Cyrille Putman: Connected Gallery Owner

Your first experience as a gallery owner goes back to the 1980s: when you were barely 25, you staged exhibitions in your two-room New York apartment… What are your memories of them?   I was lucky enough to live in 57 th street, the same as the Fuller Building, which housed some major dealers, including Pierre Matisse. So I was incredibly well placed, which made up for my tiny space. When I wanted to stage an exhibition, I had to move my bed! I made no money, but it didn't cost me anything, either. That's where I met Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring. Haring had a 1,500-m 2 studio, all in one piece, on West Broadway. It was a highly-charged period, very "funky New York" (I have to say we were really into drugs!), but at the same time, we lived in terrible anxiety: crossing off another AIDS victim every week in your address book was rather like living through the Black Death.  Is that where you felt the call to be an art dealer? Not really. I was born into the world of art: it's my natural habitat. Everything followed on like clockwork: I met Almine Rech; we decided…