New York’s Deli Gallery, Champion of Emerging Talent, to Close

Deli Gallery, a New York City outfit lauded for its keen eye for emerging talent, will close after eight years. With this, it joins Denny Gallery, JTT Gallery, and Queer Thoughts on a lengthening list of veteran operations in New York to abruptly shutter.  

On Monday, the gallery announced in an Instagram post that operations would cease on September 28, at the close of its final show  “Long-Winded”, a solo showcase of paintings by Jose de Jesus Rodriguez. 

“It has been a privilege and an unbelievable gift to be able to realize so many incredible exhibitions and share our unique vision and voice with all of you,” reads the announcement signed by founder Max Marshall and the gallery team. “The gallery was founded on a commitment to community––to highlighting and advocating important voices––so it is something I know will remain long after Deli shuts its doors.”

It continued: “It has been heartening to look back and recall the many important moments, conversations, experiences, and growth we have experienced during this period. I am unbelievably grateful to have shared in your trust and vision for what art can achieve.”

Speaking to Artnet News about the closure, Marshall said, “Obviously, there are external market factors at play, but at the end of the day this felt like the right moment.”

The gallery opened in Long Island City, Queens, in 2016; and relocated to Brooklyn in 2018. It moved to Tribeca, Manhattan, in 2021, and finally launched a Mexico City outpost in 2022, bringing with it a reputation for risk-taking on young talent. Given the number of artists to earn critical acclaim after signing, those risks were rewarded. During its run, the gallery exhibited the likes of Skye Volmar, Alina Perez (an Art in America pull-out artist), and Abigail Lucien, as well as the artist duos Ficus Interfaith and ASMA.

Its exhibition history favored figurative painting and installation; bold colors, surreal proportions, and irreverence insight into the intersections of race, sexuality, and art history abounded. The star of its final show, Jose de Jesus Rodriguez, draws from his past as a community muralist in New York in a suite of seven works that play with the physicality of painting—density, volume, optical perception—as well its historical associations.

Deli Gallery did not specify in its statement on what will happen to the artists on its roster, or any potential iterations of its operations, writing, “I look forward with excitement to what the future holds and with the firm belief that we can continue to make a lasting impression on the world around us through our trust in art and artists.”