Beginning September 14, Vito Schnabel Gallery will present These Days, an exhibition marking twenty years since the 2003 debut of Incubator, the first public show Vito Schnabel organized, and ten years since the opening of the gallery’s first permanent space on Clarkson Street in 2013.
Bringing together works by artists and estates with whom Schnabel has collaborated over the past two decades, These Days will feature works by Trey Abdella, Zachary Armstrong, Vahakn Arslanian, Cecily Brown, Francesco Clemente, Giorgio de Chirico, Jorge Galindo, Ron Gorchov, Rashid Johnson, Spencer Lewis, Caitlin Lonegan, Lola Montes, Robert Nava, Mariana Oushiro, Angel Otero, Ariana Papademetropoulos, Man Ray, Rene Ricard, David Salle, Julian Schnabel, Pat Steir, Piotr Uklanski, Gus Van Sant, Jessica Westhafer, and Thomas Woodruff.
"In 2003, I organized my very first exhibition, Incubator, to showcase artists whose work I had grown up with and loved. That show ignited my interest in working directly with artists and it launched my career. I went on to organize solo shows with Ron Gorchov, Rene Ricard, Laurie Anderson, Terence Koh, Vahakn Arslanian, and many other artists, always in temporary locations in such places as New York, Miami, London, Venice, and Los Angeles, before opening a permanent space of my own on Clarkson Street in New York in 2013. Two years later, I inaugurated a second location – a beautiful space in the Via Maistra in St. Moritz – in the former gallery space of my mentor Bruno Bischofberger. And just two and a half years ago, as the pandemic began to recede, our team opened the gallery’s third space on West 19th Street in the heart of the Chelsea Arts District in New York City.
Over the past twenty years, I have been fortunate to work closely with living artists at different stages in their careers – some just starting out, others at the height of their powers – and have also been privileged to present the work of such modern masters as Giorgio de Chirico and Francis Picabia. Along with my wonderful team, I’ve been able to explore passions and advocate for both discoveries and rediscoveries, always seeking something new – whether that’s something I have not seen before in the work of a young artist, or a previously unknown series by a very well-known painter.
The title of this new anniversary exhibition – These Days – refers back to a show I presented in 2011 featuring art I was surrounded by at that moment. Today, continuing to pull the threads of that exhibition as well as Incubator, we’ve brought together works by more than twenty artists who have been my fellow travelers and teachers over these past twenty years – artists whose work reflects where we are right now and who excite, enchant, challenge, and amaze us. Here’s to the next twenty…"
– Vito Schnabel, August 2023