Templon, a long-time fixture of the Paris gallery scene, is headed to New York.
The gallery will inaugurate a new space in Chelsea this September, just in time for Armory Week, with a solo show of Senegalese artist Omar Ba.
The gallery, which was founded by Daniel Templon in 1966, will open at 293 Tenth Avenue, at the former home of Kasmin Gallery. The 6,500-square-foot space will undergo renovations this summer courtesy of Studio MDA, the firm run by German-born New York-based architect Markus Dochantschi.
“We’re really excited,” dealer Mathieu Templon, the founder’s son, told Artnet News. “As soon as we saw the space, we knew that we wanted to be here. Even though we saw great neighborhoods such as Tribeca, Chelsea really is still the biggest center for New York galleries from our point of view.”
Omar Ba, World I (2021). Photo courtesy of Templon.
The younger Templon previously spent three years in the city working for Sean Kelly before heading to Brussels in 2015, where he oversaw Templon’s first location outside of Paris. (It currently operates two Paris spaces.)
“When I left New York, I always knew I would come back some day,” Templon said. “We have a lot of collectors in New York, and the gallery has a long relationship with the city. The gallery represented a lot of New York artists in the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s.”
Several artists currently in the gallery’s stable lack New York representation as of now, including Chiharu Shiota, Iván Navarro, Prune Nourry, and Jim Dine.
Chiharu Shiota, State of being (2021). Photo courtesy of Templon, Paris and Brussels.
“Jim Dine lived in New York for 20 years, and it is a real honor to represent such a major U.S. artist in U.S.,” Templon said.
Ahead of the gallery’s New York debut, Templon added, “we’re going to freshen up the building, changing the layout and the flooring, the general feel of the space.”
Upcoming New York exhibitions will also include a solo show for U.S. artist Michael Ray Charles, who had until recently stopped showing work altogether. Templon signed him in November, memorably showcasing his recent paintings at Art Basel Miami Beach.
The gallery’s inaugural New York exhibition is timed ahead of an upcoming retrospective for Ba, slated to open at the Baltimore Museum of Art in November. At Templon, Ba will show a new series of paintings inspired by Africa’s place in contemporary American and European politics.
“For me, it was really important to start with Omar, because he is the first artist who I brought to the gallery,” Templon said. “Our goal is to get closer to New York collectors and institutions, and represent our artists in the best way possible, on a global platform.”