Japanese billionaire who spent US$110.5 million on Basquiat masterpiece emerges as new champion for young artists
Maezawa is the 11th-richest person in Japan with a fortune of US$3.5 billion, according to business magazine Forbes
The price, a record for the artist, is reminiscent of 1980s Japan when corporate big-spenders splashed out on Impressionist art – along with foreign property and businesses – in an asset-buying spree.
But billionaire Maezawa insists he is just an “ordinary collector” – despite his extraordinary bank balance. His purchases are born of love and driven by gut instinct, rather than the instructions of any art advisor.
“I buy simply because they are beautiful. That’s all. I enjoy classics together with the history and stories behind them, but possessing classics is not the purpose of my purchase,” he said.
Rather than squirrel away his latest purchase – Jean-Michel Basquiat’s 1982 Untitled, a skull-like head in oil-stick, acrylic and spray paint on a giant canvas – he plans to loan it out to galleries worldwide.
“I hope it brings as much joy to others as it does to me, and that this masterpiece by the 21-year-old Basquiat inspires our future generations,” he said after the New York sale last month.