The mega-galleries expanding beyond the white cube
From retail stores to publishing arms to hospitality offshoots – it seems galleries are no longer content merely to sell art. What’s behind this push for diversification? By Madeleine Kramer
For over a century, art galleries have excelled at one major goal: selling art. But today selling art can sometimes seem beside the point, as galleries shift from promoting artists to promoting a brand – or, more all-encompassing, a lifestyle. From extensive publishing arms and retail stores to portfolios of hotels, restaurants and members’ clubs, galleries are expanding beyond the white cube.
The Gallery as Retail Environment
'Exit through the gift shop’ doesn’t just apply to museums anymore. A number of commercial galleries have introduced retail concept stores – featuring not only catalogues and books but also limited-edition prints, fashion collaborations, toys and even those museum-shop staples, posters and postcards. These shops offer a flavour of the gallery’s artists, and a chance for the casual visitor to walk away with something other than the press release. Among the first, in 2009, Gagosian opened its Selldorf Architects-designed retail space on the ground floor of 980 Madison Avenue, with top sellers like the Jeff Koons ‘Puppy Vase’, retailing at $7,500. Today a satellite can also be found in the prestigious Burlington Arcade in London. As a former Gagosian staffer explains, ‘Most people can't afford to buy a Cy Twombly painting, but maybe you can buy a poster or a T-shirt.’
Similarly, in New York and Paris, Perrotin has separate store entrances for its shops, brimming with objets d’art, books, T-shirts and more from artists like Takashi Murakami, JR and Maurizio Cattelan. In White Cube’s Bermondsey headquarters in London, a shop welcomes visitors with an array of publications as well as T-shirts, posters and prints. When an Eddie Peake painting is out of reach, grab a scarf! A recurring item across the gift shops is the gallery tote bag. In collaboration with the authoritative hype-beast brand High Snobiety, in 2021 Perrotin released a branded tote ‘to show off that you know what’s what in the world of kunst’ for €45 (now sold out). Hauser & Wirth, meanwhile, offers a sophisticated leather-and-canvas tote produced in collaboration with fashion brand Mansur Gavriel for $195.
What’s the end goal for galleries here? According to adviser Kristen Force Boswell of Ellis Force Art Partners, ‘The shops are good for gifts (art books, editions, etc. make great Christmas or birthday presents) but that’s essentially it.’ Beyond the promotion of artists, gallery stores reinforce the commercial attraction of the gallery brand in and of itself. The shops also offer a way for a larger portion of their audience to partake in collecting and present a more democratic intent in what can be an intimidating, exclusive environment. The Gagosian source adds: ‘I think democratisation is something that’s increasingly becoming important to art institutions of all kinds. In today’s environment, it’s “in” to embrace inclusivity and try to reach out to new and different audiences.’
The Gallery as Publisher
From Librairie Marian Goodman to Karma, some galleries are going beyond the occasional self-published catalogue to establish full-on publishing arms, distributing books and magazines to booksellers far and wide. Since 2018, Hauser and Wirth’s twice-yearly Ursula publishes poetry, interviews, essays, fiction, portfolios and photography. Editor Randy Kennedy tells Critical Edge: ‘We see the audience for Ursula very broadly as readers who love art and whose cultural interests extend beyond it, to film, fiction and poetry, architecture, music, performance and food. That readership includes not only collectors and people in the commercial art world but also artists, curators, writers, historians, students and casual gallery-goers.’
Similarly, introduced in 2017, Gagosian Quarterly features think-pieces, creative prose, curator interviews and previews of upcoming exhibitions. The most recent issue ranges from the political – reporting on artists protesting against mass incarceration – to the titillating: the Saint Laurent reedition of Madonna’s Sex book at last year’s Art Basel Miami Beach. This kind of content communicates the message that the gallery is politically engaged, diverse, and interested in more than just the selling of art by white, male, blue-chip artists. It allows the gallery to refocus conversation on critical discourse, and away from the overtly commercial aims of blockbuster shows.
