Luhring Augustine Gallery

Luhring Augustine Gallery is a prominent contemporary art gallery in New York City, with locations in Chelsea and Tribeca. Founded in 1985 by Lawrence R. Luhring and Roland J. Augustine, the gallery represents an international roster of artists working across painting, drawing, sculpture, video, and photography. It is recognized for its rigorous curatorial model that balances contemporary programming with historically significant monographic exhibitions, and it holds membership in the Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA).

Luhring Augustine Gallery was established in 1985 by co-owners Lawrence R. Luhring and Roland J. Augustine, initially operating in SoHo before relocating to Chelsea in 1997. From 1989 to 1992, the gallery partnered with Galerie Max Hetzler to operate Luhring Augustine Hetzler in Los Angeles, a 4,500 square foot space in a refurbished building at 1330 4th Street in Santa Monica. In 2012, the gallery expanded to Bushwick, Brooklyn, at 25 Knickerbocker Avenue, a venue dedicated to large-scale installations and long-term projects that operated until 2023. In 2020, it opened a second space in Tribeca at 17 White Street, measuring 3,500 square feet. Roland Augustine served as president of the ADAA from 2006 to 2009. The gallery has participated in international art fairs including Art Basel since the mid-1990s.

The gallery's program is characterized by its adherence to a rigorous curatorial model that incorporates critical monographic exhibitions as historical antecedents for its contemporary program. These have included exhibitions devoted to Marcel Duchamp (1987), Gerhard Richter (1995), Donald Judd (1999), Martin Kippenberger (2005), and Michelangelo Pistoletto (2013). Since its founding, Luhring Augustine has also specialized in the resale of select 20th-century works by artists such as Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol, Gerhard Richter, and Sigmar Polke. As an ADAA member, it offers confidential resale services for private individuals and institutions. The gallery has additionally collaborated on historical exhibitions outside its primary focus, including two exhibitions of Medieval Art with Sam Fogg Gallery: Of Earth and Heaven (2018) and Gothic Spirit (2020).

The gallery's roster of living artists has included Janine Antoni, Charles Atlas, Larry Clark, Lee Friedlander (since 2019), Ragnar Kjartansson, Jason Moran, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Pipilotti Rist, Philip Taaffe (since 2012), Salman Toor (since 2020), Oscar Tuazon, Rachel Whiteread (since 1992), and Christopher Wool. It handles the estates of Lygia Clark (since 2017) and Jeremy Moon (since 2017). Past representatives include Simone Leigh (until 2020), Glenn Ligon (2009-2019), Daidō Moriyama (until 2019), Josh Smith (until 2017), Gregory Crewdson, and Joel Sternfeld. Notable exhibitions at the gallery include Janine Antoni's Gnaw: Lard or Gnaw: Chocolate (1992), featuring the artist gnawing on lard and chocolate to create lipsticks and chocolate boxes, and Paul McCarthy's 1996 installation Yaa-Hoo with mechanized mannequins performing sexual acts. Charles Atlas's The Illusion of Democracy inaugurated the Bushwick space, presenting two large-scale video projections, Plato's Alley (2009) and Painting By Numbers (2008).

The gallery's primary location at 531 West 24th Street in Chelsea has served as its main hub since 1998, featuring high ceilings, open-plan layouts, and flexible partitioning across two floors to accommodate large-scale installations and immersive exhibitions. The Tribeca location at 17 White Street, opened in 2020, occupies a renovated historic building with high ceilings, dedicated viewing rooms, and spaces for storage and offices. This expansion reflected adaptations to the post-2008 art market, emphasizing hybrid models for private viewings and online engagement. The former Bushwick location at 25 Knickerbocker Avenue, operational from 2012 to 2023, was specifically designed for ambitious, long-term projects and large-scale installations.

Luhring Augustine Gallery currently maintains two locations in Manhattan: its primary space in Chelsea at 531 West 24th Street and a secondary space in Tribeca at 17 White Street. The gallery remains under the ownership and direction of its co-founders, Lawrence R. Luhring and Roland J. Augustine. As a member of the Art Dealers Association of America, it continues to operate at the intersection of primary market representation and secondary market resale, serving private collectors and institutions. The Chelsea location functions as the operational hub, coordinating exhibitions and logistics, while the Tribeca space provides additional capacity for distinctive presentations and large-scale installations.