Why Top Galleries Are Closing—and What Comes Next in this Art Market Shift
- Joe Taveras
- Jul 16
- 3 min read
The art market is in the midst of a structural shift. Longstanding institutions are adjusting under the weight of outdated models, unsustainable margins, and a lack of innovation. In July 2025 alone, two high-profile closures underscored this evolution: Venus Over Manhattan, founded by collector Adam Lindemann, abruptly shut down after 13 years, and Blum Gallery, a Los Angeles institution co-founded by Tim Blum, officially closed its doors. These are not isolated incidents—they’re symptoms of a broader market fatigue. Simultaneously, prominent advisory firms that once shaped blue-chip sales behind the scenes are imploding, embroiled in lawsuits and power struggles.
These changes reveal a deep resistance to change in an industry that depends on creativity but has long clung to rigid, gatekept systems. The irony is interesting to me: an industry that lives off creativity has been among the most resistant to innovation.
As Simon de Pury recently wrote in The Hammer on ArtNet, “The art market, which thrives on creativity, has consistently resisted change.” The pandemic offered a brief glimpse into the possibilities of reinvention—online viewing rooms, virtual fairs, direct-to-collector strategies—but as soon as the threat subsided, most institutions reverted to their outdated playbooks.
Commission structures ballooned. Transparency dwindled. Fairs became more extractive. And galleries, saddled with rising costs and declining foot traffic, were stretched thin trying to uphold an unsustainable model built for a different time.
This resistance has cost the industry its vitality. But more importantly, it’s made room for something new.
What We've Built
New Renaissance Art Advisory was founded to respond to this exact moment. We did not build another gallery. We built a living system.
Our model is designed for this new art world: fluid, intentional, and built around meaningful cultural patronage. Instead of passively waiting for collectors to walk into a white cube, we actively guide visionary artists into global narratives. We pair artists not only with collectors—but with contexts, placing works where they initiate dialogue, inspire new ideas, and shape culture.
A Global Art Market Without Borders
Simon de Pury points to the acquisition of Artnet and Artsy by Beowolff Capital as signals of long-overdue disruption. With the right balance of credibility in art, tech, and AI, he writes, “the sky is the limit.”
This new frontier is not confined to brick-and-mortar spaces or tethered to a fixed geography. It’s about resonance. Vision. Access.
New Renaissance Art Advisory embraces this fully. We operate as a distributed network of dealers, advisors, and creators. We’re not interested in traditional gatekeeping—we’re interested in accelerating the visibility and viability of artists shaping the future.
What Replaces the Gallery System?
What comes next isn’t a one-to-one replacement for the gallery. It’s a decentralized flow of influence, curation, and strategic placement. The gallery of the future isn’t a place—it’s a pattern.
We're seeing it already. Artists are increasingly building direct relationships with patrons and communities. Advisors are becoming storytellers and matchmakers. Cultural capital is no longer concentrated at the center—it’s pulsing outward into new ecosystems: online platforms, nomadic shows, creator-run spaces, and high-concept advisories that blend media, philosophy, and commerce.
Art Basel 2025 showed the same top-tier galleries selling the same names to the same clients, yet the undercurrent was unmistakable: mid-tier galleries struggled, and the creative energy was elsewhere. It’s no longer enough to show up—it’s about showing the way forward.
A New Patronage for a New Renaissance
The mission of New Renaissance Art Advisory is clear: to champion artists who are not just making beautiful objects, but who are actively building the future. Through curated placements, limited edition releases, publishing, and personalized advisory, we’re building an alternative that is lighter, smarter, and more in sync with the real rhythms of artistic creation and cultural transformation.
I see this as a return to what art has always been at its best: a relationship between expression and attention, stewarded by patrons who believe in its power to shape the world we live in.
The old model is breaking. Good. We're building what comes next.
Interested in Learning More about New Renaissance and this Art Market Shift?
If this shift resonates with you—whether you’re a collector, curator, patron, or creator—we’d love to connect. New Renaissance Art Advisory is always expanding its global network of visionary allies.
