Pace, one of the largest international galleries, has acquired Los Angeles-based Kayne Griffin gallery in the latest sign of growing consolidation in the art market.
The move, announced Wednesday, will create a readymade Los Angeles base for Pace, which is headquartered in New York and operates galleries in London, Hong Kong, Seoul, Geneva, and, on the West Coast, in the tech capital of Palo Alto. Bill Griffin and Maggie Kayne, the founders and partners of Kayne Griffin, will become managing partners at Pace.
A spokeswoman for Pace declined to comment on the value of the deal.
The news comes on the heels of another big merger, between Salon 94, Lévy Gorvy, and the private dealer Amalia Dayan, which formed LGDR entity last year. The Los Angeles art scene has boomed in recent years. Among blue-chip galleries, Gagosian has been a force there for decades; more recently, New York galleries and international dealerships, including Hauser & Wirth and Sprüth Magers, have opened ambitious outposts there.
Kayne Griffin’s 15,000-square-foot space on South La Brea Avenue, which had been designed by artist James Turrell, will operate under the Pace brand starting this April, the galleries said.
Kayne Griffin’s roster includes such artists as Turrell, Mary Corse, the filmmaker/painter David Lynch, Sarah Crowner, Sam Moyer, and Hank Willis Thomas. Certain artists formerly represented by Kayne Griffin will still be shown at the new gallery, and some will additionally be added to Pace’s international program, according to a Pace spokeswoman.
“Los Angeles has always been a magnet for artists, and its position as a center for world-class contemporary art has been growing stronger,” said Marc Glimcher, the president and CEO of Pace. “As we considered how we could most thoughtfully become part of the city’s cultural offer, our path became clear.”
The galleries share several artists, including Turrell and Corse. Both have also done projects with Robert Irwin, who has been represented by Pace for decades.
“With the relationship Pace already had with Kayne Griffin’s most important artists it makes a lot of sense,” Stavros Merjos, a private art dealer in Los Angeles, said about the merger.
This is not Pace’s first time in the City of Angels. From 1995 to 2000, the gallery had a space on Wilshire Boulevard under PaceWildenstein.