Posh Contemporary Art Gallery Blain Southern Is Closing Its Doors Amid Financial Troubles

Blain Southern, a contemporary
art gallery with locations in London, Berlin, and New York, is
closing its doors amid ongoing financial troubles. The business had
been under great strain following an exodus of artists and staff,
according to five sources familiar with the matter. At least four
artists represented or recently represented by the gallery are now
working to retrieve artworks or overdue payments, Artnet News has
learned. 

The gallery’s founders Graham
Southern and Harry Blain, longtime fixtures on the London art
scene, split up last fall,
with Blain remaining at the helm of the business. Blain confirmed
that he plans to close the gallery and is working to
return inventory to its owners.

“It was an honor to collaborate with so many talented artists
and build an exhibition program that reflected and celebrated the
breadth of contemporary art practice worldwide,” Blain said in a
statement. “Despite the support of dedicated gallery staff, I
deeply regret that I have been unable to secure the gallery’s
future long term.”

There had been clear signs of
trouble: Five artists had left the gallery since Southern split
with Blain this fall. They include British artist Mat Collishaw,
who announced his departure over social media yesterday; British
painter Rachel Howard, who withdrew from the program in early
January; and Berlin-based Henning Strassburger, who departed in
December. Artistic duo Jake & Dinos Chapman and painter Sean Scully
both cut ties with the gallery in November. (Scully previously
confirmed he had a dispute with the gallery but said it was
“unconnected to the dispute between the partners.”)

Blain Southern had also seen a series of high-profile staff
departures in recent months. Charles Saumarez-Smith, the former
Royal Academy director whose 2018 hire was widely
seen as a coup, stepped down as senior director in December.
Craig Burnett, Blain Southern’s director of exhibitions, left in
November. Neither immediately responded to a request for
comment.

Two sources told Artnet News that the gallery recently asked
artists to fund the return of their own works from its storage
facilities, a highly unusual request. In an email seen by Artnet
News, the gallery says it doesn’t have funds to cover shipments due
to its “difficult financial position.” (“I am aware this is not how
one would regularly deal with this but I am afraid we don’t have
that many other options at this stage,” a gallery staff member
wrote.)

One artist who paid for the return of unsold work says they
remain in the dark about the status of other works held by the
gallery and has not received payment for sold works since June.
“They are organizing the closing of the gallery on the backs of
their artists,” the artist said.

When Southern’s exit from the
gallery first came to light last autumn, a spokesman said the business would undergo a
restructuring and announce additional programming in the coming
weeks. Blain said in a statement at the time that the gallery
remained “fully committed to its arts, program, and three
spaces.” 

The two London-based art dealers co-founded their eponymous
gallery in London back in 2010, some years after selling their
former art-dealing business, Haunch of Venison, to Christie’s in
2007. They made
headlines when they opened their gallery and took a number
of big-name artists with them, including Collishaw and Bill
Viola.

Companies House filings shed some light on the gallery’s
still-murky financial situation. As of 2015, Blain’s company BBB Capital
Investments owned 90 percent of the business, while Southern owned
10 percent. The business took out a loan from HSBC in
July 2019. It also reported £2.2 million in profit after tax in
2018, down from £2.8 million in 2017.

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Closing Its Doors Amid Financial Troubles appeared first on
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