These periodicals are not going to significantly drive the bottom line for a mega-gallery: a subscription for Ursula will cost you $32, or $17 for a single issue, while Gagosian Quarterly rings up at $20 per issue or $60 per year. Many articles and additional content (video, interviews) are available for free online. While slightly more expensive than newsstand glossies, these in-house tomes are regularly given away to collectors and function both as sales tools for exhibitions and as an easy way to expand gallery accessibility.
Stand-alone publications, not necessarily relating to the gallery’s roster of artists, serve a similar branding purpose, establishing both cultural authority and public relevance. At David Zwirner, the founder’s son Lucas Zwirner has been especially focused on growing the publishing arm of the gallery giant. In an interview with W magazine in 2018, he spoke about wanting to ‘extend the gallery’s reach beyond monographs’ and focus on the ‘intersection of writing and visual art and make something interesting happen’. He mentions the gallery publishing a diverse array of titles from the zeitgeist-y (Andrew Durbin’s Spiyt th'Words: Rereading Pettibon's Twitter) to the historical (Jarrett Earnest’s What It Means To Write About Art).
The Gallery as Hospitality
Now, you’ve read the magazine, bought the souvenir – how to further imbibe a gallery’s true essence? Perhaps with food, drink, and an overnight stay. ArtFarm, the hospitality company owned by Hauser & Wirth founders Iwan and Manuela Wirth, manages some eight properties across the UK and the US, with more openings planned in the coming months. At Hauser & Wirth in downtown Los Angeles, visitors can enjoy farm-to-table cuisine at Manuela, surrounded by specially commissioned artworks by both local artists like Raymond Pettibon and Mark Bradford and international stars like Franz West and Subodh Gupta. Last August, it was announced that ArtFarm had bought the Groucho Club in London’s Soho for around £40m. A club known for hosting, and collecting, the raucous Young British Artists (YBAs) in the ’90s, the Groucho is now set to enter a new era under the Wirths’ leadership. Located just down the street from the original Soho House, it is anticipated to attract more of the creatives, artists and buzz that follow the international art crowd from fairs to biennales and back. It will be interesting to see how the Wirths navigate the tension between the exclusivity of the member’s club model and ArtFarm’s own stated values: ‘Everyone in Mind / Community as the Way / Art at the Heart’.
But perhaps this particular aspect of galleries diversifying their portfolios is not about democratisation. The price points are certainly not always accessible. In New York, Kappo Masa, a joint venture between Larry Gagosian and chef Masayoshi Takayama, diners can contemplate works by Cy Twombly while feasting on omakase. Like the blue-chip gallery, the menu at Kappo Masa is best experienced with a healthy account balance; a chef’s tasting menu of 6 courses will set you back $295 before drinks, tax and tip. Meanwhile, the Fife Arms, also operated by ArtFarm, features an artist residency program as well as a collection of some 14,000 works in the Scottish Highlands. A two-night weekend stay ranges from £581–£1,332 per night.
Force Boswell notes: ‘I think part of the appeal of becoming collectors is that there is a lifestyle aspect to it as well: travelling to multiple fairs, befriending artists, travelling to see museum shows. Clients don't typically buy art and then not engage in the rest of the art world. It tends to be a full on “hobby” and they like to be engaged in the industry aside from just purchasing. I do think there is something to be said for creating meeting spaces for art enthusiasts outside of galleries.’
Indeed, in a world where access is everything, attempts at democratisation can feel forced, but many of the ancillary ventures that galleries are exploring provide a genuine space for the enthusiast or even student to feel like part of the art community. Gallery-generated content is often a sales tool, and success is ultimately measured in works sold, but creating more opportunities to reach a wider audience is a laudable benefit, whether it be an afterthought or the aim.
Madeleine Kramer is a consultant and client strategist who has worked at Sotheby’s, White Cube, and Gagosian.