery, and will be situated at Le Bourget, home to an airport for private planes.

Here's Ms. Vogel:

The gallery will be in a converted 1950s factory and comprise 5,413 square feet on two levels, with a 1,115-square-foot mezzanine overlooking the main space. The French architect Jean Nouvel is designing it.

“I was interested in getting a bigger space for larger pieces,” Mr. Gagosian said. “All the artists I talked to are very enthusiastic about it. It’s only about 20 minutes from the heart of the city, about the same time it takes to get from the Upper East Side to Chelsea.”

First up in the fall is a painting show and a major sculpture by Gagosian artist Anselm Kiefer, who shows in Paris with Thaddaeus Ropac, who has also been busy expanding his gallery space. It's getting wild over there in Paris.

Mr. Gagosian. (Courtesy Patrick McMullan Company)

Larry Gagosian's Upper East Side office has "the calm of a private papal chamber," according to author Philip Delves Broughton. He visited the dealer back in 2000 for an article in the Daily Telegraph on the occasion of the opening of the first Gagosian Gallery in London, on Heddon Street. Mr. Delves Broughton has drawn on that interview for a section of his new book, The Art of the Sale, which profiles a number of high-profile deal-makers in various industries.

Mr. Delves Broughton paints a rich, dramatic picture of his visit to the gallery—"one of the most remarkable spaces in Manhattan, large white room after large white room, like a mental asylum" —and the moment he meets the dealer is pretty intense:

He looked like a recently minted Russian billionaire, an ex-KGB man suddenly given a lucrative oil concession for services rendered, wearing a houndstooth jacket, baggy beige slacks, and a turtleneck sweater. His hands were folded over his groin, like a soccer player defending against a penalty kick.

Okay!

By this point Mr. Delves Broughton has quoted various people's opinions of Mr. Gagosian, really getting us excited to meet him. One critic says the dealer is "an extraterrestrial trying to communicate with our species." Jeff Koons said, "Larry enjoys these different types of transactions, that type of energy. It's kind of like a sexual energy." (If these quotes sound vaguely familiar, it's because they're from a 2008 profile of the dealer, by Observer Culture Editor Sarah Douglas, published in The Economist's Intelligent Life magazine.)

But back to the story. The dealer finally speaks, and it's reported that his "voice was soupy and languid, like warm ocean water, monotonous, low, confidential, self-effacing."

The really thrilling part is when Mr. Delves Broughton gets to hear about Mr. Gagosian's first experience of New York. He'd come there from California when he was in his early 20s to visit his aunt and uncle. Here's the dealer:

I'll never forget it, when I got out of the cab to walk to their apartment, just the look of the city, the feel of it just hit me. Immediately. I'd never seen anything like it. And it just made everything else look pale by comparison. Mind you, I'd never been to Europe at this point or really traveled that much, so I was a pretty blank slate in terms of travel experience. But it was a palpable thing. The people on the street, the way they looked, the buildings, the energy, something about it. It was beautiful, just beautiful.

That young man from the San Fernando Valley would find plenty to love in New York, and it would become the foundation of a worldwide empire on which the sun never sets. Doing this, he has attracted his share of enemies. As Mr. Delves Broughton writes:

He made himself the equal of people who thought themselves superior. And for that he may never be forgiven.

Gagosian, coming to a cafe near you. (Wet Jet)

For decades, Larry Gagosian has been a fixture at Sant Ambroeus, the Upper East Side cafe around the corner from his flagship gallery 980 Madison Avenue, which he opened in the late 1980's. He even has a regular table, where he can watch the rest of the art world stream by, many stopping to pay their respects before taking their own seat inside the eatery that has long been the art world's living room.

But soon Mr. Gagosian will be sipping his espresso closer to home—and it will be curious to see how many of his fellow connoisseurs will follow him.

As Gallerist reported in February, Mr. Gagosian plans to open a cafe in one of the storefronts at 980 Madison, and work is now underway on the project, which will include space for a gallery. In April, permits were filed with the Department of Buildings for demolition, plumbing and renovation work to the storefront previously occupied by the Spot Shop, where tchotchkes connected with the Damien Hirst show (books, prints, cufflinks) had been on sale.

Last week, the construction permits were approved by the city, and they reveal that the new cafe will be designed by Annabelle Selldorf. Additional city records filed with the Landmarks Preservation Commission provide definitive proof that Gagosian Gallery is opening a cafe in the multi-story storefront, along with additional gallery space.

Ms. Selldorf is a frequent collaborator with Mr. Gagosian (as well as with other gallerists for that matter, like David Zwirner), having designed layouts for various Gagosian Gallery shows, everything from the Picasso show in London to Monet and Francesco Vezzoli shows in New York. The latter was widely panned but for the exception of Ms. Selldorf's installation work, which won plaudits for the convincing darkened chapel she created within the gallery to showcase Mr. Vezzoli's kitschy paintings of weeping models.

