Melanie Gerlis reports Art newspaper On Friday. The space has been open for more than a decade, providing more and more performances to artists like Javier Calleja, Chloe Wise, Jeff Koons, Esther Mahlangu and others.
Dealer Almine Rech, who founded her gallery in Paris in 1997, told Gerlis that London is still “important” to her business and that she “will open something” in the city in the future without further specific details.
Gerlis also reported that Almine Rech’s London branch had been liquidated. She filed the gallery’s £6.3 million deficit with the company filings submitted by the company. Rech said she doesn’t owe artists, workers or suppliers, and liquidation documents are “a technical step in the restructuring of the lease that is no longer consistent with our plans.”
RECH’s gallery will continue to operate the remaining eight locations, two of which are located in Paris. The remaining six are distributed in New York, Brussels, Shanghai, Monaco and Gstaad.
Her gallery opened in 2014 at Savile Row in London and then moved to Grosvenor Hill two years later to place Almine Rech next door to Gagosian, where the company continues to run its space. (Gagosian closed another gallery in London in 2023 after 19 years.)
Earlier this year, dealer Almine Rech told Artnews She lost some London collectors after the UK sets new tax rules. “Once people walk away and settle in other places, they usually don’t come back – when money leaves one place, that’s bad,” she said. She added: “I believe the UK has a strong responsive capacity.”
According to Gerlis’ report, Brexit may have played a role in the RECH’s decision. But in 2023, some London dealers told Artnews The British art market is still strong, even if one in France is getting bigger and bigger in its prominence.
The last exhibition was closed on July 26 at its London Gallery (Gregor Hildebrandt Solo).
