Etsuko Nakajima on Selling Art to a Younger, Asian Generation

HONG KONG — A smashed sculpture and a fuming Takashi Murakami led to Etsuko Nakajima’s big career break. The French-born Japanese Nakajima had not long been working in the art world when she happened on what turned out to be a fortuitous on-site accident. “Now you can see him speaking English well, but back then he didn’t,” recalled Nakajima, who now serves as Asia director for the contemporary art-focused Galerie Perrotin. “We had a huge problem happening on site. One of the sculptures broke and Takashi was really upset and when he’s upset he wants to scream in Japanese.” “He said, ‘Come here! You speak three languages!’ I was so young. I didn’t know what to do but I tried to moderate the conversation.'” The crisis was eventually mitigated, and that episode began a working relationship with Murakami that’s now going on 16 years as a close adviser, propelling her to her role at Perrotin, where she also represents art and social media sensations JR and Kaws. At Perrotin, Nakajima is tasked with growing the business in Asia and moving with the times of the “I want it” generation, who place orders for artwork well into the millions of dollars over Instagram and WeChat.

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