Ms. Selldorf's office declined to discuss the project, or even whom its client for the space was, citing confidentiality agreements.

Records reveal Mr. Gagosian is creating the cafe with help from Steven Kamali, the 30-year-old hospitality impresario who has worked on projects for the likes of Jeffrey Chodorow, Giuseppe Cipriani and Stephen Starr, as well as helping to open Colors, the failed restaurant created by the Windows on the World staff. Mr. Kamali is a partner in three East End hotels, Surf Lodge, Capri and Ruschmeyer's, for which has been widely credited with Manhattanizing the Hamptons.

Mr. Kamali's name appears as a restaurant consultant on an application filed with the city's Landmark's Preservation Commission. Any alterations to the exterior of the space have to be approved by the Commission—980 Madison lies within the Upper East Side Historic District. Ms. Selldorf's plans call for alterations to the door and the storefront windows, according to architecture drawings on file, changes that would have to be approved by the commissioners.

The only signage on the storefront, according to the drawings, is a monolithic GAGOSIAN. No CAFE GAGOSIAN or, to Gallerist's great disappointment, CHEZ LARRY.

While the building permits do not mention Gagosian Gallery by name—they are filed by RFR Realty, the landlord of 980 Madison that is controlled by fellow art world big shot Aby Rosen—the documents on record with the Landmarks Preservation Commission do.

A spokeswoman for Gagosian, which runs 11 galleries around the world, was unavailable to comment when reached by Gallerist. Mr. Kamali was also unavailable for comment.

The tri-level space, which includes the ground floor, a mezzanine and the basement, will also include room for a gallery, according to DOB records, but it was not clear what would go on where at this point. Still, what better way to enjoy that Richard Prince Nurse or a Cy Twombly sketch than with a warm cappuccino in hand?

And the shopping may not be gone, either, as zoning would allow for a retail kiosk in the space as well, familiar territory for Mr. Gagosian, who used to run a shop on the corner of the building. He vacated that space so that he might move into his current one, which may not have the prime frontage in the building but is bigger, pricier, grander and perhaps a little more discreet. Just like Mr. Gagosian.

Glenn Brown, "Little Death," 2000. (Courtesy VOM)

As we reported two months ago, art and design collector Adam Lindemann, who pens a regular column for The Observer, is opening a 3,200-square-foot gallery space at 980 Madison Avenue, the building owned by developer Aby Rosen's RFR that is also home to Gagosian and other galleries. Today, Mr. Lindemann announced that the space will open in May and provided details about its programming; naturally, we gave him a call.

“A lot of dealers have asked me over the years why I don’t have a space, or why I don't curate shows,” Mr. Lindemann told us. He made the decision to take the plunge last Aug. 3—his birthday, auspiciously enough.

The new gallery—called Venus Over Manhattan, for the allegorical figures on the building's facade—opens May 10 with a show entitled “À Rebours” (“against nature”), inspired by the 1884 book of the same name by Joris-Karl Huysmans, which features the Duc Jean des Esseintes and tales of turn of the century decadence. The show will include some 50 artworks, by artists who range from early modernists, like Odilon Redon, to working contemporary figures, like Glenn Brown. Some works come from Mr. Lindemann's collection, while others are loans "from very generous friends."

Yes, this is a commercial venture. At least in part. A substantial part of the inaugural show will be for sale. Mr. Lindemann wasn't naming prices—even to us! Harumph!  “We have some pretty important things," he said coyly. "And some that are less dear.”

In À Rebours, the Duc Jean des Esseintes has Egyptian sinks, strange perfumes and music. Accordingly, Mr. Lindemann plans to show everything “from flea market art to Symbolists from the late 19th century.” Several artists, he said, have made things specifically for the show.

As to why he's opening on the Upper East Side, Mr. Lindemann explained, “I don’t really think I have that much to contribute to Chelsea or the Lower East Side or Brooklyn for that matter, but within the context of the Upper East Side I think there was an opportunity to come up with an independent voice.” The location is also convenient: he lives in a David Adjaye-designed home only about a block away from 980 Madison.

Mr. Lindemann, a controversial figure in the art world, seemed to acknowledge that he has his detractors out there. “The show," he told us with a laugh, "might not be very well received.”

Larry Gagosian, a man who eats lunch. Courtesy Business Insider.

One of the first things you learn in any introductory journalism class—nestled somewhere between how to write a nut graf and why you shouldn’t use a pen when you’re reporting outside in the winter (the ink freezes)—is never to include in an article details about the meal you ate during an interview.  This is why we’re so tickled by the Financial Times’ ongoing “Lunch with the FT” series. Here, the writer gets what sounds like a very expensive lunch with a powerful person--including a number of important art dealers--and meticulously catalogues the food consumed, often using the interviewee’s order choices as an extended metaphor for his or her personality and biography. Another thing, one that may or may not be particularly true of The Observer (we’ll never tell), the FT always picks up the tab.

