Winners & Losers in The Art Gallery Shake-Up

Everybody wanted Kehinde Wiley, perhaps Deitch’s biggest star, when the dealer left town for LA. Sean Kelly, known for his blockbuster representation of Marina Abramovic and the Robert Mapplethorpe estate, won the gifted hip-hop painter. Wiley says he’s excited and to expect “mega-monumental” painting to come out of the collaboration.

Shown: Office of the Hussars, 2007

Cult favorite painter Peter Saul has shown at both Haunch of Venison and Leo Keonig but switched to Mary Boone earlier this year. Says the gallery's Ron Warren: "He's at a point in his career (age 77) where he wants wide exposure." Prices start around $100,000 and his show is tentatively scheduled for next season.

Shown: George Bush at Abu Ghraib

Boone has surprisingly added some mid-career (and older) artists to her roster lately, including Jim Isermann, perhaps to balance out wunderkind Terence Koh.

Shown: Mary Boone, Terence Koh and Kembra Pfahler (of the Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black)

Now, that wasn't very nice of Larry Gagosian, was it? The great Ab-Ex sculptor John Chamberlain had shown at Pace for years, and is starring in an exhibition at Paula Cooper that opens this week - but Gagosian just took out ads to trumpet that he was now the official representative of Chamberlain.

Shown: Chamberlain and his artwork

It’s all coming up roses for this son of legendary painter Robert; his rose sculptures are on view on Park Avenue. He recently left the sculpture-strong Marlborough for Paul Kasmin, who's known for his East-and-West coast connections, his enthusiasm -- and his Boom Boom Room parties.  

Shown: The Roses

Mega-dealer Deitch's departure for Los Angeles left about 30 artists without representation: some stars, such as Vanessa Beecroft, still lack New York galleries. Several, like Shepard Fairey (famed for his red-white-and-blue "Hope" poster of President Obama) have shown at the buzzy The Hole, a gallery founded by two of Deitch's alumni directors, Kathy Grayson and Meghan Coleman.

Shown: Julie Atlas Muz, Jeffrey Deitch, and Bambi the Mermaid at opening of the 2007 Deitch Projects show "Womanizer"

A standout at the 2008 Whitney Biennial, Brannon elevates graphic design and object display to the level of fine art. Leaving one Conceptual Art-oriented gallery for another makes us wonder whether Brannon got the squeeze at Friedrich Petzel or found new gallery Casey Kaplan a better fit.

Shown: The artist's Sick Whore

Insiders say this daughter of the celebrity photographer Timothy was one of the reasons Haunch of Venison, Christie's private gallery arm, hired her dealer Robert Goff. He brought a chunk of his stable with him, including painter Isca, who's opening her first keenly awaited Haunch show March 10.

Shown: Red-Suit Diver, 2006

In April 2010, hot Syrian artist Diana Al-Hadid left Perry Rubenstein to join Boesky, shortly after the daughter of infamous financier Ivan had added a three-story townhouse to her gallery spaces. Boesky is offering the artist’s works at about $7,000 to $75,000 and she'll have a solo Al-Hadid show spring 2012.

Shown: Boesky (in white) with collectors Jason, Michelle and Mera Rubell

Think "Indian Op Art" -- and remember the name. This painter of interiors is at an interesting point in his career, poised between tiny but effusive reviews in the pages of The New Yorker and Art Forum and what will likely be greater success. Raja opened at Greenberg last fall after previous shows at Jack Tilton and Envoy.

Shown: KR19, 2010

The artist said he moved from Deitch Projects to Salon 94 about six to eight months ago and finds his new home great. Dealer "Jeanne (Greenberg Rohatyn) is very smart with pure instincts, and knows how to deal with artists. Many dealers do not." Last summer, he served as a guest judge on her reality-TV show, Bravo's Work of Art.

