On Wednesday, Sept. 9, dealer David Zwirner inaugurated one of his major fall shows in New York, a presentation of new paintings by artist Harold Ancart.
Before the Covid-19 era, Zwirner would have thrown his gallery open to hundreds of people and then invited a slightly smaller group—often upward of 40 or 50 collectors, friends of the artist, curators, and critics—to dinner at a restaurant.
This time around. Zwirner hosted a dinner for Ancart’s show, “but it was Harold, just a couple of people who work in the gallery, and a few friends,” he says. “I think we were six people altogether at Altro Paradiso, outside on the street.”
Welcome to the reopened New York gallery world, where dealers, collectors, and artists are still figuring out how to exist in an ecosystem that previously relied on crowds, dinners, and constant travel to sell art.
Every gallery is now open by appointment. Most will accept drop-ins if the space is under capacity. Beyond that, the logistics of doing business varies from gallery to gallery.
“As far as New York goes, it’s a very opaque situation,” says dealer Marianne Boesky, whose namesake Chelsea gallery will reopen with a show of paintings by artist Gina Beavers on Sept. 15. “Everyone is doing their own thing. That’s the bottom line: There’s no consensus.”
No More Frenzied Openings ...
Along with everyone else, Boesky closed her gallery in March. Now, as she begins her fall program, one half of her gallery is open to the public, and visitors can book slots through online appointments. (Ten people will be allowed in, through half-hour intervals. “We’re not going to be doing openings in the traditional sense,” she says. “It’s hard, because if you can’t get more than 10 to 20 people together, you’re not going to have that buzz—that energy and excitement.”
To compensate, Boesky says she’s working on a digital alternative that recreates the immediacy and personality of a live opening.
“You can enter the space, see the works in three dimensions, and can say, ‘Is Kelly around? Is Mary around? I want to chat with them,’ and a gallery director will be there and walk you through the show,” she says. “The tech isn’t quite there yet, but we’re working on it.”
Hauser & Wirth was set to inaugurate its new Annabelle Selldorf-designed 36,000-square-foot gallery on Manhattan’s 22nd Street in May. “Obviously, that couldn’t happen,” says gallery co-President Marc Payot.