The Easel

What Is Lost With the Closing of Gavin Brown’s Enterprise

The announced merger of the “deeply influential” Gavin Brown’s Enterprise into the “semi-mega” Gladstone Gallery has led to some amount of wailing. Mourning the loss of an innovative gallery? Apprehension that widespread gallery mergers could rob the art world of its air of romance? Says Gavin Brown, “there needs to be something more … to imagine [galleries] can all start again with business as usual is a collective delusion.”