Gavin Brown's Enterprise

Gavin Brown's enterprise was an art gallery with venues in New York City and Rome owned by Gavin Brown between 1994 and 2020. In 2020, it merged with Gladstone Gallery.[1]

History

Broome Street

The gallery was established by Gavin Brown in 1994 on Broome Street, in the west SoHo neighborhood of New York City.[2] In 1993, prior to opening the Broome Street location, Brown installed an exhibition of Elizabeth Peyton drawings in a room at the Hotel Chelsea – considered one of the first shows to fall under the umbrella of “Gavin Brown’s enterprise.” [3]

The inaugural show at the Broome Street location was an exhibition by the British artist Steven Pippin. Pippin transformed the gallery space into a camera obscura, and in doing so quickly established the unconventional meter that has since become a defining characteristic of the gallery's approach. Other early shows at GBE include a show of paintings by Peter Doig, Catherine Opie photographs, and a two-person show of works by Andy Warhol and Rirkrit Tiravanija.

Relocation to Meatpacking District

In 1997, Gavin Brown's enterprise moved to the Meatpacking District of Manhattan. A few years later in 1999, Brown also opened a bar, Passerby, on West 15th Street next door to the gallery. Notably, the bar featured a fully operated disco floor, Untitled (Dance Floor), created by one of Gavin Brown's represented artists, Piotr Uklański that was first created in 1996 at Gavin Brown's Broome Street Gallery.[4][5] Exhibitions at the second gallery space included early works by the British painter Chris Ofili, installations by Martin Creed, the first show of work by Oliver Payne and Nick Relph, and in 2000, the first of artist Rob Pruitt’s famed “flea markets.”

Relocation to West Village

In 2003, Brown moved the gallery to Greenwich Street in the West Village. The gallery continued to present atypical shows like “Drunk vs. Stoned” (an irreverent two-part exhibition that explored different states of intoxication and induced convivial openings). In 2007, the Swiss artist Urs Fischer produced his show You by digging a massive crater in the gallery's floor.[6] In that same year, Rob Pruitt staged a second “flea market” at the Frieze Art Fair in London in the GBE booth. In 2008, at Tony Shafrazi Gallery, Gavin Brown and Urs Fischer co-curated Who’s Afraid of Jasper Johns – a large group-show installed over a wall reproduction of Shafrazi's Four Friends exhibition.[7] In November 2008, Jonathan Horowitz installed his exhibition Obama ‘08 that focused closely on the pivotal United States presidential election.[8]

In 2008, the Passerby location was closed. Gavin Brown's enterprise relocated to 620 Greenwich Street in New York City. From May 2010, the gallery also occupied the space that its neighbor, famed Manhattan meat purveyors, LaFreida Meats, once occupied. The inaugural exhibition at the expanded site was an exhibition of new work by Horowitz entitled, Go Vegan![9]

Relocation to Harlem

In summer 2015, Gavin Brown's enterprise closed its Greenwich Street location and moved to a former brewery at 439 West 127th Street in Harlem, with three floors of exhibition space.[10]

Other locations

In 2015 Gavin Brown opened a gallery in Rome in a former chapel in Via de Vascellari.[11] In 2007, Brown entered into talks to open a gallery in Los Angeles with L&M, the since-split New York gallery then run by collector and former banker Robert Mnuchin and former auction house specialist Dominique Lévy; these plans were eventually abandoned.[12]

Artists

Artists represented by Gavin Brown's enterprise included:

References
  1. Jason Farago (July 20, 2020), Gavin Brown Closes His Gallery and Joins Forces With Barbara Gladstone New York Times.
  2. Roberta Smith (March 24, 1995). "Blood and Punk Royalty to Grunge Royalty". New York Times.
  3. Daniel Kunitz (October 22, 2008). "Elizabeth Peyton Would Like to Show You Some Lifestyle". Village Voice.
  4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on January 6, 2009. Retrieved 2010-03-25.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. "Piotr Uklanski". Guggenheim Foundation. Archived from the original on February 22, 2014.
  6. "'You,' by Urs Fischer -- New York Magazine Art Review - Nymag". New York Magazine.
  7. "Who's Afraid of Jasper Johns? -- New York Magazine Art Review - Nymag". New York Magazine.
  8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on September 3, 2010. Retrieved March 25, 2010.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. Jane Harris (June 16, 2010). "Dinner Conversation". Art in America. Retrieved July 16, 2016.
  10. Hilarie M. Sheets (June 18, 2015), Gavin Brown Moving Gallery to Harlem New York Times.
  11. Russeth, Andrew (March 19, 2015). "Gavin Brown Will Open a Space in Rome".
  12. Sarah Douglas (December 17, 2020), In Making Gavin Brown a Partner, Barbara Gladstone Is Betting That You Can Get Big and Still Think Small ARTnews.
  13. Sarah Douglas (September 13, 2011), When Gavin Brown Met Alex Katz: An Artist's New Show Is At An Unexpected Venue New York Observer.
  14. Dan Duray (March 6, 2013), Report: Bjarne Melgaard Joins Gavin Brown New York Observer.
  15. Dan Duray (February 5, 2014), Elizabeth Peyton Leaves Gavin Brown for Gladstone New York Observer.

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