First come the long, uncomfortable phone calls with artists. Then comes the packing of the inventory. Finally, you have to figure out what to do with all those boxes of archival material in your basement.

The process of closing an art gallery is as unique as the business of art dealing itself. In recent years, dozens of mid-size dealers have closed up shop amid rising rents, punishing art-fair schedules, and increased competition from mega-galleries. But when your business is all-consuming, what happens when you decide to shut it down?

artnet News surveyed a number of New York dealers who have changed course in recent years. Some of them have joined larger galleries, opened non-profit spaces, or begun to deal privately; others have left the art business altogether. What’s clear is that there is no one-size-fits-all solution.

The decision to close is “never taken easily, because when you are a gallery that sells emerging artists, that means you’re at least half an idealist,” says Jimi Dams, the founder of the Lower East Side gallery envoy enterprises, which announced plans to close last month. “In my case, I was 100 percent.”

For every dealer, however, one thing is clear: Closing a gallery is a much more significant life change than moving from one 9-to-5 job to another.

Making the Transition

One reason shutting down can be difficult, gallerists note, is that the dealer is not the only one affected. The decision also disrupts the lives of artists, employees, and other associates.

“It is a full-on transition, and I find myself very fortunate to be able to afford and to choose to make the transition,” says Andrea Rosen, the longtime gallerist who announced that she would stop representing living artists in February to focus on managing the estate of Felix Gonzales-Torres. “While it goes through emotional stages for everybody involved, we all did our very best to try and wrap up projects with artists, and make sure everyone had time to plan.”

Andrea Rosen in 2010.
Photo ©Patrick McMullan.

After making the decision and notifying his artists, Dams entered into what he describes as the “third chapter”: “Where they all are asking to please not close because they have no other place to go.” Then, he began to send back inventory to the artists. “That also takes a very long time because of course some of the artists will stretch the process as long as possible in the hopes that maybe you will change your mind,” he says.

Dams understands this ordeal better than most. He got a crash course in unwinding a longstanding gallery in 2014, when his close friend Hudson, the founder of legendary New York space Feature Gallery, died. As his acting power of attorney, Dams helped shut down Feature before beginning the process himself. “Just to give you an idea, I have 275 boxes in my basement with archives and material that I need to go through now” left over from Feature Gallery, he says.

Unwinding the Artist Roster

Mike Weiss, who closed his 13-year-old Chelsea gallery late last year due in part to the nightmare construction of a ten-story luxury condo next door, says an important part of the process is speaking to both artists and collectors about where they might go next. “We’re willing to get together, talk about the future, make recommendations,” he says. “I’ll help you with shows and if you need all the names of people who bought your work, we’re happy to provide.”

Mike Weiss. Courtesy Mike Weiss.

Melissa Bent closed Rivington Arms—considered among the first darlings of the Lower East Side scene—in 2009. She says that although most of her artists had European galleries at the time, she and her co-founder Mirabelle Marden worked with them to find the best fit for new representation in New York and Los Angeles. (Marden declined to comment except to say that the decision to close in 2009 was “personal.”)

In terms of logistics, Rosen is in a unique and remarkable position: Her entire gallery archive will be donated to and preserved by a major United States museum (the details of the gift are still in the works). Over the past five and a half months, a staff of archivists and freelancers have taken on the responsibility of helping to facilitate the move.

“The emotional pressure is eliminated—it takes the pressure of ‘what do I keep, or not keep’ off, but it’s an entirely new undertaking that entails a lot of work,” she says.

Second Acts

Many of the dealers we interviewed remain involved with art in their lives post-gallery, but are pleased to be spending time away from New York’s frenetic scene. The distance, some say, has allowed them to remember which parts of the art world they actually enjoy.

Joel Mesler, who transferred ownership of Feuer/Mesler to the gallery’s director last year, relaunched a previous independent venture, Rental Gallery, in East Hampton this summer.

Though he acknowledges that the space will be highly seasonal, he has been impressed with attendance in the first few months, telling artnet News he had better foot traffic on a recent Monday than on a typical Saturday on the Lower East Side. He also describes reconnecting with a nearby collecting couple who had bought a David Adamo work from him years ago before they stopped frequenting the Lower East Side.

Joel Mesler (center) with the artist Rashid Johnson and Gagosian’s Adam Cohen, courtesy of Joel Mesler.