Sean Kelly Gallery

Home
United States
New York, NY
Sean Kelly Gallery

A contemporary art gallery founded in 1991 with locations in New York City and Los Angeles. Contemporary Art Gallery in New York and Los Angeles.

Since its inception in 1991, Sean Kelly Gallery has been internationally regarded for its diverse, intellectually driven program and a highly regarded roster of artists. The gallery has garnered international attention for its high caliber exhibition program and collaboration with many of the most significant cultural institutions around the world. The gallery opened its first public space at 43 M

ercer Street. During these formative years, it established a reputation for diverse, intellectually driven, unconventional exhibitions. The original list of artists represented; Marina Abramović, James Casebere, Callum Innes, Joseph Kosuth and Julião Sarmento (1948-2021), all of whom are still represented by the gallery today, exemplified the Gallery’s commitment to presenting important and challenging contemporary art. In 2001, Sean Kelly moved to a converted 7,000 square-foot industrial space on 29th Street in the Chelsea gallery district. The spacious location enabled the Gallery to mount increasingly ambitious, museum-quality exhibitions to great critical acclaim. The Gallery’s roster of artists expanded to include Rebecca Horn, Frank Thiel, Laurent Grasso, Peter Liversidge, Anthony McCall, Alec Soth, and Kehinde Wiley. In October 2012, Sean Kelly opened its current 22,000 square foot space at 475 Tenth Avenue in a historic 1914 building. With the gallery’s expansion into the new space, Sean Kelly added internationally acclaimed artists to its roster; David Claerbout, José Dávila, Candida Höfer, Ilse D’Hollander, Idris Khan, Hugo McCloud, Mariko Mori, Liu Wei, and Sun Xun. Sean Kelly has continued to expand its program to include a new generation of exceptional contemporary artists such as Dawoud Bey, Julian Charrière, Landon Metz, Sam Moyer, Shahzia Sikander, Janaina Tschäpe and Wu Chi-Tsung. Over the course of more than thirty years, the Gallery has become a symbol for high quality, thought-provoking contemporary art and conversation, most recently with the launch of Collect Wisely in May 2018. Collect Wisely is a provocative media campaign designed to encourage lively conversation around topics of collecting and connoisseurship. At the heart of this initiative is the Collect Wisely podcast, a series of interviews in which Sean Kelly discusses with collectors their passion for art, artists, and a passion for collecting and connoisseurship. On September 17, 2022, the Gallery opened a major new space in Los Angeles.

09/04/2026

When the Center Holds, Nigerian artist Luke Agada’s first solo exhibition with the gallery opens next Thursday, September 10, 6-8pm. The artist will be present.

Bringing together a new body of paintings and drawings, the exhibition explores how meaning and belonging persist during periods of profound historical and cultural transformation.

The exhibition will be on view from September 11 – October 31, 2026 at Sean Kelly, New York.

Images: Luke Agada, Of Tempest, Of Dreams, 2026, oil on canvas, 72 x 84 inches © Luke Agada Courtesy: the artist and Sean Kelly, New York

Luke Agada

09/03/2026

Solid Light, 1973, 2020, 2026, Anthony McCall’s seventh solo exhibition with the gallery opens next Thursday, September 10, from 6-8pm. The artist will be present.

Bringing together three significant works spanning over fifty years of the artist’s career, the exhibition traces the remarkable evolution of McCall’s pioneering solid light works, from his groundbreaking Line Describing a Cone, 1973 to Skylight, 2020 and the debut of his newest work Swarm, 2026. The exhibition reveals the sustained rigor with which McCall has redefined the possibilities of sculpture, drawing, cinema, and sound, to create groundbreaking immersive environments.

Image: Anthony McCall, Line Describing a Cone (1973), installation view, Museo d’arte della Svizzera italiana, Lugano, 2015. Photo by Stefania Beretta © Anthony McCall Courtesy: the artist and Sean Kelly, New York

Anthony McCall

09/02/2026

Sean Kelly is delighted to announce Marina Abramović’s Balkan Erotic Epic, a large-scale performance work that explores the eroticism, spirituality, and traditions of Balkan folklore as a part of Ruhrtriennale 2026 in Bochum, Germany. Balkan Erotic Epic first premiered at Factory International in Manchester and traveled to Gropius Bau in Berlin. Following its presentation at Ruhrtriennale, the performance will travel to the Park Avenue Armory in New York this December.

Abramović states, “In the past, for so many ancient cultures, procreation and life itself were based on numerous ceremonies aimed at creating an understanding of our existence. By rediscovering this forgotten past, I would like to create a new understanding and context for the public today.”

Image caption: Marina Abramović, Balkan Erotic Epic, Performance documentation, Factory International, 2025, Manchester, UK © Marina Abramović,Courtesy: the Marina Abramović Archives and Sean Kelly / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2026, photo: Marco Anelli

Marina Abramović Institute Ruhrtriennale

09/01/2026

“Image and painting have always been two closely linked yet distinct threads in my work. Only over time did I realize how deeply they’re woven into my artistic development, my thinking, and even my cultural identity. Living in the space between the two, I‘ve developed a kind of hybrid aesthetic — less drawn to the avant-garde than to the boundaries of painting itself.” — Wu Chi-Tsung

Known for his experimental approach to photography, Chi-Tsung’s work bridges traditional Chinese art techniques and contemporary media, integrating Eastern and Western aesthetics. Chi-Tsung was initially drawn to the cyanotype – an early form of photography requiring only basic chemicals and sunlight – in response to the rise of digital photography. For Chi-Tsung, what digital photography loses, and what his cyanotypes capture, is the medium’s openness to chance and its connection to the material world, qualities that make each cyanotype unique.

