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Top 200 Collectors

Portrait of Allison and Larry Berg.

Allison and Larry Berg

Los Angeles; New York

Investments; Law and journalism; Philanthropy (A&L Berg Foundation)

Contemporary art; Modern art

Overview

While Larry Berg works in finance and is a managing owner of the Los Angeles Football Club, Allison Berg is a writer, editor, and philanthropist. Within the art world, Allison is perhaps most well known for producing the documentary The Art of Making It, which records the trials and tribulations of coming up in the art world and followed emerging artists like Felipe Baeza, Gisela McDaniel, and Jenna Gribbon.

On the collecting front, the couple’s modern and contemporary collection includes artists ranging from Yayoi Kusama and Louise Bourgeois to Nina Chanel Abney, Magdalena Suarez Frimkess and Kaari Upson. “My real-life children have accused me of speaking about artworks like they are living, breathing family members,” Allison told the Art Newspaper in 2023. When it comes to buying art, Allison follows the advice  of “look with your eyes, not your ears.”

In addition to buying works, the Bergs have also set out to change the art world. In 2023, they launched the A&L Berg Foundation, with Carolyn Ramo serving as director, as a way to support the art ecosystem by giving mentorship to young professionals. Called the Early Stage Arts Professionals (ESAP) program, the first iteration offered a research and networking trip to six rising Latinx curators, which saw them contribute to the catalog for the 2024 Venice Biennale and head to La Serenissima that April.

“Our investment is in professionals who have shown a commitment [to the field] and want to figure out, how do I thrive here,” Allison told ARTnews. “This is about professional growth and making the connections and opening the doors that you need opened to be successful in the art world.”

Since 2017, Allison has been a trustee of Los Angeles County Museum of Art and has given funds for the museum to acquire works by Julie Mehretu, Diedrick Brackens, Zizipho Poswa, Janna Ireland, and others. She has lent support to Artadia, The Mistake Room, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, and the Dia Art Foundation.  

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