Haunch of Venison opens new locations in London and New York

Haunch of Venison London and Haunch of Venison New York announce that both galleries will move their respective locations. The London gallery moves back to its original location at Haunch of Venison Yard reopening on 8 September 2011 following extensive renovations while the New York gallery will move to 550 West 21st Street in Chelsea reopening on 23 September 2011, leaving its current Rockefeller Center premises. Both spaces were redesigned by leading architect Annabelle Selldorf.

The London gallery (above) will celebrate its re-opening with an exhibition of new paintings by artist Adrian Ghenie. The new renovations will increase the original space to 11,500 sqft, allowing the gallery to mount ambitious, large-scale exhibitions as well as innovative projects. In October 2011, Haunch of Venison London will present the first solo show of Iraqi born artist Ahmed Alsoudani in the UK.

Since 2009 Haunch of Venison London has been temporarily housed at 6 Burlington Gardens. The gallery’s diverse exhibition program included exhibitions by Rina Banerjee, Chiharu Shiota, Joana Vasconcelos, Tom Wesselmann, and Jitish Kallat in 2010, and by Richard Long, Giuseppe Penone, and Edward Barber & Jay Osgerby in 2011. The final show at 6 Burlington Gardens will be a major exhibition, Frank Stella: Connections.

Matt Carey-Williams, International Director, Haunch of Venison London, said: “We are thrilled to be moving back to our original space at Haunch of Venison Yard. The newly renovated building opens up a range of new and exciting exhibiting possibilities for our artists. Such an impressive new space will allow us to continue mounting ambitious exhibitions for all of our artists.”

Annabelle Selldorf of Selldorf Architects remarked that in her vast experience of designing spaces for the purpose of viewing art she has found that the challenge is about “the pure quest for good proportions and light in the service of viewing art. Haunch of Venison in London is a remarkable and beautiful space with a great deal of history that I have admired for many years. In New York the work entails the conversion of an already established and elegant gallery. The task is to link both spaces with a specific character which welcomes the public and serves the gallery’s artists and exhibition program.”

The New York gallery will open to the public on 23 September with an inaugural exhibition of new work by artists including Ahmed Alsoudani, Adrian Ghenie, Kevin Francis Gray, Jitish Kallat, Patricia Piccinini, Peter Saul, Eve Sussman, Günther Uecker and Joana Vasconcelos. Many of these artists will then have solo shows with the gallery in the next couple of years.