NEW YORK, NY.- Marian Goodman Gallery today announced it will close its London gallery at the end of 2020 and transition to a more flexible exhibition strategy in the city starting January 2021. Through the new initiative “Marian Goodman Projects,” the gallery will organize exhibitions and artist projects in venues throughout London that respond to the nature of the artist’s practice and reflect the scale and intent of artworks on view. Spearheaded by Marian Goodman and Philipp Kaiser, Chief Executive Director of Artists and Programs, Marian Goodman Projects will be overseen by Kaiser with support from the gallery’s international executive team. The gallery will maintain a small, focused team in London, led by Executive Director Aebhric Coleman, to work on Projects and with the gallery’s roster of artists. The first London Project is being slated for fall 2021, with plans to extend the initiative to select cities internationally.
“The gallery is distinguished by the quality of its program and our deep, long-standing relationships with our artists. The new Projects initiative builds on this history and provides a new, flexible programming model for our gallery, one that enables us to be strategic and responsive to the evolving interests of our artists, collectors, and public alike,” stated Marian Goodman.
“The art world has undergone dramatic changes in recent years, and the current health crisis and Brexit have introduced even more uncertainty into the market, especially for galleries operating in London,” added Goodman. “The decision to close the London space was made together with the executive team as part of the gallery’s overarching programming and sales strategy to pursue a more nimble approach in London, while continuing our strong presence in New York and Paris, which has served as the hub for our European activity for more than 25 years.”
Founded in New York City in 1977, Marian Goodman Gallery gained prominence in the art world in the 1980s for its roster of largely non-American artists, who rank among the most influential contemporary artists of our time. Known for cultivating long-term relationships with its artists and for the caliber of its exhibition program, the gallery expanded in 1995 to Paris with the opening of its second permanent space, subsequently opening a dedicated bookstore in 2017. It opened its London branch in 2014 with an exhibition dedicated to Gerhard Richter.
Since then, the London gallery has presented major solo exhibitions, including a series of London-debut presentations. Recent shows include Nan Goldin’s 2019 exhibition Sirens, marking the artist’s first solo presentation in the city since 2002 and featuring a range of historical works together with the premiere of three new video installations. The gallery is currently presenting the first major UK solo exhibition of Tavares Strachan, an immersive, site-specific experience incorporating all new work, on view through October 24, 2020.
Upcoming exhibitions include a dual presentation of Robert Smithson in London (November 5 – December 19, 2020) and Paris (November 12, 2020 – January 9, 2021) as well as a new exhibition of work by Julie Mehretu in New York (November 2 – December 23, 2020).
