David Zwirner: 30 Years

“To mark the gallery’s 30th anniversary and to inaugurate the completion of our new Los Angeles buildings, we are excited to present a very special exhibition that celebrates the artists who have shaped the gallery’s program since its founding. Many of our artists will be in LA for this happy occasion, as we toast to 30 years of exhibitions, books, spaces, and projects, and look forward to all that is to come.”

—David Zwirner

From the start, artists have been at the very center of the gallery’s journey. When David Zwirner opened his doors, in 1993 in SoHo, he met Stan Douglas, Toba Khedoori, Raymond Pettibon, Jason Rhoades, Diana Thater, Luc Tuymans, James Welling, and Franz West in the first year. Three decades later, they are still part of the gallery, among some eighty extraordinary artists and estates who have joined them—from Leipzig, São Paulo, London, Trinidad, and anywhere else in the world where one can make a studio

Over the years, we’ve grown along with our artists. From our first location at 43 Greene Street in Manhattan—“by today’s standards, little more than a coat closet,” noted one artist—the gallery now comprises twelve distinct spaces across New York, London, Paris, Hong Kong, and, most recently, Los Angeles, where we are opening a new building in May 2024, designed by longtime collaborator Annabelle Selldorf, the architect who has designed all of the gallery’s spaces.

In 2014, David Zwirner Books was launched to produce catalogues, monographs, historical surveys, artists’ books, and catalogues raisonnés of the same rigor and quality as the gallery’s exhibitions. Now in its tenth year, the publishing house has also won wide recognition for a burgeoning series of children’s books, as well as the “reliably excellent” ekphrasis collection of rare, rediscovered writings. 

Since its inception, the gallery has supported and encouraged artists’ explorations in printmaking. In 2021, we launched Utopia Editions, the gallery’s print publisher, which provides contemporary artists opportunities to work with master printers all over the world.

Many things work together to shape the narrative of an artist. Whether it’s a musical performance that animates an exhibition, a curator talk that illuminates an idea, or online films and podcasts that bring art to a streaming audience, the stories we tell about our artists always start with them.

Opening Thursday, May 23, David Zwirner: 30 Years is a special exhibition that will inaugurate our new flagship building at 606 North Western Avenue in Los Angeles, designed by Selldorf Architects, and will span our adjacent spaces, which first opened to the public last year. Featuring works by all of the gallery’s artists, the exhibition will present new paintings, sculptures, and installations made specifically for the show, alongside recent and historic works.

“Building and running a gallery for three decades is a great expression of teamwork. Front and center are the artists and their amazing work. Behind them is the gallery, with its many hardworking people, and then, of course, all around, the audience—other artists, curators, critics, collectors, advisors, colleagues, and all the people who love to look at art. So many individuals had to chip in to bring the gallery to this milestone; I am endlessly thankful to every one of them for the help I have gotten along the way.”

—David Zwirner

Source: David Zwirner