Gavin Brown is a British artist and art dealer. He is the owner of the gallery, Gavin Brown's enterprise in New York City and co-founder of non-profit gallery ''356 Mission'' in Los Angeles. The ''356 Mission'' art space closed in 2019, due to the lease ending.

Early life

Brown grew up in

Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...

in south London. His mother was a social worker; his father an architect, who abandoned the family when Brown was 11.Diane Solway (July 16, 2013)
The Enterprising Mr. Brown
'' W''. He attended

Newcastle Polytechnic Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

– where his classmates included Matthew Higgs – and later at

Chelsea College of Arts Chelsea College of Arts is a Colleges of the University of the Arts London, constituent college of the University of the Arts London, a public art and design university in London, England. It offers further education, further and higher educ ...

. At Anthony d’Offay Gallery in London, Brown worked as an assistant in the back room alongside

Damien Hirst Damien Steven Hirst (; né Brennan; born 7 June 1965) is an English artist and art collector. He was one of the Young British Artists (YBAs) who dominated the art scene in the UK during the 1990s. He is reportedly the United Kingdom's richest ...

before moving to New York in 1988 to continue his studies at the Whitney Museum of American Art’s Independent Study Program.

Career

Brown began organizing exhibitions in the early 1990s – including one for 303 Gallery in 1991 as well as pop-ups in at the

Hotel Chelsea The Hotel Chelsea (also known as the Chelsea Hotel and the Chelsea) is a hotel at 222 West 23rd Street in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Built between 1883 and 1884, the hotel was designed by Philip Hubert in a styl ...

, in his apartment on the Upper West Side and in a cubicle he rented in a Midtown office building – and opened his first gallery in Soho in 1994. In December 1993, he had a solo show of his own work at

David Zwirner Gallery David Zwirner Gallery is an American contemporary art gallery owned by David Zwirner. It has four gallery spaces in New York City and one each in Los Angeles, London, Hong Kong, and Paris. History The Zwirner Gallery opened in 1993 on the gr ...

in Soho. In 2003, Brown served on the selection committee for the first edition of

Frieze Art Fair Frieze Art Fair is an annual contemporary art, contemporary art festival, art fair first held in 2003 in London's Regent's Park. Developed by the founders of the contemporary art magazine ''Frieze (magazine), Frieze'', the fair has since expan ...

. In the early 2000s, Brown ran a gallery in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

called ''Roma Roma Roma'' with fellow dealers Franco Noero and Toby Webster, who have galleries in Turin, Italy, and Glasgow, Scotland, respectively.Andrew Russeth (March 19, 2015)
Gavin Brown Will Open a Space in Rome
''

ARTnews ''ARTnews'' is an American art magazine, based in New York City. It covers visual arts from ancient to contemporary times. It is the oldest and most widely distributed art magazine in the world. ''ARTnews'' has a readership of 180,000 in 124 co ...

''. In 2012 he took a lease in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

for ''356 Mission'', a gallery that is operated as an

artist-run space An artist-run space or artist-run centre (Canada) is a gallery or other facility operated or directed by artists, frequently circumventing the structures of public art centers, museums, or commercial galleries and allowing for a more experimental ...

by painter Laura Owens. In 2014, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' named him in their "Movers and makers: the most powerful people in the art world". In 2015, Brown and

Rirkrit Tiravanija Rirkrit Tiravanija (, Jerry Saltz (May 7, 2007)Conspicuous Consumption''New York Magazine''.) is a Thai contemporary artist residing in New York City, Berlin, and Chiangmai, Thailand. He was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1961. His installatio ...

opened Unclebrother, a restaurant and gallery in a former car dealership in Hancock, New York. In July 2020, Brown announced that he would close his gallery and partner with Barbara Gladstone. In 2024, he donated a range of materials related to his former gallery to

Bard College Bard College is a private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains within the Hudson River Historic District ...

’s Center for Curatorial Studies.

Controversy

Brown and painter Laura Owens have been accused of being involved with gentrification of a predominantly working-class, Hispanic neighbourhood with their non-profit gallery ''356 Mission'' in the neighbourhood of

Boyle Heights Boyle may refer to: Places United States * Boyle, Kansas, an unincorporated community * Boyle, Mississippi, a town *Boyle County, Kentucky *Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, a neighborhood Elsewhere * Boyle (crater), a lunar crater * 11967 Boyle, ...

, on the east side of

. Activists of various anti-gentrification groups have protested their galleries and exhibitions in both Los Angeles and New York City. The ''356 Mission'' art space closed in 2019, due to the lease ending.

Personal life

Since 2011, Brown has been residing in Harlem where he moved with his wife, artist Hope Atherton, and their daughter. From a previous marriage with Scottish fashion designer, Lucy Barnes, Brown has three children. In 2005, Brown purchased a 700-square-foot weekend home in the hamlet of Lordville, New York.David Colman (30 August 2017)
A Catskills Art Scene Makes a Splash With Free Curry
�''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Gavin Living people British art dealers Alumni of Northumbria University Year of birth missing (living people) Artists from the London Borough of Croydon People from Croydon