Klughaus Gallery

Klughaus Gallery is a New York City-based contemporary art gallery and agency that exhibits and represents artists with roots in graffiti and street culture. Founded in December 2011 as a brick-and-mortar space in Manhattan, it quickly established itself as a significant venue for urban art, earning recognition from outlets such as Vandalog and Complex.com for its role in downtown New York's creative scene. The gallery has since evolved beyond its original physical location to operate as an agency, curating quarterly exhibits in various downtown event spaces while also maintaining a commercial division that places graffiti artists for corporate commissions and live events.

Klughaus opened its inaugural gallery space at 47 Monroe Street in the Two Bridges neighborhood of Manhattan inRisk of confusion: the sources describe this as both "Two Bridges" and "Lower East Side." The December 2011 debut exhibition, "Home for the Holidays," featured works by artists Faust and Katsu. The showroom was characterized as steeped in the downtown aesthetic of urban graffiti culture. In its first year, the gallery launched dozens of exhibits, pop-up shops, interactive installations, and other events. Vandalog described it as "One of the coolest spots in Manhattan's Lower East Side," and Complex.com named it one of the "Top 10 Most Important Graffiti Moments of 2012." The gallery expanded its reach with exhibits at Miami Art Basel in both 2012 and 2013, including a collaboration with Max Fish for a pop-up exhibition at 814 1st Street in Miami Beach. In 2014, Klughaus arranged for the mural "Greetings from Chinatown" on a "Graffiti Free NYC" wall at 1 Allen Street in Chinatown, enlisting DCEVE and Smart Crew. Following the success of its original incarnation, Klughaus evolved from a fixed gallery into a mobile agency model, curating events in various spaces.

Klughaus represents a diverse roster of artists ranging from prominent graffiti writers emerging in fine art to established painters and photographers working with contemporary subject matter. The agency curates quarterly exhibits for its artists in event spaces throughout downtown Manhattan. Its programming has encompassed not only traditional gallery exhibitions but also interactive installations, pop-up shops, and mobile exhibits. The agency also maintains a commission-based aerosol art division that contracts graffiti artists for commercial campaigns and live event painting. Notable corporate clients of this division have included DirecTV, Google, Living Social, Kobo, Metro, The Onion, Rebecca Minkoff, DKNY, and Facebook. The agency emphasizes protecting the identity and anonymity of the artists with whom it works.

Rather than maintaining a permanent collection in the traditional museum sense, Klughaus is distinguished by its association with significant artists and projects in the graffiti and street art field. Past and present artists represented by the agency include JURNE, Seb GOREY, RIME, Aaron OBLVN, Martha Cooper, Jesse Edwards, Tom Gould, and Ricky Powell. The gallery's early exhibition program included the debut show "Home for the Holidays" and later pop-up collaborations such as "Smart Fools" with Fool's Gold Records, which opened December 12, 2013 at 536 Metropolitan Avenue in Brooklyn. The 2014 "Greetings from Chinatown" mural represented a notable public art intervention, transforming a city-designated "Graffiti Free NYC" wall into a sanctioned artistic statement.

Klughaus originally operated from a physical gallery space at 47 Monroe Street in the Two Bridges neighborhood of Manhattan, an area adjacent to the Lower East Side. This brick-and-mortar location served as the base for its early exhibition program and community-building efforts. After transitioning to an agency model, Klughaus no longer maintains a single permanent gallery space but instead utilizes various event spaces throughout the downtown area for its quarterly exhibits. The 2013 Miami Art Basel pop-up at 814 1st Street in Miami Beach, Florida, and the 2013 Brooklyn collaboration at 536 Metropolitan Avenue demonstrate this distributed, project-based approach to physical presence.

Klughaus no longer operates as a traditional walk-in gallery with regular public hours. As a contemporary art agency, it now functions primarily through curated quarterly exhibits in various downtown New York event spaces, by appointment, and through its commercial representation activities. The organization's official website is http://www.klughaus.net. Its evolution from a fixed Lower East Side gallery to a mobile agency reflects broader shifts in how graffiti and street art are exhibited and commercialized, with the organization positioning itself as a leading representative for this genre in New York City.