Bruce Helander Interviews Kevin O'Leary, Photographer and Shark Tank Investor

But we're standing on one of the most famous streets in America: Worth Avenue, which needs no address. On Worth Avenue, you find some of the most exclusive shops and, in this case, art galleries in America. We're standing outside of our catcher gallery, one of the most famous galleries on this street that shows a variety of great blue-chip artists—from Rauschenberg, there's a De Kooning in there, Condo, you name it, Chamberlin.

But tonight is an important event because they are showing Kevin O'Leary's photographic images. Kevin, for many people better known as Mr. Wonderful, one of the Shark Tank TV stars, has had a great passion for photography all of his life. In this show, he's showing some of his favorite photographs that are on the wall to support the benefit for the Teenage Entrepreneurs and the Perry Cohen Foundation. So, it's going to be a great night with lots of exciting people here and a very exciting show, and we're going to take a look at it.

"I could have a good afternoon. We're delighted to have you here at our catcher gallery. I'm so happy; it's such an honor. This is such a legendary gallery, and it's on Worth Avenue, one of the most famous. Believe me, for any artist, it's very cool. It's very cool. We are also honored that the proceeds of this show through our culture are going to support the Perry Cohen Foundation and the Teenage Entrepreneur Association that you put together. That's my primary motivation in doing this.

You know, I met Nick and Pamela; I heard the story. The story is tragic, but it doesn't mean that it can't bring something good to others. So, we're trying to keep his name alive this way. I'm supporting this initiative because it's right on mandate for what I want to do in charity, and I'm glad that my work can be sold for it. He was a great kid. I never met him, but all the people I've talked to that have met him said he was just a, you know, a bundle of life that wanted to get out there and do stuff, and that's the definition of an entrepreneur.

So, that's all right. We love the entrepreneurial spirit. You know, he was washing cars when he was 6 or 7 years of age. I love that story, and he was a Shark Tank fan as well. Yeah, well, that's really touching. This is all very poetic and appropriate. It is; it's a lot of Shark Tank fans. There's a lot of Perry's out there. It keeps his name out there, and it also supports others that want to be like him, and so that's great.

I mean, I can't wait to make this as big as it can be, and I love to show my work. There's always a question— you look at this image, you say to yourself, 'What's wrong with this? What is — why is it bothering me? What is it about this that I have to learn more?' And I love images like that; they become immortal because people keep looking at them.

I noticed in the window a picture of the lifeguard. Yes, and then I looked a second time and I said, 'Wait a minute, there are four legs and there's one body.' That's really so, that's part of the code. It was the moment on the beach; it was the motivation. Then Tucket, when he bent over to bite into a sandwich and I was right behind him, I looked up and I said, 'Magic moment.'

And it's a very naughty picture because it confuses people and it's got a lot of intrigue to it, and I think that's great. I think— we're gonna go over to the next room here. Yeah, this series of aircraft is just a happenchance freak accident that occurred— a negative film that got stuck in a camera for a decade and basically grew mold.

When I found the body a decade later, I immediately processed the film I found in it, and when the lab called me back, they said, 'Kevin, you've got to come over here. I have never seen anything like this.' What had happened is the mold, which is organic when it was fixed in the chemicals, obviously stopped growing and froze like crystals. Each one is unique based on how the nitrate worked with the mold, and they are just theories like from another world.

The compositional elements also have a kind of hybrid of a kind of abstract expressionist color filled in black and white where obviously, without the smoke, it's not as interesting a picture at all. When you have the smoke coming out of the airplane, it's forming its own kind of— it was a very cold day, and it froze those images in the smoke, you know, sort of sun in the sky. I love these images and off my work.

This is some of the most unique; I think any artist that finds that a convenient accident added to the aesthetic. I just love to do it again. I'd love to do it again, but I can't. No, you already were a photographer and a camera, and an editor, which are all of the talents and experiences that you need to make a picture like this.

You know, I made a living doing this in the early '80s, and I have thousands of images that I'm revisiting now. It's getting me back to what I love. I love photography; I love doing it, and I'm— I'm getting a chance now to go through multi-decades of work. I've got four hundred thousand images, so I'm just beginning. I'm gonna do multiple shows, and I'm so happy that people are interested in it, and I've got a great foundation to support.

I mean, you know, the Perry Cohen Foundation, Nick has built this, and I can help fund it, and we can help kids Perry's age. It's great. You know, there's a great tradition of artists and galleries supporting great causes. Do you also collect photography?

I do, I do. And you know that there—if it's photography, in the last decade it has been one of the best asset classes I own. I've got a very eclectic collection of work, and every piece is unique. I love one of the kinds. I love to find something that no one else has. I love photography; I just get lost in it.

I spend, you know, I don't emerge for two days out of my studio. If you can celebrate the work of others, it also encourages you and stimulates what you do throughout life. It's the coolest thing; it's a unique community of people doing what they love to do. I mean, who doesn't like this? It's fantastic.

Well, we're very pleased. Thanks a lot, flattery. Thank you. That was great! I'm looking forward to it. Thanks!