They might not pass journalism 101, but boy howdy are these things a hoot. Let’s see what we’ve learned about our favorite art dealers from the kind of salad they eat.

Jay Jopling: The most recent "Lunch with the FT" was also the White Cube founder’s first interview in 10 years. The writer—writing in the first person, naturally—took him to Zucca, “whose wide glass front, slick white plastic furnishings and open-plan kitchen shares White Cube’s concept of accessible chic.” “I [the writer] choose mozzarella and courgettes. For mains, [Jopling] orders pasta with broccoli, I opt for grilled wild sea bass. Despite a reputation for being able to drink his artists under the table at his lavish parties, Jopling declines wine.” Classy! The following quote—well, we’ll just reproduce it in its entirety (and retain the British spelling of everything):

The casarecce – long pasta spirals with purple sprouting broccoli, anchovies and pecorino – and my grilled sea bass, accompanied by cauliflower, are served: simple, succulent, tasty. Does globalisation detract from art’s immediacy? I wonder.

Talk about a transition! Simple, succulent, tasty—like, say, a Damien Hirst spot painting, the kind that took the globe—get it? “globalisation?”—by storm at all 11 Gagosian galleries earlier this year? Is this an allusion to a secret rivalry between Mr Hirst’s London dealer, Mr. Jopling, and his man in New York, Larry Gagosian? Why not? Also: at the end, Mr. Jopling tries to pick up the tab.

Larry Gagosian: Speaking of good ol’ Gogo, the dealer met the FT down the road from his Davies Street gallery at C London. They order mineral water—the writer gets still and Mr. Gagosian gets sparkling—sparkling like the silver of his hair? Or the collective pristine shine of his 11 galleries across the world? Uh, sure!  “He asks for grilled swordfish–surely appropriate for a man known as the sharpest operator in the business.” Man, this article is making our arms sore; such is the weight of these words! “He approaches the dish methodically, with minimal interest, and continues: ‘I wasn’t particularly ambitious at college, I had no career path whatsoever. I started from scratch so it always felt like progress.’” Surely it was his lack of ambition in college that led directly to his ambivalence about the food at this very meal. Mr. Gagosian doesn’t “do coffee” and seems to have no problem having someone pay for his lunch.

Helly Nahmad: The head of his famous collecting family’s London gallery sat down with the FT at Brasserie Lipp in Paris, not long after mounting a major exhibition of rare paintings from the Nahmad collection by Picasso, Matisse, Miró and others. Booze plays a pretty important role in this installment: “He asks what I will drink. Whatever you do, I say. ‘But you might not like that!’ he exclaims, requesting vodka and orange juice. I order a coupe de champagne, to celebrate his exhibition.” Then Mr. Nahmad goes on an existential rant in the very restaurant where Hemingway used to get loaded:

“The overriding message of great artists is that they appreciate the hidden–that is, what’s real,” Nahmad opens. “They counter material reality. These glasses,”–he takes a couple from the table and slams them down again loudly–“these are invented, just an illusion. Brasserie Lipp,” a wave of the hand spans busy tables and gliding waiters – “all this is meaningless. The reason I love what I do is that we are close to people and things made by people saying, ‘I exist and this is how I feel.’”

He proceeds to cancel the vodka and orders champagne along with the two most expensive things on the menu: Foie gras (there’s some kind of liver damage joke to make here) and sole meunière. “The sole, perfectly filleted, buttery, succulent, is served, with new potatoes. Nahmad ignores the vegetables and approaches the fish methodically, preoccupied again with his exhibition.” A true existentialist’s careful forking of a dead fish is certainly parallel with the curating of a thoughtful landmark art exhibition. You are, so we've heard, what you eat.

Gilot and Picasso.

Part four in Gagosian's ongoing series of epic Picasso exhibitions is set to hit New York on April 30, and the focus will be work made during the artist's relationship with Francoise Gilot in the 1940s and early '50s, Bloomberg's Katya Kazakina reports in the wire service's new Pursuits magazine.

Ms. Gilot, 90, is famously known as the only woman ever to leave the insatiable artist. "I am very independent," she told Ms. Kazakina. "I was a completely new type of woman for him."

Picasso biographer John Richardson is once again providing his expertise for the show, and shares this of a work that appeared in one of the gallery's earlier Picasso shows: "A self-portrait with the red around the eye I find absolutely terrifying. It's Picasso outstaring death."

Want to buy a Picasso? Gagosian director Valentina Castellani--described by Mr. Richardson as "Larry's right hand" (she got him the job with Gagosian)--had this to say: "We always have a few works for sale. ... We send out a message that Gagosian is a place where you can both sell and buy Picassos of the highest quality."