Tim Blum, the co-founder of the influential Los Angeles gallery lately known simply as Blum, says he will \u201csunset\u201d the gallery he has run for more than three decades\u2014at least in its traditional model\u2014citing burnout over the gruelling art market demands of constant art fairs and gallery openings.<\/p>\n
Blum, along with his former partner Jeff Poe, co-founded the gallery formerly known as Blum & Poe in 1994 and are credited with introducing American audiences to Japanese artists<\/a> like Yoshitomo Nara and Takashi Murakami, and giving early solo shows to art market darlings including Mark Grotjahn and Anna Weyant. In 2023, Poe left the gallery<\/a>, which was renamed to reflect the change.<\/p>\n First reported by Artnews<\/a>, the transition was not sparked by the industry-wide drop in art sales<\/a>\u2014Blum says he is burnt out after 30 years. \u201cThis is not about the market,\u201d Blum told Artnews. \u201cThis is about the system.\u201d<\/p>\n Just weeks ago at Art Basel, Blum was frank about the art market\u2019s gloomy state of affairs. He told The Art Newspaper<\/a> that \u201ccollectors have more negotiating power right now\u2014if anyone says otherwise, they\u2019re full of shit. We are in the midst of a paradigmatic shift, and to not acknowledge this is to peddle an outdated narrative.\u201d<\/p>\n In a statement shared with The Art Newspaper, Blum says his eponymous gallery will be \u201ctransitioning away from the traditional gallery format toward a more flexible model\u201d that includes the closure of the gallery\u2019s permanent public spaces in Los Angeles and Tokyo. \u201cThis structure will allow us to engage with artists and ideas in new ways, through collaborations, special projects, and longer-term visions still in development,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n A previous space on New York\u2019s Upper East Side closed in 2023, and a gallery representative said Blum is still determining how to use a Tribeca space that was meant for a new gallery location.<\/p>\n