"Have a look at lots of works of art and you can choose from the enemies you made!" That's the piece of advice Mathias Rastorfer received, long ago, from the legendary New York dealer in expressionist works, Serge Sabarsky. Mathias Rastorfer, director and co-owner of the Zurich-based Galerie Gmurzynska has well heeded it. However, he has not made himself a great many enemies over the past twenty years of professional career – and even they respect his professional commitment, his correctness and his great knowledge. Born in 1961 as a son of the Salzburg artist Hermann Rastorfer, he got in touch with modern Arts very early on in his life. After an apprenticeship as a banker with Deutsche Bank in Munich - a useful move, he says – he followed, in 1981, a training course in arts dealing of New York's Sotheby's auctioneers. From the New York modern arts gallery Annina Nosei, his career led him via the specialists in modern works of arts Hirschl & Adler to post of managing director of New York's Pace Gallery. Because he wanted his son and his daughter, who was born five years later, to grow up in Europe, he and his Swiss wife moved back to Germany in 1991. In the arts market centre of Cologne, he entered the gallery of the most attractive – and best – arts dealer of Germany. Krystyna Gmurzynska had recognized, early on, the advantages offered by a Swiss branch office and founded one in Zug. When Cologne began losing importance due to the move of Germany's capital from Bonn to Berlin, the gallery changed altogether to Switzerland in 2005 and found there it's prime location at Zurich's Paradeplatz square. It is quite characteristic to both, Mathias Rastorfer and Krystyna Gmurzynska, that they also consider this prime location to be a responsibility. Thanks to their exhibition activities – this summer, they are organizing, jointly with Gigi and Andrea Kracht, another edition of the exhibition of sculptures at the Baur au Lac hotel garden – Zurich has now one of the world's most important galleries of modern art. Among the many strong points of Mathias Rastorfer are a sympathetic mixture of determinedness and obligingness as well as his capacities as a networker who gets the most different personalities of the arts market in touch with each other. A part not to be sub-estimated is his cooperation in the selection committees of leading arts fairs. With the former Art Basle initiator Sam Keller, he maintains long years of ties of friendship as well as with the now Art responsible Marc Spiegler and Annette Schönholzer. Rastorfer expects positive signals from his fair of modern arts (see Finanz & Wirtschaft, Edition Nr. 44 dated 6th June). "The interest of our customers has shown to be unexpectedly big in the run-up and our own gallery is proud to register a positive first six months' result after a somewhat low January", he explains his optimism. His private residence being in a historical house by the Albis mountain range, he hardly finds time anymore to spend on his hobby – three-day eventer riding. As a passionate skiing fan, he wouldn't be the brilliant organizer if he didn't know how to join the pleasant and the professional. The branch office gallery in St. Mortiz has, therefore, become a place for new customer contacts and, yes, of course, you can go skiing there as well. MATHIAS RASTORFER is the director and co-owner of the Zurich-based Galerie Gmurzynska. Article published in FINANZ & WIRTSCHAFT, Wednesday, 10th June 2009 (Edition Nr. 45, Year 82)