Sean Kelly Gallery moves to a historic building as part of a project of expansion in its vision

Sean Kelly Gallery, which represents mythic and present-day artistic figures such as Robert Mapplethorpe or Marina Abramovic, will move to a new 22,000- square-foot space, a historic 1914 building at 36th Street and 10th Avenue. The two- story gallery, designed by award-winning architect Toshiko Mori, triples the size of its current space and it will be the first of its kind in this neighborhood adjacent to the development of the Hudson Yards area. Sean Kelly will open the new gallery in the fall of 2012 with a series of events that expand its exhibition program.
The gallery also represents Latin American artists such as Julião Sarmento, Iran do Espírito Santo, Leandro Erlich, and Los Carpinteros. This Cuban collective presented a new performance, Conga Irreversible, at the 11th Havana Biennial, Havana, Cuba. Reversing all of the typical elements of performance, the music, lyrics and dancers’ movements were performed backwards, with the dancers wearing clothes in different tones of grey instead of colored ones, in a live event on Paseo del Prado, a location chosen by the artists for its historical and cultural significance in Havana.
Julião Sarmento (b. Lisbon, Portugal, 1948) has developed a multi-media visual language, in works that often deal with issues of complex interpersonal relationships recreating themes such as psychological interaction, sensuality, voyeurism and transgression. Sarmento is well known for the way in which he reverses the traditional basis of painting. His imagery is often partially or fully erased. He then draws on top of the erasure, creating fragmented and layered forms, which evoke disconcerting, mysterious gestures and relationships. Recent paintings no longer focus on line as a representation of female form, but utilize monochrome silhouettes to represent the figures.
Leandro Erlich (b. Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1973) can be defined as “an architect of the uncertain” creating spaces with fluid and unstable boundaries. A single change (up is down, inside is out) can be enough to upset the seemingly normal situation, collapsing and exposing our reality as counterfeit. Through this transgression of limits, the artist undermines certain absolutes and the institutions that reinforce them. Erlich draws inspiration from his literary Argentinean forebear, Jorge Luis Borges, but references to the world of film also appear frequently in his work; Erlich makes no secret of his admiration for directors like Alfred Hitchcock, Roman Polanski, Luis Buñel and David Lynch, whom, he argues, “have used the everyday as a stage for creating a fictional world obtained through the psychological subversion of everyday spaces.”
Iran do Espírito Santo (b. Mococa, Brazil, 1963) is best known for his sensuously minimalist work that deals with issues of place, structure, material, design, and surface with a rigorous conceptual sensibility. His work undertakes a subtle subversion of Minimalism through abstracted everyday items. Iran is concerned with the tactile attributes of his chosen materials and with the sensuous contours of simple abstract forms in space. Working in stainless steel, glass, copper, stone or paint on plaster, he employs subtle illusionistic devices, instigating a play of depth that remains consistent from piece to piece.
According to The New York Observer “…the appointments of new staff and increased participation in art fairs worldwide has greatly heightened the gallery’s international presence and made such an expansion essential. The media states: “This move north of West 30th Street will, in a trailblazing initiative, open up fresh territory for New York galleries, as the new gallery is adjacent to the extraordinary urban development of the Hudson Yards area”.
This district will see the proposed completion of the High Line Park to 34th Street and extension of the No. 7 subway line to 34th Street and 11th Avenue. The glass-canopied subway station entrances will also be designed by Toshiko Mori Architect.
Since the gallery’s first location opened on lower Mercer Street in 1995, followed by the move in 2001 to North Chelsea on 29th Street, Sean Kelly has sought out space on the exterior perimeters of gallery neighborhoods, drawing visitors with the strength of its internationally acclaimed exhibition program. The new space will enable Sean Kelly to continue to grow its programming and exhibition capabilities, further enabling its roster of artists. Sean Kelly is excited to be the first gallery to commit to the development of this dynamic neighborhood.