PARQUE Galeria, who have participated in fairs ARCO and Zona Maco, were one of the few galleries representing young Mexican artists in the country, and thanked all those who had supported and worked with them in their closure statement. For Galerie Forsblom, the “unforeseeable consequences of the crisis make it impossible to plan the gallery’s future”, forcing the closure of their Stockholm space whilst the gallery remains in operation in Helsinki, despite the Swedish capital not yet being under quarantine. The gallery had previously taken part in the Armory Show and ARCO.
Well-known collector Alain Servais mourned the loss of both galleries, sharing their announcements on Twitter with “The start of what will be a long list :’( ”
Also on the growing list of closures is Munich’s Barbara Gross Galerie, although the gallery does not state COVID-19 as the rationale for its decision, making it a rare breed in the current climate. Having supported female artists and feminist positions in her namesake gallery for over 30 years, Barbara Gross will be permanently closing the space at the end of May.
“When I started, there was a blatant deficit in the presence of women in the arts world,” Gross said in a statement. “My central concern was to introduce women artists into German museums and collections. At the time, one could indeed still discover Louise Bourgeois, Maria Lassnig, Ida Applebroog, Ana Mendieta, Nancy Spero, and Kiki Smith. Thanks to open-minded curators, I succeeded many times in mediating museum exhibitions and purchases for the artists. To date, the art of women is a focus in the gallery’s program.”
