Earlier this year, dealer Nino Mier opened his first New York gallery space in SoHo. With a sprawling enterprise that includes four locations in Los Angeles and outposts in Brussels and Marfa, Texas, Mier will once again expand his footprint, this time with a location in New York’s Tribeca neighborhood that will open in May.
Over the past several years, Tribeca has seen a major influx of galleries—including Andrew Kreps, P.P.O.W., Canada, James Cohan, James Fuentes, JTT, and Almine Rech—as they have decamped from other neighborhoods like Chelsea and the Lower East Side. Just in the past month, Marian Goodman Gallery and Alexander Gray Associates said they would also open new spaces downtown.
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That in part sparked Mier’s interest in opening his Tribeca space, which has been in the works since last fall as he was finalizing the details on his SoHo space. While opening in SoHo was a lifelong dream of his, Mier described Tribeca as the “logical choice for a second gallery”—plus the two locations are only a ten-minute walk from each other.
“Tribeca is the center of New York’s art world right now,” Mier said in an emailed interview with ARTnews. “I wanted to find a space more suited to intimately scaled exhibitions, so that we could present our full roster of artists in a more versatile way.”
Located at 380 Broadway, on the corner of White Street and a block away from Artists Space, Mier’s Tribeca location is 2,600 square feet spread across two floors, 1,200 of which will be dedicated to exhibition space. The location will also include a viewing room and administrative offices. As with his SoHo space studioMDA will also be overseeing the space’s design.
Timed to her MoMA PS1 survey, the artist’s first solo US museum show, the inaugural exhibition will be dedicated to Finnish artist Iiu Susiraja, who will present new self-portraits as well as 3-D printed sculptures. “The photos are irreverent, confrontational, and extremely vulnerable. Iiu uses her own body to question the way in which we perceive beauty, and to confront the stereotypes we have about obesity,” Mier said.
When Mier first opened his LA gallery in 2015, he did so with a 500-square-foot space, which he quickly realized was “too small to be an attractive space for many artists,” he said. He soon expanded to the space next door and then across the street as they became available.
“It was very stressful, but it was ultimately the right decision, even if it was terrifying,” Mier said. “Reflecting on that now, and seeing what we have built in Los Angeles, it became clear to me that having multiple spaces with varying scales, angles, and complexities is the key to success for my program, and is precisely what has allowed me to cultivate relationships with different artists.”
And in a moment of raised interest rates, banks failing, and a months-long looming recession, now might not seem the best time to continue expanding, but for Mier it’s as good a time as any. “Business is risk, no matter what else is happening in the world. But if you don’t take risks, you don’t succeed, and I suppose I have a bit of a fearless gene in me,” he said.
Pointing to the fact that the Brussels space opened at the height of the pandemic and that he represents artists whose markets are at different price points, he feels like now is the right time to continue to grow, particularly in New York.
He added, “As they say, when everyone runs away from the rock coming down the hill, I like to run toward it.”
