Hollis Taggart Opens New Lower East Side Gallery with Inaugural Exhibition, Boundless
From left, Hollis Taggart, Eleanor de Ropp Flatow and Paul Efstathiou at the opening of the new Hollis Taggart Downtown gallery in the LES
Hollis Taggart, the eponymous Chelsea gallery, has recently expanded, adding a new location on the Lower East Side. The downtown space, dedicated to contemporary and emerging art, opened on May 17 with its inaugural exhibition, Boundless, curated by Director Paul Efstathiou. The show focuses on abstraction and features work by 10 artists, most of whom are based in New York.
Two of the three partners in the new space, Paul Efstathiou and Eleanor de Ropp Flatow, walked me through the exhibition and shared the story behind the expansion to the LES.
Hollis Taggart opened his first gallery in Los Angeles in 1979, focusing on Hudson River School painters. The gallery moved to Washington, D.C., in 1993 and then to New York City, where it operated in two Upper East Side locations for over two decades. In 2015, the gallery relocated to its current Chelsea home at 521 West 26th Street, with exhibition space on both the first and second floors. The contemporary art arm of the gallery has moved through several locations—including a stint in Connecticut during the pandemic—before landing in its new Lower East Side home.
The Chelsea gallery will continue to focus on “notable work with estates, Post-war secondary market, and more established artists”, while the new LES location will spotlight emerging and mid-career voices. The 2,600-square-foot space is located in the Switch Building, designed in 2007 by Brooklyn-based nARCHITECTS. The seven-story structure was conceived with a ground-floor gallery in mind and features an exhibition space that opens up to a two-story skylit lower level, bathed in natural light. The lighting is particularly well suited for sculptural works, such as Chellis Baird’s Ease—a striking piece made of wire, fabric, paint, and pigmented wax that blurs the boundary between painting and sculpture included as part of the current show.
The gallery team bring decades of combined experience to the new venture. Mr. Taggart has guided the gallery for over 45 years. Efstathiou is a second-generation gallerist, his father opened the Ericson Gallery on the Upper East Side during the 1980’s. He previously founded and curated Highlight Curated and PTE Fine Arts before joining Hollis Taggart. Flatow studied art history at Boston College and holds an MBA from Babson College with a concentration in entrepreneurship. She worked at Christie’s as a Specialist in Early American Furniture, Decorative Arts, and Folk Art. Before joining Hollis Taggart, she was co-director of the Carriage Barn Arts Center in Connecticut, and an independent curator and advisor. A New York native, Flatow wrote on social media: “Opening a gallery in New York City, my hometown, has been a dream of mine for years, and I couldn’t imagine better partners to make it happen.”
Boundless features gallery artists André Hemer, Dana James, and Osamu Kobayashi alongside Elizabeth Abel, Chellis Baird, Katherine Boxall, Joanne Greenbaum, Margaux Ogden, Matt Phillips, and Kelly Worman.
Among the standout works are André Hemer’s Moving Pictures (Botanics Study) series—three paintings that fuse digital manipulation with traditional painting techniques. Bursting with vivid purples and yellows, the compositions suggest the forms of Iris flowers set against a dark blue sky. The paintings evoke the dreamy sensation of a bright summer day, lying on your back in the sun, as flower-like images float through your mind in the liminal state between wakefulness and sleep.
Also notable are large-scale paintings by Dana James, known for her subtly layered abstractions in radiant pinks and blues. Her works combine oil paint, encaustic (wax), and collaged materials. The show also includes three of her smaller mixed-media works on paper, rendered in a warmer palette. Desert Jewel II stands out for its energetic, rhythmic movement.
Matt Phillips’ untitled work blends pigment and silica on canvas, creating a surface texture somewhere between wrinkled paper and ancient fresco paired with a bold, freeform composition.Osamu Kobayashi’s paintings create visual tension through bright colors compressed between dark, sculptural shapes. Kelly Worman’s pieces contrast large, bold shapes and saturated color fields with playful patterned areas, subtly echoing the 1980s Memphis Design aesthetic.
Boundless continues through June 21.
Next up at the gallery are the transformative process paintings of John Knuth—his first major show since losing his home in the California wildfires this January. Knuth’s works are created by feeding flies, yes flies, a mixture of sugar water, and acrylic paint. The flies then regurgitate the mixture onto canvas, producing his uniquely textured surfaces. During the opening reception, there will be a live demonstration; the flies will be “painting” in the gallery. The reception takes place Thursday, June 26, from 6–8 PM.
Hollis Taggart Downtown is located at 109 Norfolk Street. Gallery hours are Tuesday–Saturday, 11 AM–6 PM. www.hollistaggart.co
