Maezawa is the 11th-richest person in Japan with a fortune of US$3.5 billion, according to business magazine Forbes
With a single post on Instagram, Yusaku Maezawa announced not only his, and his place in auction history, but arguably signalled a new era for art in Japan. 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, 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. The 41-year-old’s style is a step change from the corporate image of Japan’s traditional art collectors who possess paintings as investment tools or to cement their social status. Paper tycoon Ryoei Saito, who bought Vincent Van Gogh’s in 1990 for US$82.5 million – a then record – and Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s for US$78.1 million – famously triggered outrage when he said he would have the canvases put in his coffin and cremated with him when he died. He later recanted. “Many Japanese rushed to buy paintings for investment during the bubble economy, ” said Shinji Hasada, an official at Shinwa Art Auction, of the 1980s and 1990s boom period.
