SHANGHAI.- Perrotin announced the launch of its new gallery in Shanghai in late 2018. Located in the heart of Shanghai’s Bund quarter, this will be the 18th gallery space that its owner Emmanuel Perrotin has opened worldwide in 28 years.

Perrotin Shanghai will occupy the top floor of a historic three-storey brick building (27 Huqiu Road) known as “Amber Building”. Built in 1937, it is a former warehouse used by the Central Bank of China during the Republican period. From 1886 to 1943 Huqiu Road was named “Museum Road”. It continues to this day to have a prominent place in Shanghai’s art landscape with its close proximity to the city’s major museums and auction houses including Rockbund Art Museum, Fosun Foundation and Christie’s.

The 1,200 square meter (12,900 square feet) gallery space will include a mezzanine and several exhibition rooms. In keeping with the building’s modernist elegance, original 1930s elements of the building will be preserved including its 6 meter (20 feet) high wooden beam ceiling. The transformation will be conceived by internationally renowned architect André Fu and his design studio AFSO, who also designed Perrotin’s Hong Kong and Tokyo spaces.

Co-directing Perrotin Shanghai will be Uli Zhiheng Huang, Joye Zhu – both currently Directors at Perrotin Hong Kong – and Jessie Xie. Huang previously worked at Phillips de Pury & Co. in New York and was assistant to the artist Ai Weiwei, prior to joining Perrotin Hong Kong as Sales Executive in 2013. Zhu studied Art History and Art Business in Hong Kong and New York – following a successful career as an international fashion model – and joined Perrotin Hong Kong as Sales Executive in 2014. Prior to joining Perrotin as its Shanghai representative in 2016, Xie worked for galleries in New York and Shanghai including Shanghai Gallery of Art where she held the role of Associate Curator.

The Shanghai gallery is Perrotin’s fourth and largest space to date in Asia. Perrotin’s Asia galleries are overseen by Partners Etsuko Nakajima and Alice Lung, who have steadily fortified and expanded Perrotin’s now well-established presence in the region since opening its first Asia gallery in Hong Kong in 2012, followed by Seoul in 2016 and Tokyo in 2017.

Expanding into Shanghai will further extend Perrotin’s pursuit of ambitious exhibitions and projects involving an international line-up of artists, as well as strengthening its relationships with collectors and institutions in China. Founder Emmanuel Perrotin says, “I am very proud and excited that Perrotin will be the first major international gallery to establish a full-fledged exhibition space and gallery operation in Shanghai. We have a strong team of Chinese-born directors with the right blend of international market experience, curatorial ability and knowledge of Perrotin’s operations, to lead our engagement with the most dynamic art city in Asia today. Committing to this scale of operation in Shanghai enables us to build on the relationships we started in Hong Kong six years ago, and to consolidate and grow our global links among the USA, Europe and Asia.”