Team Gallery Closes Wooster Street Space after Drastic Rent Increase

José Freire is on the hunt for another New York spot.

Team Gallery's 47 Wooster Street space.
Photo: courtesy Team Gallery.

Team Gallery of New York and Los Angeles is closing one of its three venues. José Freire opened the 47 Wooster Street space in 2011, six years after moving to Soho from Chelsea, where his gallery had resided since 1996. The 5,000-square foot gallery sports nearly full-height storefront windows.

“We’ve never had such a street presence,” Freire told Art in America at the time.

But the rent was doubled, from $25,000 to $50,000, Freire now tells ARTnews, which broke the story.

His longstanding venue at 83 Grand Street will now be his only New York location for now. You can catch a show of sculptures by Ross Knight there through April 3.

Freire tells ARTnews that he’ll be on the lookout for a new spot in Harlem, Tribeca, or the Flower District. Harlem is the new home of Gavin Brown’s Enterprise and Elizabeth Dee; Tribeca hosts a growing number of art venues, including Alexander & Bonin; Casey Kaplan recently moved to the Flower District, and Brazil’s Galeria Nara Roesler recently opened a showroom there.

He’s ruled out the Lower East Side, he says.

Team opened a Los Angeles venue in November 2014 with an exhibition of Cory Arcangel. That spot measures just 1,000 square feet in a small house and is dubbed Team (Bungalow).

Founded in 1996, the gallery represents artists including Alex Bag, Ryan McGinley, Sam McKinniss, Santiago Sierra, Banks Violette, and Stanley Whitney.

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