NEW YORK GALLERY QUEER THOUGHTS TO SHUTTER PERMANENTLY
Queer Thoughts, a tastemaking New York gallery known for showing bleeding-edge work by emerging artists, has closed after eleven years. Founded in 2012, in the closet of a Chicago apartment by artists Miguel Bendaña and Sam Lipp, the gallery in 2015 moved to an office in TriBeCa, which was not then the thriving arts hub it is today. Bendaña and Lipp affirmed that the closure had been planned to coincide with the expiration of their lease, and is not due to any financial difficulty. Its last show, which ended in May, was an exhibition of figurative paintings by Arthur Marie.
“The evolution of the gallery far exceeded our dreams and expectations, and after 11 years we decided to close the gallery to pursue other projects, namely our individual artistic practices,” the pair told Artnews in a statement. “It has been an honor to work with so many inspiring artists and present the first New York solo exhibitions by Diamond Stingily, David Rappeneau, Chelsea Culprit, Lucie Stahl, Mindy Rose Schwartz and Dean Sameshima, among others.”
Queer Thoughts launched with an exhibition of work by then little-known artist Puppies Puppies, now also working under the name Jade Kuriki-Olivo; a solo exhibition of her work will open at New York’s New Museum next month. The gallery gave Rappeneau his inaugural solo show, of surrealistic drawings of youths in 2014, while still operating out of the Chicago closet; Rappeneau is now represented by the blue-chip Gladstone Gallery. Stingily’s debut show at Queer Thoughts, in 2016, featured sculptures made from Kanekalon hair; five years later, the Museum of Modern Art purchased three works by the artist.
New York downtown gallery closures have been coming thick and fast in recent weeks, with Queer Thoughts being the third thus far to throw in the towel. The trend-setting JTT, which had only recently moved to TriBeCa, shuttered on August 11, while the well-regarded Foxy Production announced earlier this month that it will end its gallery program in October. All three specialized in experimental work by early-career artists.
