Laurent Asscher started buying art quickly, and since his first purchase just over a decade ago, he hasn’t been able to stop.
In 2012, he made his first major acquisition, followed immediately by another. He had recently had a windfall after selling a private equity stake made years earlier and “had always dreamed of owning a Basquiat,” he said in a phone interview. It was a Wednesday when he purchased a work by the iconic New York artist at a major auction house in London, he recalled. By Thursday, he had seen another Basquiat on offer at a competing house.
“It was striking how different they were in quality, even to the untrained eye,” Asscher said. He immediately went into negotiation mode. “I knew nothing about the art market, but I managed to sell the piece I had purchased the day before to acquire the second one, Irony of Negro Policeman (1981) at Phillips,” he explained. “That was probably the best acquisition of my collection, and from that moment on, I became a committed collector.”
Asscher, who is listed among Artnews’s top 200 collectors, has been relatively private about his collection. Now, 13 years after the proverbial art-buying bug bit him, he is launching AMA Venezia, his own exhibition space in Venice, opening on April 9.
Located in the heart of the city near the Scuola Grande della Misericordia in Cannaregio, the building, which is a former soap factory, has more than 10,000 square feet of exhibition space. Asscher hired TA Torsello Architettura, which specializes in the restoration of architectural and cultural heritage, to oversee the transformation. The name of the space is a reference to his three children, Andrea, Matteo, and Alessandro. AMA also means “he loves,” in Italian.
Jeff Koons, Hulk Elvis Serie (Rock), (2004–13). ©Jeff Koons. Courtesy of the artist and AMA Collection. Installation view by Sebastiano Pellion di Persano.
The Venice space so far includes works by a wide array of artists in Asscher’s collection, among them Refik Anadol, Wade Guyton, Lauren Halsey, David Hammons, Jacqueline Humphries, Jeff Koons, Florian Krewer, Elizabeth Peyton, Avery Singer, and Jordan Wolfson.
“When you start to collect, you want one, and you want another. It’s like a drug,” Asscher said. He emphasized his point of view that you don’t need to be “the wealthiest guy,” because you can collect a drawing or whatever else it is that catches your interest. Instead, he said, it’s more of a persistent feeling that “you always need something to complete the collection… The collection is never ending.”
Asscher pointed out, for instance, that he’s a huge fan of Christopher Wool and owns at least one of each example of all of the distinctive bodies that that artist has produced.
He’s also not afraid of acquiring and displaying ambitious or edgy artworks. For instance, Wolfson’s Female Figure (2014—an animatronic work previously described as “a terrifying robot”—dances to pop music and locks eyes with visitors. When it was originally shown at David Zwirner, in 2014, visitors were allowed into the room one or two at a time to come face to face with the often startling humanoid machine that spits out pithy aphorisms.
Jordan Wolfson, Female Figure (2014) ©Jordan Wolfson. Courtesy of the artist and AMA Collection. Installation view by Sebastiano Pellion di Persan.
Asscher was raised by parents who he describes as “decent but not crazy” art collectors—though it’s hard not to be impressed at the fact that they also owned at least one Basquiat as well as a Joan Mitchell. “It was not a deep collection,” he said of their buying habits, describing them as more of a “one of each” collector type, instead choosing to buy one work from multiple artists, rather than multiple works by one artist.
“To be frank, it’s challenging to deeply engage with every artist,” Asscher said, noting that he prefers to focus on a select group of artists rather than constantly seeking to add new names to his collection. Unlike his parents, he prefers to acquire multiple pieces by a few artists, Wool and Wolfson being two examples.
His gallery relationships follow a similar approach. By staying loyal to a smaller number of artists, he finds that access to sought-after works improves significantly.
When he first started collecting, Asscher said he thought carefully about individual works and where he would place them. But over the last decade, that has changed. “When you really start to collect, you don’t think about that anymore,” he said. “You need the piece of art. I don’t think at all about where I’m going to put it and whether it’s too big or too small.”
That strategy has turned out to be prescient as he prepares to launch his own space. “The rule is that there are no rules,” he said of his programming strategy. The space will start by mounting one show per year with considerations for group shows, loans, and possibly artist residencies.
Wade Guyton, Untitled, (2021), Epson UltraChrome HDX inkjet on linen Untitled, (2024) Cast Aluminium ©Wade Guyton, Courtesy of the artist and AMA Collection Installation view by Sebastiano Pellion di Persano
He also expects to commission new works from some of his favorite artists. “It’s only natural to pursue specific projects when possible, because such initiatives can only take place in major museums, outstanding galleries, or private foundations,” he said.
Asscher also likes to meet artists he collects and admires in person, including through studio visits, which he says have sometimes led to “incredible surprises.”
AMA isn’t the first time Asscher has exhibited works from his collection in Venice. During the 58th Venice Biennale in 2019, he hosted a small, invite-only exhibition of some of his works at Palazzo Molin del Cuoridoro. He noted that there are prohibitive costs to building a space in either Belgium or Monte Carlo, which has led him back to Venice, a city with a rich history of private-collection art venues and the added perk of a world-renowned biennial that will bring viewers. He spoke of his admiration for the pioneering collectors who have established spaces in La Serenissima before him.
“I always think you need to be where the best of the best are: Prada, Guggenheim, Pinault,” he said. “So, I went with it.”