Casey Kaplan
AFTER 25 YEARS, CASEY KAPLAN GALLERY DOUBLES DOWN ON NEW YORK – WITH ANNIVERSARY TRIBUTES AND EXPANSION PLANS
March 3, 2020
by Andy Battaglia
When Casey Kaplan opened his namesake art gallery in his hometown New York, he was not far removed from menial work for some of the city’s premier dealers and flush with connections less to artists of note than to their assistants. One of his first exhibitions showcased Joe Letitia, whose day job at the time was in the studio of Chuck Close, and others focused on young upstarts he managed to find while on the prowl around alternative spaces and art schools.
Now, 25 years later, Kaplan is more than a little established—and moving into a new phase. “I’m doubling down on New York, my home,” he said a couple weeks ago in his spacious gallery on West 27th Street. “I’m not interested in having a gallery somewhere else. I am a big believer in focusing, and I can focus by not being in London and Paris and Milan and Los Angeles. I can do my job well when I’m paying attention to what I need to pay attention to here.”
Kaplan will soon have more to focus on thanks to plans to expand his base in the city’s Flower District, close in certain ways but also pointedly distanced from the Chelsea gallery district. He currently occupies 10,000 square feet, and to that he’ll be adding 6,500 square feet next door in September. After construction is complete (to transform a former boxing gym into an environment more amenable to showing art), the combined spaces will open with an expansive exhibition by Kevin Beasley. Afterward, the enlarged gallery will be home to solo shows and dual-artist programs drawing from a roster of 25 artists, including many who have been with Kaplan for more than a decade (Jason Dodge, Geoffrey Farmer, Liam Gillick, Jonathan Monk, Simon Starling, and several others) plus some young ones (Kevin Beasley, Jordan Casteel) very much in the midst of an ascendant rise.
The next move marks the fifth expansion since Kaplan started out in a small space in SoHo and then slowly, over the course of a quarter of a century, moved his way uptown, first to 14th Street and later to Chelsea and then his current home. Throughout it all, the city has remained a muse. “I always just wanted to be a New York mom-and-pop shop,” he said.
With the gallery’s 25th anniversary year now under way, lasting relationships have come in for special consideration. The first anniversary-celebrating show opens Tuesday and focuses on Liam Gillick, who guest-curated an early group show at the gallery and joined the roster in earnest after. “We’ve done nine shows together,” Kaplan said. It’s extraordinary history to have worked with somebody that long and planned so many exhibitions and have had such varied experiences together. This show is about a relationship—it’s a collaboration, and the show is evidence of that.”
With more space to play with starting in September and a 10-year lease secured, Kaplan said he’s looking forward to adding to his roster and figuring out what awaits him as a gallerist somewhere in the middle of being young and old. “I’m much more of an interesting person in my 40s than I was in my 30s and certainly in my 20s, and I feel like I just know how to do my job better. One of the beauties of not being in Chelsea is I don’t have to face all the other outside noise. I can look more inward and examine what we’re doing here—and just try to improve.”
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