Go west: Gagosian Gallery inaugurates a new space in San Francisco

Gagosian Gallery opened its new outpost in San Francisco this month, right across the street from the equally fresh SFMoMA. The space's inaugural show, 'Plane.Site' is a group exhibition that examines the relationship between artists’ 2D and 3D works. Pictured left: Mobile III, by Roy Lichtenstein, 1990. Copyright Estate of Roy Lichtenstein. Courtesy Gagosian Gallery. Right: Untitled (Lexington), by Cy Twombly, 2009. Copyright Cy Twombly Foundation. Courtesy Gagosian Gallery

With 15 locations in cities such as New York, London, Paris, LA, Rome, Athens, Geneva and Hong Kong, Gagosian Gallery has a piece of practically every major art market in the world. This month, hot on the heels of SFMoMA’s inauguration, the art behemoth officially opened its 16th location in San Francisco, right across the street from it. The inaugural group exhibition, ‘Plane.Site’, features works by Robert Therrien, local artist David Ireland, Pablo Picasso and more, and examines the relationship between the artists’ 2D and 3D works.

Designed by Kulapat Yantrasast, founder of wHY, Gagosian’s San Francisco gallery is housed in a 4,500 sq ft, ground-floor space in the historic Crown Point Press Building, once home to the San Francisco Newspaper Company. Yantrasast kept the site’s existing cast steel columns and skylight in place. ‘The basic concept is really about light, how the changing light of San Francisco can be part of the gallery,’ Yantrasast says. ‘The finishes are refined and have light colours, very light grey colour floor[s], grey columns.’

Gagosian director Sam Orlofsky, who curated the show, shed some light on why the blue-chip global gallery chose San Francisco. ‘We look for ways to give our artists options of showing somewhere that would be good for them; that they might not have otherwise. So that combination of the location and the proximity to the museum – which is going to have around a million visitors the first 12 months – and the prospect of a very sophisticated collecting base, expanding and passing the baton to the next generation... I think those things together [are] a good opportunity worth pursuing.’

‘We look for ways to give our artists options of showing somewhere that would be good for them; that they might not have otherwise,' says Gagosian Gallery director and curator Sam Orlofsky. Pictured left: Untitled, by Cy Twombly, 2013.  Copyright Cy Twombly Foundation. Courtesy Gagosian Gallery. Right: Untitled (Deco Pink and Lemon Yellow Butterfly 45.95), by Mark Grotjahn, 2016.  Copyright Mark Grotjahn. Courtesy of the artist and Gagosian Gallery

INFORMATION

’Plane.Site’ is on view until 27 August. For more details, please visit the Gagosian’s website

ADDRESS

Gagosian Gallery San Francisco
657 Howard Street
San Francisco, California

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