Another L.A. star is rising

LOS ANGELES’ clout in the art world is growing, if we’re to believe the “Power100,” London-based ArtReview magazine’s annual ranking of players on the international scene.

Angelenos hold seven spots on the 2004 list, up from four last year and five in 2002, when ArtReview’s panels of journalists and other professional observers started keeping score. This year’s No. 1 is New York dealer Larry Gagosian, who got his start in his native Los Angeles.

The Power100 has a lot of churn, and four of its 51 first-timers are from L.A.

Paul Schimmel, chief curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, debuts at No. 44. He is cited as “a key figure in putting Southern California and its brilliant artists on the map.”

Gallery partners Timothy Blum and Jeff Poe, 76th on the list, are hailed for their “remarkably clear eye for artistic talent.” Their gallery “has discovered more museum-caliber artists than any other on the West Coast,” the magazine says.

Richard Koshalek is 92nd. “Is there anything Koshalek can’t run?” asks ArtReview, noting his tenure building L.A.’s Museum of Contemporary Art and his current gig as president of “arguably the world’s best design school,” the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena.

Artist John Baldessari, “a witty conceptualist and archetypal artists’ artist,” ranks 94th.

L.A. perennials on the list are billionaire donor-collectors Eli Broad (22nd this year, after past rankings of 16 and 19) and David Geffen (No. 53, down from last year’s 12th and the previous year’s No. 37). Artist Ed Ruscha made it for a second consecutive year, and if he’s disappointed at having slipped from 30th to 45th, he can take consolation in ArtReview’s assessment that “if this were People magazine’s annual ‘Beautiful People’ issue, Ed Ruscha would be up there with Richard Gere and Harrison Ford as the sexiest man over 50.”