Artnet News - The Deciders Issue, with guest editor Hank Willis Thomas
“I always swore that I would never open a commercial art gallery,” Adam Shopkorn, the founder of Fort Gansevoort gallery, recently recalled. “Building a gallery is tough, and I think the traditional model is lousy.” Just over six years ago, though, the opportunity presented itself in the form a space calling to be transformed into a gallery in New York’s Meatpacking District. “The impetus was to have a funnel to accelerate creative ideas—we don’t run with the pack,” Shopkorn said of his focus on artists whose work has been underrecognized and undervalued.
Since its founding in 2015, Fort Gansevoort has mounted shows by Sadie Barnette, Cheryl Pope, Deborah Roberts, Michelangelo Lovelace, Christopher Myers, Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds, and Vanessa German. Fort Gansevoort opened a second space, in Los Angeles, in 2019. And its founding mission remains, Shopkorn said. “There’s no shortage of amazing artists in the world. If we’re good at what we do, artists won’t stay with us forever. Fort Gansevoort today isn’t what it’s going to be tomorrow.”
—Maximilíano Durón