Clearing Gallery, a prominent New York-based contemporary art space that launched the careers of notable artists including Korakrit Arunanondchai, Harold Ancart, and Marguerite Humeau, has permanently closed its doors after 14 years of operation. The closure affects both the gallery's New York and Los Angeles locations, marking the end of what was once considered one of Brooklyn's most influential art spaces.
The shutdown makes Clearing the fourth gallery with a New York presence to close within the past month, joining Blum, Venus Over Manhattan, and Kasmin in a troubling trend for the city's art scene. Kasmin announced just yesterday that it would wind down operations and transition into a new entity called Olney Gleason. This wave of closures follows a broader pattern of gallery shutdowns over the past year, affecting both blue-chip establishments like Mitchell-Innes & Nash and mid-sized operations such as David Lewis, whose namesake dealer subsequently joined Hauser & Wirth as a senior director.
Clearing's final exhibitions were solo shows featuring Coco Young in New York and Henry Curchod in Los Angeles. The Young exhibition concluded in June, while the Curchod show wrapped up in July. Gallery founder Olivier Babin did not provide specific reasons for the closure but issued a heartfelt statement on social media explaining the difficult decision.
"It was not an easy decision. Until the very end, we hoped to turn the corner," Babin wrote. "But with no viable path forward, we are closing today because we can no longer operate at the standards we've always held ourselves to – for our artists, our teams, and our entire community." The statement reflected the gallery's commitment to maintaining high standards even as financial pressures mounted.
Established in 2011 in Brooklyn's Bushwick neighborhood, Clearing quickly rose to prominence during a period when the area was experiencing a boom in art spaces and cultural activity. The gallery's massive Brooklyn location became known for hosting ambitious, large-scale installations, including striking video works by Arunanondchai and Meriem Bennani, monumental sculptures by Humeau and Bruno Gironcoli, and paintings by Ancart, who had ten solo exhibitions with Clearing before eventually moving to David Zwirner and later to mega-gallery Gagosian.
The gallery's impressive roster included a diverse range of significant contemporary artists, from Lili Reynaud-Dewar and Zak Kitnick to Hugh Hayden and Marina Pinsky, as well as Jean-Marie Appriou and Huma Bhabha. This carefully curated selection of artists helped establish Clearing as a serious player in the contemporary art world and a launching pad for emerging talent.
Clearing's expansion reflected its growing success and ambition. The gallery opened a Brussels location in 2012, followed by a Los Angeles space in 2020. However, in 2023, the gallery made a significant move by departing its original Brooklyn location and relocating its New York operations to a three-floor space on the Bowery in Manhattan, signaling a shift toward a more traditional gallery district presence.
Signs of internal turmoil emerged in 2024 when reports surfaced of disagreements between Babin and Lodovico Corsini, who helped manage the Brussels operations. According to Artnet News, the two did not see eye to eye regarding the direction of Clearing's European operations. This led to an announcement that the American and European entities would separate, with Corsini taking control of the Brussels space and operating it under his own name.
In their closing statement, Clearing expressed gratitude to all who supported the gallery throughout its run. "We want to thank all the artists who gave meaning to this adventure, and we salute the institutions, curators, and collectors who championed their vision," the gallery stated. "To our teams – past and present – thank you for your dedication and hard work. CLEARING was, first and foremost, a shared endeavor, and any success we encountered belongs to all of you." The closure represents not just the end of a business, but the conclusion of what the gallery characterized as a collaborative artistic adventure that helped shape contemporary art discourse for over a decade.
