Blain Southern, Noted London Gallery, Faces Changes as Founders Part Ways -ARTnews

“Zeitleich” by Jonas Burgert in Blain Southern gallery

FELIPE TRUEBA/EPA/SHUTTERSTOCK

One of London’s most important art galleries could go through some big changes, now that its founders are splitting.

Graham Southern and Harry Blain, the cofounders of Blain Southern gallery, have parted ways, the Art Newspaper reports. In spite of the alterations to the way it does business, the gallery will reportedly remain in operation, and will also continue to run its spaces in New York and Berlin. According to a statement from Blain, the gallery is “going through a period of restructuring but remains fully committed to its artists, program and the three spaces we have in London, Berlin and New York”. 

The gallery “will announce some new artists to the programme over the coming weeks,” said Blaine. Craig Burnett, the gallery’s director of exhibitions, has also left the firm. The only upcoming exhibition listed on the gallery’s website is a solo exhibition of work by Thomas Joshua Cooper due to open in New York on November 12.

The separation comes amid increasingly strained relationships with multiple artists represented by the gallery, according to the Art Newspaper report. British artists Jake and Dinos Chapman announced on social media last week that the duo had “departed company with [the gallery] and will cease to be represented by them with immediate effect.” Irish painter Sean Scully is also reportedly “in dispute” with Blain Southern.

Blain Southern was founded in 2010 after Blain and Southern combined their previous gallery, Haunch of Venison, with Christie’s Private Sales in 2007. The gallery has since expanded, opening a second space in Berlin and, later, a third in the building previously occupied by New York’s Cheim & Read gallery. Blain told the Art Newspaper that his gallery will soon depart Chelsea for cheaper lodgings in downtown New York.