Why Blum’s Closure Is Shaking the Art World

On Tuesday, as Europe was going to bed and New York was wrapping its business day, the art world was hit by startling news: after 31 years, major Los Angeles dealer Tim Blum (a friend of many years), had decided to “sunset” his gallery, shutting the massive Culver City space he opened in 2009 with his long-term partner Jeff Poe. He will also close his 12-year-old Tokyo space and ditch plans for a massive new Tribeca gallery in New York City, where Blum & Poe opened in 2014.

While Blum will stay in the art world, he will no longer represent any of the nearly 70 artists on his roster, telling journalists he was feeling burnt out by the relentless pace of the industry. For gallerists at his level, this means mounting fair booths on an almost monthly basis across several continents, not to mention the travel required to maintain strong personal relationships with dozens of key artists and collectors around the world.

In recent years, Blum was hit by several draining events, such as major LA painter Henry Taylor’s 2020 move to Hauser & Wirth and Poe’s exit in 2023 to pursue a calmer life. But the news says as much about the state of the art world as about Blum specifically.

Not since New York’s Gavin Brown closed shop in 2020 has such a major figure exited the game. Art stars like Mark Grotjahn and Yoshitomo Nara are no doubt already being approached by rivals, including the “mega-galleries” — Hauser, David Zwirner, White Cube, Gagosian and Pace — that increasingly dominate the sector, putting pressure on the merely “major” dealers. But the history of such closures suggests that those of Blum’s artists whose sales aren’t currently hot may get marooned at a time when few galleries are taking chances on expanding their roster.

Adding another dimension to the fallout, Blum, who modelled in Japan before opening his gallery, was one of the great bridge-makers between Asia and the Western art market, arranging major museum shows and collection sales for nearly a score of Asian, primarily Japanese, artists such as Nara, Kishio Suga and Yukinori Yanagi.

Blum was also a mentor and ally to many younger gallerists, so his decision to step out after having achieved so much — like that of Gavin Brown (and Chelsea pioneer Andrea Rosen before him) — will trigger existential questions for many of his colleagues. Because when the person you’re trying to become decides it’s not worth it, what does that mean for you?

Having led Art Basel from 2007 to 2022, Marc Spiegler now works on a portfolio of cultural-strategy projects. He is President of the Board of Directors of Superblue, works with the Luma Foundation, and serves on the boards of the ArtTech and Art Explora foundations. In addition to consulting for companies such as Prada Group, KEF Audio and Sanlorenzo, Spiegler has long been a Visiting Professor in cultural management at Università Bocconi in Milan and recently launched the Art Market Minds Academy.