This process begins by washing sheets of Xuan rice paper in photo-sensitive materials, which, when dried, Chi-Tsung creases by hand and exposes to sunlight. The subsequent abstract elements are collaged together on aluminum panels. The resulting images are open to interpretation perhaps evoking sublime mountainous landscapes or tumultuous seascapes. With their stunning formal cohesion and classical grandeur, the Cyano-Collages belie the inventive process of their creation.

Watch the full film by visiting the link in our bio.

Video by
wu

08/31/2026

“I was enveloped in an overwhelming brilliance–an all–encompassing world of light unlike anything I had ever known. Its radiance, reminiscent of solar beams, poured down with such splendor that I could not open my eyes.

This light was not merely a physical phenomenon, but the manifestation of a profound and boundless love-the primordial source from which all life arises. Its blessing extended not only to this world, but to every plane of existence.

In that sacred moment, I felt a profound connection to the Great Light. My heart overflowed with the realization that no soul is ever truly alone. Through the Unity series, I strive to convey this eternal bond between the divine presence and all living beings.” - Mariko Mori

Image: Mariko Mori, Unity IX, 2024, UV cured pigment, Dibond and aluminum, diameter: 63 1/2 inches, depth: 3 inches © Mariko Mori Courtesy: the artist and Sean Kelly, New York

Mariko Mori

08/28/2026

Brian Rochefort’s mixed-media sculptures incorporate a variety of different textures, surfaces and colors to create rich, otherworldly forms. Referencing his travels to some of the most remote parts of the planet, such as the Amazon Rainforest, the Galápagos Islands, and the Ngorongoro Crater, in Tanzania, Rochefort internalizes and translates his experiences in these secluded, ancient landscapes into potent sculptural forms.

Rochefort’s sculptures are built up in a unique process of layering, wherein the initial form undergoes multiple firings. Between each firing, Rochefort airbrushes the works and applies glazes, many of which he has developed himself through extensive experimentation. This process pushes the technical limits of ceramics in pursuit of evocative, otherworldly new forms.

Brian Rochefort

Video by Bower Blue

08/27/2026

Laurent Grasso’s film OttO, was shot in November 2017 on four aboriginal sacred sites in the Northern Territory of the Australian desert. Grasso employed thermal and hyperspectral cameras as well as drones in an attempt to capture the electromagnetic radiation being emitted from these remarkable places, assembling a visually stunning story that intertwines fiction, reality, faith and science.

OttO offers spectators an aerial viewpoint on these extraordinarily ancient Australian landscapes following a group of futuristic, floating spheres. For Grasso, these translucent orbs traveling silently across each location represent abstract materializations of secret stories; imagining spiritual “Dreaming” places as vital and conscious forces.

Continuing Grasso’s exploration of new perspectives on the world, this painting on palladium echoes the recording of the electromagnetic readings presented in OttO and the artist’s interest in the intersection of science and fiction.

Image: Laurent Grasso, OttO, 2019, oil on palladium leaf on wood, 72 1/16 x 62 3/16 x 2 inches © Laurent Grasso / ADAGP, Paris, 2026 Courtesy: the artist and Sean Kelly, New York

Laurent Grasso

08/26/2026

In the studio with Awol Erizku 🔥

Erizku examines the construction of cultural iconography through the lens of contemporary hip-hop, street culture, art history, sports, and entertainment. He transforms the linguistic conventions surrounding music, popular culture, and sports symbolism into images and sculptures that offer an alternative to the Western gaze.

By remixing cultural signifiers, he weaves together different narratives that interrogate the canons of art history, philosophy, and linguistics, creating unexpected connections that highlight the artist’s interest in contranyms found within the hip-hop vernacular. A recurrent theme throughout Erizku’s practice is the questioning of Eurocentric standards of beauty and art historical tradition, to create work that represents a uniquely Afrocentric aesthetic, one the artist refers to as “Afro-Esotericism.”

Film by Bower Blue

Awol Erizku

08/25/2026

Joseph Kosuth’s ‘The Question (G.S.)’, contemplates the fundamental concerns that underlie both art and life. The artist’s use of an analog clock referentially anchors the concept of time to its most literal representation; however, by scaling the clock to an unusually large size, an element of the surreal is introduced.

The quote on the clock by Gertrude Stein, an American novelist, poet, and playwright, reflects on time, fate, and predestination: “If you can do it, why do it?” Stein believed that art and writing should push boundaries rather than repeat what is already known. If a task is easily achievable, there is no real artistic purpose in executing it.

Image: , ‘The Question (G.S.)’, 2025, clock and vinyl, diameter: 70 7/8 inches, depth: 10 inches © Joseph Kosuth / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York 2026 Courtesy: the artist and Sean Kelly, New York

Joseph Kosuth

08/24/2026

“I want the brushstroke to conquer the canvas... To me, painting means feeling something right up close, being physically in the present with body and soul.” - Janaina Tschäpe

Tschäpe’s paintings are extremely physical compositions, reflecting the dynamic range of motion and intensity of focus the artist brings to their making. At the same time, these are contemplative and suggestive compositions that translate Tschäpe’s observations and memories of natural phenomena, such as changes in light, the movement of leaves, the rushing of water and movement of the wind, into a language of abstraction that is at once lively and serene; deeply personal, yet open to interpretation.

Video by: Bower Blue

Janaina Tschape

Address

New York, NY

Telephone

+12122391181

Website

http://www.skny.com/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Sean Kelly Gallery posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Museum

Send a message to Sean Kelly Gallery:

Want your museum to be the top-listed Museum in New York?