Love is Blind villain Leo Braudy on his life as an art dealer

Crossovers between the art world and reality television are rare (but it’s not unheard of!). Earlier this month, the cult-favorite Netflix series Love is blind The seventh season premiered, and one of the first candidates for the title of best villain was Leo Braudy, who in the first 15 minutes after the opening of the season declared: “I have an interesting and profitable job, I’m an art dealer.”

Brody, 30, has quickly become one of the most controversial characters on the show, which caters to people with larger-than-life personalities. (Contestants are placed in separate rooms to interview potential applicants without judging them on appearance.) Another quote: “I’m not trying to build a career as an influencer. I’m a fucking rich art dealer.” And also: “I studied Italian artistic terminology when I was about six years old. For example, I’ll give you one: sprezzatura”

So what’s up? Curious about his life as an art dealer, I contacted Brody. Below is an edited version of our conversation.

Tell me about your career as an art dealer. How did you get started?

My family has been in this business for several generations. My grandparents, Ethel and Arthur Fuhrman, began trading back in 1970 in Washington, DC. I’ve been doing this since childhood. I remember my first task was to sit with my grandfather and transcribe client emails for him because I could type faster than his two-finger “bird peck” method.

After graduating from college in 2015, I dedicated myself to the business full-time, hoping to gradually take it over over several decades. But I ended up inheriting the business much earlier than expected when my grandparents and mother passed away—all from cancer—between 2018 and 2021. Although the transition period was incredibly difficult (the “dark years” as I call them), their passion for art lives on through me.

What type of art do you specialize in, if so?

My family started out in decorative sculpture, with an initial emphasis on modern studio glass art (such as Dale Chihuly and Lino Tagliapietra) and decorative bronze. Over the past decades, we have expanded our activities into contemporary paintings and sculptures, as well as into decorative items. We operate in a mixture of primary and secondary markets.

What do you like about art? How did you initially get involved?

I love the ability of art to spark conversation. There is value in absorbing art in silence and solitude, but I’m also a pretty extroverted guy and I want to talk about it! I think some people feel like they need to be quiet when discussing art. You will often find me animated and talkative. Experts have their place, but there’s nothing wrong with saying: “Dude, this picture sucks!”

My family did a great job of instilling in me a passion for art and an understanding of art markets. They took me around our showroom and made me memorize artists, works, and price ranges. They’ll give me a few dollars or some candy if I do it right. They always made it a game, and looking back it was really smart.

What’s the best museum exhibit you’ve ever seen?

I think my favorite museum exhibit of the last few years has been the travel exhibit.”Philip Guston now” exhibition I saw at the National Gallery of Art in 2023. I was amazed by the diversity of Guston’s work. If there were no labels, I would think there were a dozen different artists, each a master in their own way. It was also superbly curated by the brilliant Harry Cooper; he used every corner of the NGA’s east wing. I must have spent five hours there.

It was great to see an art dealer on such a popular TV show. How do you think art dealers are generally perceived by people who don’t work in the art industry?

To be honest, I don’t know if our image outside of the art world is that positive. I think we can be portrayed as cold, stuffy or distant. Or worse, legal money launderers! I think we could do a better job of protecting our interests and being more open and transparent in what we do. Most of us are just art fans who need a reason to spend all day around art.

From your point of view, what is the best thing about being an art dealer?

This is an introduction for meHe artists. They often challenge me to see the world in new ways.With. When I’m with an artist, I never know what will happen next. When I was a teenager, my family and I had dinner with the late Marvin Lipofsky. The waiter brought Marvin a piece of mashed potato, and Marvin (with a spoon) sculpted a pair of lips out of his mashed potato. And then he kissed him.