Who

Known for representing hot young artists like Chris Ofili and Lisa Yuskavage, David Zwirner runs the Chelsea gallery that bears his name.

Backstory

Zwirner was born into the contemporary art market: His father is the well-known Cologne-based gallerist-turned-art dealer Rudolf Zwirner. The younger Zwirner opened his first gallery in SoHo in January of 1993, at age 27, and quickly assembled a roster of up-and-coming artists. After several years of impressive growth, in 2000 he moved northward, teaming up with Swiss dealer Ivan Wirth to open a $3.5 million gallery on East 69th Street designed by fellow German Annabelle Selldorf. Several additional relocations and expansions later, Zwirner now has both the East 69th Street gallery and a three-building, 30,000-square-foot space on West 19th Street in Chelsea.

Of note

Zwirner's uptown gallery shows contemporary art by more established names such as Gerhard Richter (who used to be represented by Zwirner's father), Cy Twombly, Dan Flavin, Claes Oldenberg, and Bruce Nauman; the sprawling downtown space is dedicated to younger talent like Lisa Yuskavage, Chris Ofili, Marcel Dzama, and Raymond Pettibon. Zwirner's expansion efforts and increasingly aggressive tactics have earned him comparisons to uber-gallerist Larry Gagosian: Like Gagosian, Zwirner has made a habit of poaching artists from others; in recent years, he persuaded both Chris Ofili to ditch Gavin Brown and Lisa Yuskavage to kiss Marianne Boesky goodbye. And Zwirner's partnership with Wirth has helped him become a formidable presence in the secondary art market, and mount more competition against auction houses (and other dealers like Gagosian) for especially prized works.

Personal

Zwirner's wife, Monica, is a former employee of Selldorf's. With Lucy Wallace Eustice, she's the founder of MZ Wallace, which produces a line of handbags sold at their boutique on Crosby Street. (One of David's artists, Marcel Dzama, recently collaborated on an ad campaign for the company.) The Zwirners live in a renovated brownstone on East 13th Street, which they purchased for $2 million in 2002. In late 2006, they picked up the townhouse next door for $3.65 million.