Blum & Poe

Blum & Poe is a contemporary art gallery located in Los Angeles, New York, and Tokyo.[1]

Blum & Poe, Los Angeles
Blum & Poe, New York
Blum & Poe, Tokyo

Development

Blum & Poe was founded by Tim Blum and Jeff Poe in Santa Monica, California, in September 1994.

The inaugural exhibition in Santa Monica featured Stroke, an installation by British artist Anya Gallaccio, consisting of chocolate smeared onto the gallery walls.[2]

In 2003, Blum & Poe relocated to a 5,000-square-foot warehouse on the edge of Culver City,[3] an area of industrial warehouses. Several other galleries subsequently opened on the same stretch of La Cienega Boulevard, resulting in the formation of the Culver City Art District. [4]

During its first decade, the gallery gave solo shows to numerous artists who have since become well-known and influential, including: Sam Durant, Yoshitomo Nara, Sharon Lockhart, Takashi Murakami, Mark Grotjahn, Dave Muller, Dirk Skreber, Florian Maier-Aichen, Julian Hoeber, and Chiho Aoshima.

On its 15th anniversary in 2009, the gallery purchased a 22,000-square-foot building across the street on La Cienega Boulevard and renovated it into a series of museum-quality exhibition spaces on two floors.

Relationship to Japanese artists

Prior to returning to Los Angeles in 1994, Blum had spent several years living and working in in the Tokyo art world. During that time he met Yoshitomo Nara and Takashi Murakami. Following its opening in Santa Monica, Blum & Poe gave Yoshitomo Nara his first solo exhibition in the United States in 1995. Takashi Murakami’s first solo exhibition with the gallery was in 1997.

In January 2010, Blum & Poe held a solo exhibition of Lee Ufan, the influential artist/theorist of Mono-ha, a loose group of Tokyo-based artists who established themselves in the late 1960s. In February 2012, the gallery held “Requiem for the Sun: The Art of Mono-ha,” the first survey of Mono-ha in the United States, which included major installations by Kōji Enokura, Noriyuki Haraguchi, Susumu Koshimizu, Lee Ufan, Nobuo Sekine, Kishio Suga, Jiro Takamatsu, and Katsurō Yoshida.[5]

Branches

On its 20th anniversary in 2014, Blum & Poe established two new branches. In May, the gallery opened a gallery in a townhouse on the Upper East Side in New York. In September, Blum & Poe opened a space opposite the Meiji Shrine gardens in central Tokyo. [6][7]

Artists currently represented

[8]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Tim Blum & Jeff Poe". ArtReview. ArtReview. Retrieved 10 March 2015.
  2. ↑ "Ninety Pounds of Chocolate Transformed Into Lickable Wallpaper". Boston.com
  3. ↑ Vogel, Carol. "Inside Art: Impressionists Head South." The New York Times. 01 Nov. 2007. Web. 06 Aug. 2014.
  4. ↑ "Interview: Blum & Poe". Art Ltd. LifescapesMedia. Retrieved 10 March 2015.
  5. ↑ "Takashi Murakami's Gallery Ventures Out". The Wall Street Journal. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 10 March 2015.
  6. ↑ "Blum & Poe gets closer to its artists". The Japan Times. The Japan Times. Retrieved 10 March 2015.
  7. ↑ Ng, David. "Blum & Poe Opening Tokyo Office to Strengthen Ties with Asia." Los Angeles Times. 03 Oct. 2012. Web. 06 Aug. 2014.
  8. ↑ "Blum & Poe artists". Blum & Poe. Blum & Poe. Retrieved 10 March 2015.

External links