Simon de Pury has several titles. The first is baron, although he prefers not to use it. The second is chairman of auction house Phillips de Pury. The third is 'mentor' on the US reality show Work of Art: The Next Great Artist, which aims to do for aspiring artists what Project Runway does for aspiring fashion designers, that is, oblige them to jump through a variety of hoops in a quest for fame.
The fourth is The Man with the Golden Gavel, which was the title of a BBC series last year in which he was shadowed in his role as auctioneer. In one scene, he sold a variety of plastic objects, including a two-metre vagina. ('Touched by the baron these plastic figures become art,' the voiceover remarked.)
And his fifth title, beloved of headline writers, is the Mick Jagger of the auction world. De Pury will be in town this week for the Hong Kong International Art Fair and will speak at Friday's Intelligence Squared Asia debate in favour of the motion 'Art Must Be Beautiful'. However, you won't see any singing or prancing from the suit-clad baron, who turns 60 in November; the Jagger comparison is based on his energy and enthusiasm.
'I feel very flattered to be compared to him,' says de Pury, speaking on the phone from New York. 'He's the ultimate showman and every time I see him, he gets better and better. So...' And he laughs, pleasantly. He is as famous for his charm (guanxi being more crucial in the auction business than gavels, golden or otherwise) as for the impressive sweep of his taste. Indeed, judging by those whom he considers great artists - Tupac Shakur, Steve Jobs, Jeff Koons - you have to ask where his boundaries lie. Forget beauty: what's his definition of ugliness?
There's a little intercontinental pause. 'That's a good question. Maybe I'll know the answer by the time of the debate. But there can be beauty in ugliness. It doesn't have to be pretty to be beautiful - in the same way music doesn't have to be syrupy to be beautiful, it's a mixture of sugar, salt and pepper. Beauty is a very subjective emotion.'
De Pury's subjective response, however, carries rather more weight than most. His enthusiasm shapes what clients want to buy: what he feels viscerally has commercial repercussions. He has, for example, championed American artist Richard Prince. Early in his career, Prince's works sold for US$30,000 to US$70,000; now they can fetch a regal US$10 million at auction. Who wouldn't want a mentor like that?