Shown: Judging the TV hopefuls are, left to right, China Chow, Kessler, Jerry Saltz, Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn, Bill Powers

Shortly before she got a show at the Whitney Museum, the artist left D'Amelio Terras Gallery for Metro Pictures. Alison Card from Metro said "We've been fans of Sara's work for a long time, since she opened Guild & Greyshkul. We've been watching steadily." Price-wise, she adds, a small piece can go for as little as $3,000, a big piece for as much as $60,000. Meanwhile, VanDerBeek's former gallery, Terras, got Daniel Hesidence.

Shown: From a W Magazine fashion shoot by VanDerBeek

Larry Gagosian's giving the superstar German photographer, who moved from Matthew Marks, a big push: Adrien Brody, Diane von Furstenberg, and Steve Martin were among the VIP guests at his lush party for the artist at Beverly Hill's Mr. Chow last March.

Shown: Pyongyang (Korea) I, 2007

Gagosian, shown here with legendary dealer Leo Castelli, has raided his rivals to sign a raft of superstars to his New York galleries since 2008: John Chamberlain, Rudolf Stingel, formerly at Andrea Rosen, the Robert Rauschenberg estate, among others. But he lost the Willem de Kooning estate to Pace.

It was a big deal -- and a "go" signal to the art market -- when dealer Marian Goodman started dealing in the works of some artists from the classic Arte Povera movement. But she's also added Julie Mehretu (late of The Project Gallery), known for her dense, shiny, abstract paintings. At the gallery, she joins stars like John Baldessari, fresh of a Metropolitan Museum show.

Shown: Black Light (deep water), 2007

Pace has had some departures in the recent gallery roundelay. Additions include the Willem de Kooning estate, and Sterling Ruby, who left Metro Pictures. (Fellow gallery artist Kiki Smith was a fan of his work, notes Pace's Andrea Glimcher.) Next up for Ruby: a show at Pace Beijing in Fall 2011.

Shown: The couple, honored at the Creative Time Gala, 2010

This Kenyan native's recent exhibition at Barbara Gladstone sold well, but she's still best known for her 2006 "Killah Anthems" show at 20-year veteran gallery Sikkema Jenkins.

Bronx artist Michael Anderson got lots of attention for his spring 2009 commission at the Ace Hotel – a mural of tens of thousands of graffiti stickers he had peeled off walls, lampposts and cars. Not long after, he moved from Marlborough Gallery to Claire Oliver for a “The Street is My Palette” show. Works are priced at about $4,000 to $20,000.

Shown: The Country Club

Few living artists get a show at the Metropolitan Museum; Sugimoto did at the age of 47. Known mostly for sumptuously elegant and moody black & white photographs, he joined Pace in September after showing at Gagosian and Sonnabend Gallery and had his first solo show shortly after.

Shown: Union City Theater, Union City, 1993

The Australian sculptor left Robert Miller Gallery for Haunch of Venison and has recently changed her style somewhat, going from organic to automotive. Her newer look, showcased in the summer of 2010, got a lot of viewers, as was paired with a big-ticket installation by video artist Eve Sussman.

Shown: The Stags

New Yorkers probably know Mel Kendrick best for his installation summer 2009 in Madison Square Park. The veteran sculptor, who has shown work at David Nolan Gallery, gets his first show at Mary Boone March 26.

Shown: Markers

The artist has gotten raves for a show at her new gallery, Salon 94, which features photographs of a life-size Japanese sex doll starring as her daughter. Her former home was Bowery lynchpin Sperone Westwater.

When Tauba Auerbach, a Deitch veteran, won "Best New Artist" at the Rob Pruitt Art Awards last fall, she was technically without representation. That didn't last long: The painter of subtle optical illusions signed shortly after, as did another award-winner, Paul Pfeiffer, with Paula Cooper.

Shown: Auerbach, from Vogue magazine

David Zwirner represents 38 artists; in the fall of 2009 he added the estates of Dan Flavin and Donald Judd to a roster that already includes R. Crumb and Francis Alys.