Dealer Thaddaeus Ropac Will Use His Biggest Paris Gallery to Stage an Emergency Selling Show of Young Regional Artists to Support the Emerging Art Scene

Alarmed by the threat the
pandemic poses for the emerging art scene in France and Belgium,
the prominent art dealer Thaddaeus Ropac will give over
his largest Paris gallery space to host an emergency selling
exhibition of 60 young artists from the two countries in an effort
to flow money to them and their at-risk galleries.

France’s lockdown has had a
devastating impact on its small businesses and young creatives. A
damning report by the country’s leading gallery association
predicted in April that as many as a third of French galleries
could be put out of business by the end of the crisis.

“I was shocked by the news of
the number of young galleries that would be in danger of not
reopening in the fall,” Ropac tells Artnet News. “I couldn’t
believe it.”

So the gallerist got to
thinking: “How could we create something which really helps younger
colleagues in this period?” 

The 60 artists were selected by
the emerging artist association Jeune Création. All of the proceeds
from the sale of works will go directly to the artists and their
galleries.

The move echoes a similar initiative by
French dealer Emmanuel Perrotin who is giving over one of his Paris
spaces to 26 local galleries once it reopens at the end of May.

Both galleries have been closed since March, making their
re-emergence—Ropac is slated to resume operations on May
11—a critical time to make sales to
recover from the lost income.

“We are offering them the space,
as well as our infrastructure, with all of our sales team helping
to sell the works, and we will bring in our collectors,” Ropac
says.

The exhibition will be on view
from September 12 through 26 in the 21,000-square-foot space in
Pantin.

Ropac has also promised to set
aside some of the gallery’s own budget to buy works from the
exhibition. “I hope people will see it as a strong statement of
support,” Ropac says, adding that he hopes the gallery’s collectors
will also embrace the opportunity to give a boost to the next
generation of artists and dealers.

The post Dealer Thaddaeus Ropac Will Use His Biggest Paris
Gallery to Stage an Emergency Selling Show of Young Regional
Artists to Support the Emerging Art Scene appeared first on
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