Long-established New York dealer Marian Goodman just unveiled her new headquarters in the vibrant gallery district of Tribeca, housed in the newly renovated and restored Grosvenor Building at 385 Broadway. Originally constructed in 1875, the five-story historic building served as an industrial warehouse for more than a century until it became a home for performing arts organizations. After sitting vacant for years, the building was restored by studioMDA, which decided to maintain the essential character of the building, as seen in the cast-iron façade, interior archways and exposed brick walls, which contextualize the gallery in Tribeca and as part of a specific period of time in New York’s history.
The gallery’s inaugural exhibition, “Your Patience Is Appreciated,” presents works by fifty multi-generational artists and estates on the gallery’s roster, reflecting the breadth of its rigorous program, which for five decades has championed pioneering practices and narratives from all over the world. Linking to the gallery’s first exhibition in 1977, which was dedicated to Marcel Broodthaers’s extremely conceptual and multilayered practice, the show in the new space is both a statement and tribute to the gallery’s commitment to supporting the most radical practices, with an enduring dedication to time-based, ephemeral and experimental works of art.
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Sprawling over the three floors are seventy-five works across media, ranging from sculptures to institutional-quality installations and video presentations. “The title of the exhibition addresses notions of expectations that come with moments of change and underlines the conceptual and temporal complexities of our artists’ practices, implicitly requiring patience and purpose,” Philipp Kaiser, gallery president and partner, writes on the exhibition website. “The exhibition’s title, and indeed the exhibition itself, also reflects the gallery’s unwavering dedication to its program that has traced distinct threads of contemporary art across several decades and continents, privileging critical thought, poetic sensibility and artistic integrity.”
At the entrance in the lobby hangs Maurizio Cattelan’s ironic homage to New York: Ghosts, 2021 + Found Work (2021), a canvas with the tourist-beloved sign “I Love New York” surrounded by signatures with dates, with three of his iconic taxidermied pigeons casually standing over it. In the first sunlight-filled room on the ground floor, the exhibition pairs a striking vertical work by Julie Mehretu, Filmstrip-Black Monolith of the Levant (2013-2024), with a fascinating fragmented glass sculpture by Nairy Baghramian and the gravity-defying Four Bicycles (There Is Always One Direction) by Mexican artist Gabriel Orozco.
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On the ground floor, a museum-style room is entirely designed to accommodate video presented on a large screen; specifically, James Coleman’s 35-minute video Take with Evidence (2007), which was originally installed as a massive, floor-to-ceiling projection at Documenta 12 in 2007. In the video, Harvey Keitel, the iconic “Taxi Driver” actor, moves around a set, engaging in conversation with himself and posing existential questions. He is portrayed as an ordinary man, somewhat scruffy in his sweats as if he’s off duty and unprepared for the camera. This depiction depoliticizes the star, reminding viewers of the man behind the role. Also on the ground floor, another room is entirely dedicated to the video work of Yang Fudong, Moving Mountains (2016), previously presented at Art Basel Hong Kong in 2018 and inspired by an ink painting produced in the early 1940s by Xu Beihong (1895-1953) dedicated to the ancient tale of a man, who some called foolish, for seeking to move a mountain. The tale, with the video, creates a powerful metaphorical narration of human perseverance and willpower.
On each of the show’s three floors, there are “capsules,” intimate or dimly lit rooms dedicated to single videos or photographs, like the one hosting the lightbox installation Lynching Tree by renowned photographer Steve McQueen. This architectural design creates the ideal space and pace for contemplating time-based works, which are a big part of the gallery’s program.
Another flight of stairs leads to the second floor, where an entire area is dedicated to Arte Povera artists represented by the gallery, with seminal works by Giuseppe Penone, Giovanni Anselmo and Giulio Paolini. There are also works by artists who share a similar poetic and densely philosophical approach to space, materials and energies, like the delicate golden brass strings installation by Leonor Antunes, the cut column by Ettore Spalletti and the corner work, Organized Salt Water (Agua Salada Organizzata) by Delcy Morelos which, sober in its composition and use of physical phenomena, functions as a reminder of a natural process, crystallizing it into form.
The nostalgic echo to the classic that characterized Arte Povera also continues in the second room, where some marble works by Tavares Strachan that resemble parts of Greek columns or buildings face a word-based wall installation by German conceptual artist Lothar Baumgarten and are juxtaposed by the aluminum-based installation by Cristina Iglesias, creeping on the wall like a vine. On the other side, painted landscapes by Indigenous Australian artist Daniel Boyd emerge from the darkness with a series of vibrant traditional Aboriginal dot technique, executed in this case with archival glue.
On the top floor, French artist Annette Messager takes over an entire wall with a wallpaper depicting a floating uterus where she hangs Malicieuse (Mischievous), a red fabric installation that also evokes the feminine organ. In front are two stainless steel works by Tony Cragg that seem to remind body structures similarly. On the same level, the lively and expressive abstractions of Sabine Moritz are displayed alongside a playful sculpture by Richard Deacon. In the adjoining room, works by Louise Lawler, Andrea Fraser, Yang Fudong and James Welling hang on the walls.
While transcending specific themes, the inaugural exhibition is dense with narratives, aesthetics and content. Thankfully, the gallery’s architecture allows the right time and dimension for each individual voice, showcasing the breadth of Marian Goodman’s program and its commitment to supporting and presenting the most experimental and ambitious practices across media.
Described by the New York Times as “art’s quiet matriarch, 96-year-old Marian Goodman is one of the most admired and respected art dealers in the world, and, notably, one of the first women to found an international powerhouse gallery. Since its founding in 1977, it has established a reputation for showcasing seminal European artists to American audiences, presenting museum-quality exhibitions and supporting some of the most ambitious and experimental practices of that generation. The gallery’s stellar roster features world-acclaimed artists like Pierre Huyghe, Tacita Dean, Maurizio Cattelan, Dara Birnbaum, Chantal Akerman, Tavares Strachan, Tino Sehgal and Robert Smithson, among many others. All are included in this inaugural show that ultimately feels like a very relaxed family gathering, celebrating one of the galleries that has helped define contemporary art today beyond the market and with a clear focus on institutional relevance.
“Your Patience Is Appreciated: An Inaugural Show” is on view at Marian Goodman Gallery’s new flagship location in Tribeca through December 21.
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