CHELSEA — A pioneering art gallery that was among the first to move to West Chelsea 14 years ago is leaving New York for Los Angeles.
The Von Lintel Gallery, a mainstay of the Chelsea art scene since 1999, will pack up and move west in January, the gallery announced.
"After two decades in business and fourteen wonderful and successful years in New York, we are excited to become part of the burgeoning, vibrant Los Angeles art world," the gallery wrote in an email.
"Drawn by the growing community of artists living in LA and the opportunity to be part of a developing art center, the move to California will allow us to expand our vision and scope."
The gallery, which has featured a range of work including photography, paintings and sculptures, will leave its longtime home at 520 W. 23rd St., though it will still maintain a separate Manhattan office to deal with New York-based clients and artists.
While a final space and opening date for the new West Coast gallery has not been finalized yet, the gallery hopes to announce details soon.
This is not the first time the Von Lintel Gallery made a substantial move. It was originally founded by Thomas von Lintel in Munich, Germany, in 1993 before coming stateside. The gallery was one of the first to make its home in West Chelsea, heralding a wave of galleries that soon followed.
To celebrate the gallery's time in New York — along with its upcoming tenure in Los Angeles — the Manhattan location will show one last exhibition, called "California Dreaming," from Dec. 12 to 21. The show will feature a variety of artists who have worked with the gallery over the years, including Catherine Howe, Stephen Ellis and Yvonne Estrada.
