Jeff Wall has moved from Marian Goodman Gallery to Gagosian in a shock move that sees the artist change stables for the first time in 25 years.
“He would like to be seen more widely as an American artist,” Mark Francis, a director at Gagosian told the New York Times. “I think that may be something we can do well.”
Francis also praised the talent of Wall, who joins photography greats such as Andreas Gursky, Gregory Crewdson, and the estate of Richard Avedon, also represented by Gagosian.
Jeff Wall, After “Invisible Man” by Ralph Ellison, the Prologue (2000). Image ©2016 Jeff Wall, courtesy MoMA.
When contacted by the NYT, Goodman, who has a reputation not only as a great gallerist but also as inspiring great loyalty in the artists she represents, was stoic about the departure.
“We worked together for 25 good years,” Goodman told NYT. “Sometimes things just come to an end […] and it’s time for all to move on.”
Wall follows Katarina Grosse who joined the super gallery last month. Damien Hirst also re-joined the gallery earlier this year after a shock departure in 2013.
These wins for Gagosian are overshadowed by a series of high profile departures from the gallery in recent months, with William Eggleston, Richard Prince, Julian Schnabel, and Yayoi Kusama all exiting. A consistent complaint among the artists was an impersonal approach by the super-gallery.
As well as artists choosing to leave Gagosian, some staff members have also recently left. For example, founding Los Angeles staff member and director of Gagosian LA Candy Coleman returned to Sotheby’s at the beginning of July.