The infamous collector and vendor Adam Lindemann will shut the doorways of Venus Over Manhattan, the gallery he based in 2012, to return to constructing his private artwork assortment.
“I’ve seen it from each side, and now it’s time to wave the white flag,” Lindemann wrote in an open letter printed on Artnet. Venus Over Manhattan didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark; what could be the gallery’s remaining present, the Brooklyn-based artist Susumu Kamijo’s Fish & Flowers, opened on the 39 Nice Jones Road area in June and closes on 18 July.
Within the letter, Lindemann describes lots of his proudest moments on the gallery, notably counting 40 critiques and options in The New York Instances. Venus Over Manhattan additionally gave solo reveals to under-recognised artists like Maryan, the Polish Holocaust survivor who made his dwelling on the Chelsea Resort in New York.
However Lindemann describes the struggling of sellers as effectively: “Do you wish to know the reality about truthful committees?” he writes. “They gleefully ask you to get down in your palms and knees, wag your tail and beg for forgiveness. Then, callously, they waitlist you in permanentia.”
Having began as a collector who married his vendor—the Lévy Gorvy Dayan founder Amalia Dayan—Lindemann additionally says transitioning from one to the opposite resulted in “alienating each side”, saying “sellers mistrust you, and most collectors don’t get what you’re as much as, in order that they flip up their noses in disapproval—and even worse, they resent you for switching sides”.
Lindemann makes no qualms about waving a white flag relating to promoting artwork and returning to life as a collector; he writes that individuals shouldn’t anticipate him to pivot to artwork consulting or dealing privately.
“I’m going again to air kisses, handshakes, fist bumps, aspect hugs, head nods, winks, waves, huge smiles, thumbs up and good vibes,” Lindemann writes as a kicker. “Can’t wait to see you on the subsequent artwork truthful!”
It has additionally been a wild trip for Lindemann outdoors of the white partitions of his gallery and truthful stands. In 2023, he was arrested for trespassing and harassment over an altercation with fellow vendor Max Levai, a former Marlborough Gallery scion. The 2 reportedly argued over points associated to their neighbouring Hamptons properties.
Lindemann joins Tim Blum, one other longtime vendor who introduced final week he would shut his Blum areas, although Blum informed The Artwork Newspaper in a press release that he would as a substitute transition “away from the normal gallery format towards a extra versatile mannequin”.
