Gagosian will expand its footprint with new spaces in Los Angeles and Athens.
The interior of the Marciano Art Foundation in Los Angeles. Photo by JoVe DX, via Flickr.
Gagosian will emerge from lockdown with an expanded footprint, including new locations in Los Angeles and Athens. The mega-gallery has reached an exclusive occupancy arrangement with the Marciano Art Foundation, which closed abruptly last November, to program the 13,000-square-feet grand Theater Gallery in the Masonic Temple that formerly housed the museum. This new site will open in January 2021 and will be Gagosian’s second outpost in the city after its original Beverly Hills location (last year, Gagosian announced plans to open a private space inside a nearby Italian restaurant).
The mega-gallery is also expanding overseas, moving its Athens outpost from its original location, which it has occupied since 2009, to a “larger, free-standing Neoclassical building in the same neighbourhood,” according to The Art Newspaper. The new space will open on September 24th with an exhibition by Brice Marden, featuring a selection of the artist’s works on marble and paper. In 1981, Marden began painting on marble sourced from the area surrounding his summer home on the Greek island of Hydra, which became an essential part of the artist’s practice for the next two decades.
News of Gagosian’s expansions comes amidst a lean time for many galleries as the ongoing pandemic continues to depress sales. Last week, Pace laid off a number of furloughed employees, and Gavin Brown announced he would be closing his eponymous gallery and joining Gladstone as a partner. Earlier this month, David Zwirner announced layoffs of roughly 40 employees across four locations, equivalent to nearly 20 percent of its staff. According to ARTnews, Gagosian received between $2 million and $5 million in small business loans via the United States government’s Paycheck Protection Program.
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Gagosian’ was leasing the Scottish Rite Masonic Temple to house their new Los Angeles outpost. The gallery reached an exclusive occupancy agreement to program the grand Theater Gallery with the Marciano Art Foundation.
