New York dealer Lisa Cooley, widely considered an art world pioneer for opening one of the first galleries on the Lower East Side some eight years ago, has quietly closed her gallery with the final show of “Jeff Witscher: August,” which closed on August 26.
She announced the end of her “public program” via an email on Sunday night.
Cooley thanked collectors, curators and critics for supporting the gallery and included a lengthy list of artists she has shown, from Lawrence Abu Hamdan and Ed Atkins to Maureen Gallace and Rachel Harrison as well as B. Wurtz, Amy Yao and C. Specer Yeh. Cooley supplies no specific reason for the closure.
She did hint at a bright future, though: “Although this chapter is ending, another one is right around the corner—more sustainable, more rewarding, and more interesting. In my mind, this change will continue and extend the direction of the recent gallery program. Stay tuned.” She didn’t immediately respond to a request for further comment.
Cooley’s artists garnered reviews in publications including Artforum, Art in America, ARTnews, the New York Times, and the New Yorker, among others.
Cooley opened at 34 Orchard Street in 2008 and moved to Norfolk Street in 2012, quadrupling her space and enlisting New York firm Ashe + Leandro to design it.
Among the artists the gallery represented are Trudy Benson, Alice Channer, Fiona Connor, Andy Coolquitt, Cynthia Daignault, Matthew Darbyshire, Josh Faught, Lucy Kim, Scott Reeder, Alan Reid, Sue Tompkins, Ben Vida, and Jennifer West.