Nan Goldin, the Artist Who Took on Big Pharma, Joins Gagosian
The estates of Robert Rauschenberg, Coosje van Bruggen and Claes Oldenburg, and Yoo Youngkuk also changed hands in last month's art world shake up.
Nan Goldin, Self-portrait smoking, Simon's house, Stockholm (2013). Archival pigment print. 76 × 114 cm. © Nan Goldin. Courtesy the artist and Gagosian.
Nan Goldin has joined Gagosian, departing Marian Goodman Gallery, with whom she showed for the past five years. She will continue to work with the photography-based Fraenkel Gallery in San Francisco.
The 69-year-old artist, photographer, filmmaker, and activist first garnered attention for intimate photographs of the LGTB community she shot during the AIDS epidemic.
In 2022, she found her way onto the TIMES 100 List for her work concerning the opioid crisis. For three years, Goldin struggled with an addiction to OxyContin, an addictive prescription painkiller produced by the Sackler family's company, Purdue Pharma. It led to Goldin experiencing a near-fatal fentanyl overdose.
'Joining Gagosian will not in any way compromise my political activism,' Goldin reassured The New York Times on Thursday.
In another major announcement, Pace consolidated its global representation of the estate of Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. Pace represented the duo, known for their 'soft sculptures' depicting everyday objects, from the 1990s until Claes passed away in July last year.
The pair's 'groundbreaking work across sculpture and performance has left an indelible mark on art history,' said Pace Ceo Marc Glimcher.
Maartje Oldenburg, the couple's daughter, will head the estate and work with Pace on various projects, including a major exhibition of Claes Oldenburg's work in 2024.
Pace now also represents the estate of Yoo Youngkuk (1916–2002) with PKM gallery in Seoul. Yoo's pioneering geometric abstraction features bold fields of colour and expressive strokes inspired by the natural surroundings of his hometown in Geyongsangbuk-do.
Leaving Pace for Gladstone Gallery is the estate of American Post-war avant-gardist Robert Rauschenberg, also represented by Thaddaeus Ropac and São Paulo's Galería Luisa Strina.
Other moves in March included: Nigerian performance artist Otobong Nkanga joining Lisson, Madagascar artist Joël Andrianomearisoa signing with Almine Rech, Korean conceptual art pioneer Sung Neung Kyung finding representation with Lehmann Maupin, and Korean-Canadian artist Zadie Xa joining Thaddeus Ropac.
Mexico City's OMR gallery, meanwhile, added Los Angeles-born painter and ceramicist Eduardo Sarabia to their roster ahead of his upcoming solo show This Must be the Place at Dallas Contemporary from 20 April. —[O]
