Marciano to Lease Space to Gallerist Larry Gagosian

Gallerist Larry Gagosian has leased space in the Marciano Art Foundation building, according to ArtnetNews.com.

“Gagosian has reached an exclusive occupancy arrangement with the Marciano Art Foundation to program the grand Theater Gallery commencing in January 2021,” a Gagosian representative told Wet Paint, an ArtNews gossip column reported and written by Nate Freeman.

“Sources said the mega-gallery owner will extend his footprint in the City of Angels by turning part of the nearly 90,000-square-foot masonic-temple-turned-museum on Wilshire Boulevard into another Gagosian outpost. It will be Larry Gagosian’s second gallery in LA, complementing the longstanding space in Beverly Hills, and muscling up his presence in the town where he started his career by selling framed posters on the street at $15 a pop,” continued the WetPaint item.

Gagosian, considered one of the most prominent gallery owners in the art world, opened his first gallery for modern and contemporary art in 1980 in Los Angeles. Today, according to his website, Gagosian employs more than 300 people, and has eighteen exhibition spaces across the United States, Europe, and Asia, designed by acclaimed architects.

The Marciano Art Foundation has been closed since November 2019. Recently the Foundation reached a settlement with former workers who had sued after the museum was abruptly closed after employees tried to form a union. As we have previously reported, the property is currently permitted for use as a museum, so this new iteration would fall within the current permitted use of the building and would have to conform to the conditions imposed by the City when it opens.