Stalwart New York gallery Metro Pictures is to close by the end of the year, citing the economic fallout of the pandemic as a factor. In a short email, the gallery, which represents the likes of Cindy Sherman, Jim Shaw and Robert Longo, as well as younger names such as Nina Beier, Latifa Echakhch and David Maljkovic, said that the decision after 40 years of operation follows ‘a demanding year of pandemic-driven programming, and the anticipated arrival of a very different art world’.
Founders Janelle Reiring and Helene Winer added in a statement: ‘We have decided to announce this difficult decision far in advance of our closing in order to give the artists we represent and our staff time to pursue other options and to allow us to participate in their transitions.’
The Chelsea gallery’s name is in part a homage to the Pictures Generation, the 1970s theory-inflected movement, which included Sherman and Longo, as well as Louise Lawler, also on the books, that sought to play and conceptualise the increasing media saturation that they saw consuming society.
That interest continued to run in the gallery DNA, which in recent years worked with Trevor Paglen, Camille Henrot and Oliver Laric. The gallery is currently showing eight new paintings and five videos by Jim Shaw.
