Marat Guelman, owner of the eponymous Guellman Gallery, speaks to The Leader about the Russian art business.

How did you become owner of Russia’s most famous art gallery?

I started as a collector. In ‘87, when I got [my] first money, I started to buy art. I realized that there was no professional system of expertise in Russia. In ‘88, the boom in Russian art started, and prices became way too high for a Russian collector. That’s why I agreed with artists that I would help them to arrange exhibitions, sign contracts and, in return, they would sell their art to me cheaply. Eventually, I became the only specialist who understood [contemporary art in Russia]. A collector learns quickly. When you go to a cinema and watch a bad film, nothing bad happens, you just lose two hours. [But] when you have paid quite a lot for a bad picture, it’s painful. That’s why, when somebody is going to be a collector, he studies a lot and learns quickly. For months after the gallery was founded, it was called “the oldest.”

What is the main difference between a Russian and a Western gallery owner?

Unlike my colleges, say, in Cologne or in New York, whose only tasks are to show that a particular artist is better than the rest, a gallery owner in Russia has to do several things. First, he has to explain that collecting is a good thing because, for 70 years, collecting in Russia was bad and almost criminal. [The collector was considered] an agent of the bourgeois world. The second is that you have to explain that modern art is art, because for [people] art is what they have seen in textbooks — a landscape, a portrait and a battle scene. And the third is that you have to explain that a particular artist is an interesting phenomenon.

How is the gallery business in Russia today? And is your gallery profitable?

Certainly. Speaking about the country in general, the [art business] is not even a business. There are some 30 galleries around the country. Fewer than half of them live at their own expense. There is enough of a market for the five or seven [ profitable] galleries that exist in Moscow. These galleries work professionally. As far as I understand things, they are self-supporting. The money in this market is $10 million to $12 million. Compare to other C.I.S. countries, [this is not bad]. I come from Moldova, and, once, I said [speaking of my gallery] to a deputy culture minister, “Is this really a market, just $800,000? But he answered that the [Moldovan] Culture Ministry’s budget is less.

What do you do to make your gallery successful?

We use a non-trivial marketing approach. Museums in Russia are poor. Nevertheless, they are important clients for galleries and artists. It is very important if artworks get to museums. In ‘95, we sold a large number of works, more than 70, during the elections. There were lots of people who became rich and who wanted to get into power or buttress their relations with power. I suggested that [they] buy art and give some money to museums to fix their roofs and so forth, and museum managers in response would arrange a thank-you lunch and invite the mayor; if this is a small town or a head of the cultural department in a big city, they would then find places among the regional elite. This project was quite successful. The gallery sold artwork, and those people built up their relationship with the local authorities. Often I have to sell my relationships, because everything is built on politics and relationships in Russia. Many people buy art just to get into a certain club of people who buy from galleries.

How do you replenish your personal collection? They say that artists who have exhibitions at your gallery give their artwork to you.

This is not quite right. An artist today is quite a financially helpless fellow. To arrange a project, they need money before the painting is sold. The gallery finances a painter’s preparations for the exhibition and, as compensation, he gives some paintings to enrich the collection. This is not a gift, but a type of barter. The rest of the paintings are sold; the painter gets 50 percent, the gallery the other percent.

What is the average price of the art you sell?

The starting price is $2,500; the most expensive we’ve sold was for $70,000. The average maximum is up to $15,000.

Who are your customers, Russians or foreigners?

The art market exists for artists, not for galleries. The market depends on artists. Some of them are successfully sold abroad; Western museums are interested in them. The have famous names, their prices are higher, and they are bought here less, just because they are more expensive. If for your talking about an artist like Oleg Kulik — 80 percent of the buyers are foreign. Many customers are only sold on the local market. Besides, from the beginning of the ‘90s, the distinction between “Russians” and “foreigners” has disappeared. My wife is a foreign citizen. If she buys something, does that mean that a Russian has bought, or a foreigner? That speculators have also disappeared from the Russian market. This is both good and bad. Before ‘94-’95, they were the main customers. They were people who came [to Russia] to sell and buy.

Why did that happen? Has the market shifted to a legal course?

No. The speculative market existed because of the boom in Russia. A large number of unprofessional people rushed into that [selling art]. Lots of money could be made. They came, brought computers, [sold them and bought art and maybe caviar. They disappeared because this stopped being profitable. In ‘94, the market for Russian art reached its bottom in the West. Before, all the newspapers wrote about the fashion for Russian art, including maybe 30 names. Unprofessional people who arrived here [who were looking] for Russian art thought, “O.K., he’s Russian, speaks Russian, is a Russian artist, has a beard, is drunk; aha!, that means he is Russian and fashionable. Now I will buy a lot cheaply.” I saw storage rooms in Berlin packed with that sort of Russian art. In Italy in ‘94, on galleries’ walls everywhere, there were signs reading: “We do not look at Russian art.” The speculative market totally driven the image of Russian art to the bottom. It became clear that there are just 200 people in the world who are interested in Russian art. They are museums in themselves. The market has narrowed drastically. We worked with museums, with the National Gallery in Glasgow, with American and German museums. But, unfortunately, we can hardly sell anything American or German here. Our market is very nationalistic.

In an interview, you said that art is the only thing worth doing. Nevertheless, you are also a successful political engineer. How would you explain that?

I meant that art is the one thing worth of doing without asking yourself about the meaning of life. The rest — if you do it you should be able to answer to yourself why you are doing it.

That means you do politics to make money?

Yes, but not politics — consulting in politics. And exclusively out of practical considerations. Sometimes to promote art more successfully. With the help of a political campaign, we arranged some 25 festivals around the country.

Why did you decide to take the position of deputy general director of ORT, and why was this position offered to you?

A team of associates is being built up that includes [Konstantin] Ernst, [Alexander] Lyubimov and myself. We are people of the same generation and mentality. We have been friends for a long time, and have been discussing for ages how to move further together. A more creative team is required at [ORT]. I agreed to take the post because I am interested in life’s changes. I have an outsider’s experience of communication with media. Now I will try an insider’s one.