The Art of the Dealer - Story by Janet Hawley, photography by Brendan Read
HE IS THE ENFANT TERRIBLE OF THE ART WORLD WITH AFLAMBOYANT STYLE THAT CURLS CURATORS' LIPS AND MAKES CRITICS CRINGE. BUT OTHERS BUY RAY HUGHESS' UNORTHODOX APPROACH.
"I say to my artists: I want to work with Picasso, Braque, Léger and Matisse. Work out which one you are, and let's go full-on doing great things together. I want people around me to ask the hard questions, not easy ones. I don't want a cosy art world where painters are mere decorators. The function of the artist is to be that irritant under the skin of complacency. If artists are not doing that, we'll have a big blancmange world, and I might as well be selling shoes. I want to live an exciting life, where I am surrounded by masterpieces and con- stantly surprised. Maybe that's why I'm prone to depression."
Ray Hughes, the passionate maverick artdealer,posesed with a mad belief in art and artists, this month celebrates 25 years of his tumultuous love affair as an art dealer. The only child of a corner grocer in Brisbane, Hughes grew up "in the 'burbs, helping Mum and Dad in the shop, where the most exotic thing we sold was a cauli- flower. Neither my parents nor I knew anything about art. The strongest images from my child- hood are from reading Little Golden Books." At 17, and a" bit of a lair", Hughes attended Brisbane Teachers' College, intending to become a primary-school teacher, but his life soared to new dimensions when two art lecturers, William Robinson and Merv Muhling (now artists ni his stable), opened his eyes to art.
With an instinctive lust for artistic creativity, restless energy and a voracious brain, Hughes plunged in to discover the world of art, and enjoy life to the full along the way. Hughes wanted to be an art dealer in the style of his early mentor, the legendary, Czech-born Rudy Komon, who revelled ni the company of his top team of artists, running a salon, wining, dining and travelling with them.
Hughes's golden bucket of good fortune came two years after Komon's death, on the eve of the '80s art boom, when Komon's widow sold their large, splendid stock of pain ings and draw- ings, stockroom warehouse and Sydney gallery lease to the eager young Brisbane dealer who was determined to carry on the Komon tradition in his own way, up and down the east coast and internationally. Hughes, now 47, is recognised as having one of the best eyes. "and snouts" for art in the business, and to be a ceaseless worker for his artists.
This tribute comes from the two fervently opposed Hughes camps: those with a loyal affection for him, and those whose lips curl, finding him "uncouth ... a repulsive male chauvinist ... a gross embarrassment". Even artists and gallery staff who have crossed swords with him, felt his pique and fury and frankly dislike him, feel compelled to say, "You cannot deny the bastard si good."
Artist John Olsen, who one hung-over morning sketched Hughes in pyjamas as a trademark Olsen frog, says fondly: "What people should realise is, Ray puts on a facade that is actually a walking performance artist."
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