Robert Lococo has been dealing in art for decades

by Alexa Beattie / Portrait by John Lore

Immaculate in a peacock blue Tom Ford suit, famed fine art publisher Robert Lococo came to the Saint Louis Art Museum last month to talk about his recent gift to that institution. The suit (and similarly “peacock” alligator shoes) went extremely well with the very large, very red painting on the wall behind him. That painting –“Coca-Cola Girl 25”–is part of artist Alex Katz’s “Coca-Cola Girls” series which refers to an iconic period in that soda-pop company’s history when its advertising spoke to a certain ideal of American woman. It features two views of Katz’s muse, artist Nicole Wittenberg, and provides an excellent example of Katz’s pop-art, “billboard” style.

Robert Lococo in front of Coca-Cola Girl 25 at Saint Louis Art Museum.

Lococo has worked as a fine art publisher for more than 30 years. Although based primarily in St. Louis, the reach of his company–Lococo Fine Art–spans the globe. His prints can be found in The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Museum of Modern Art in New York City, Boston Museum of Fine Art, Maison des Écrivains in Paris, Albertina Museum in Vienna and Kochi Museum of Art in Kochi, Japan. He has printers in three states (Missouri, New York and Florida) and attributes his notoriety to the quality of work and to his team.

Matt Mercer, Lococo’s artist liaison and sales manager, and Robert Lococo.

“Coca-Cola Girl 25,” painted in oil on linen canvas in 2019, had been in Lococo’s possession for the last seven years. He said he was delighted to offer it to the museum—and delighted that they accepted. Surprisingly, “The museum didn’t have a Katz painting.”

“He’s an important contemporary artist,” Lococo said. “It is to [the museum’s] advantage to have the painting. With me, no one gets to see it.” He added that the process took a while—all the meetings, all the necessary channels. But now everyone is very pleased he said. Indeed, in the museum’s modern wing, it not only fits right in, its blazing color practically steals the show.

“It has a really good presence in the gallery,” said Simon Kelly, curator and head of department of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Saint Louis Art Museum. “Katz is interested in Matisse; the red definitely has a Matissian quality. And there’s a real gestural quality to the work–the hair in particular.”

Many of the artists Lococo has worked with over the years have become good friends. He flips nimbly through his mental Rolodex and casually drops artists’ names like pennies from a hole in a pocket: Ross Bleckner, Derrick Adams, David Salle, Katherine Bernhardt, Julian Schnabel, William Burroughs, Donald Baechler, Ugo Rondinone, Donald Sultan, Kenny Scharf and of course, Alex Katz. “I often travel with artists because we are friends. We laugh a lot. But are very serious when it comes to printing.”

Having such friendships can make the process easier. “If we know the artist and like their work, we say: ‘Oh, this is a swell print. It looks like a money print to me.’” There are times when only a single print is made, but usually Lococo works in multiples–a series of 25 to 100 prints. Lococo Fine Art finances the project and distributes the prints to any of their 100 dealers across the world. A print’s value, he said, is established by what it fetches at auction in their market. And having the Lococo Fine Art name behind it behooves the value further. While “Coca-Cola Girl 25” has been valued at more than $1 million, a print edition of 60 may fetch between $10,000 to $40,000 each. “We have a huge following and reputation,” Lococo said.

“Coca-Cola Girl 25” can be found in the International Pop Art Gallery G254. She is impossible to miss. Red, yes, but also 6-feet by 12-feet. “A painting has to fit with those around it. It needs to be worthy of the quality of the surrounding work,” said Kelly. “We didn’t have a Katz painting so this was an important gift. We are so grateful.”

Lococo had no formal art education;his early working life was spent as an interior designer. “I designed homes and all the homes needed art on the walls.” A St. Louis native, he developed a knack for color and texture. He said when it came to print work, his decorating background “came in very handy.”

Lococo’s first print project was with William S. Burroughs in 1991 called “The Seven Deadly Sins.” Born and raised in St. Louis, Burroughs was the grandson of inventor William Seward Burroughs I, who founded the Burroughs Corporation, and a nephew of public relations manager Ivy Lee. Burroughs was a novelist, essayist, social critic, painter and spoken-word performer. A primary member of the Beat Generation, much of Burroughs’ work was semi-autobiographical, drawn from his experiences as an opiate addict, a condition which marked the last 40 years of his life.

Lococo has the air of a man with a good life. He seems tickled by his connections, his cohorts in the art world; delighted by all the adventures. One of those adventures was happening the next day—a trip to Paris for a showing of Katz’s “Venice paintings,” exhibited at Venice Biennale Arte 2024. Lococo was excited and said that one of his most cherished memories was a solo retrospective of Katz at the Guggenheim Museum in 2021. “It was a real event and jam-packed.”

Matt Mercer, Lococo’s artist liaison and sales manager, can attest to the friendship between Katz and Lococo. “Robert and Alex are best friends. Robert is always by his side,” he said.

Even though Mercer reports an “extraordinary art collection” across all three of Lococo’s residences (Ladue, Manhattan and East Hampton), this storied publisher of beautiful things seemed uninterested to discuss it.

“I am a collector of artists,” he said, getting back to that enviable Rolodex again.

The Artist Collector

A Look Behind the Scenes of the world of Robert Lococo