Pilar Corrias opened her first gallery in London in 2008. 15 years on, the gallery will expand its presence in the city with a new flagship space in Mayfair.
The gallery’s second Mayfair space, located at 51 Conduit Street (on the corner of Savile Row and Conduit Street), will be designed by Cowie Montgomery Architects following a total renovation.
The curatorial programme will build on the gallery’s record for showing new bodies of work, pioneering projects and exhibitions, and will allow for larger-scale presentations from the gallery’s rapidly expanding roster of international contemporary artists from diverse backgrounds, two-thirds of whom are women.
Nick Cowie and Lucy Montgomery are working with Pilar Corrias on an elegant design that prioritises artists’ needs and the practicalities of showing contemporary artworks, including maximising flexibility in configuration and generous space. The gallery will occupy almost 500 square metres over two floors, with the main exhibition space and a second gallery at ground level with a ceiling height of 5.1 metres, complemented by a further gallery space downstairs allowing for simultaneous programming. A library, private viewing room and offices will also be in the building.
Coinciding with Frieze London, the inaugural exhibition will present new paintings by LA-based artist Christina Quarles (10th October–22nd December 2023). This will be the artist’s fourth exhibition with the gallery since she joined its roster six years ago. Her first UK solo show at the gallery was followed by institutional solo exhibitions at Hepworth Wakefield (2019–20) and South London Gallery (2021). Collapsed Time, Quarles’ current show at Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin, is on view until 17th September 2023.
It’s important for the gallery to develop in synergy with the artists it represents, matching their energy and output. Our new flagship space will allow us to present their work in new and exciting ways. As a core artist to our gallery programme, Christina Quarles is an artist who has developed her career with us and I’m delighted we are taking this next step in the gallery’s future together.
Pilar Corrias
The Conduit Street space will complement and be a counterpoint to the gallery’s existing location at the opposite end of Savile Row and will replace its Eastcastle Street location. An exhibition from Shanghai-based artist Cui Jie will run in the Savile Row space at the same time. At Frieze London, the gallery will present a solo booth of works by Sophie von Hellermann.
About Pilar Corrias
Pilar Corrias opened her eponymous contemporary art gallery in 2008. The gallery has worked with artists with the central aim of allowing their work to grow both in terms of the production of new projects and the making of exhibitions. Pilar Corrias opened her first gallery on Eastcastle Street in London’s Fitzrovia, designed by Rem Koolhaas and began representing a small group of artists she previously had worked with: Philippe Parreno, Keren Cytter, and Tala Madani.
At the time, she was the first woman to open a new gallery in the West End of London for a decade. In 2021, a second London gallery space was opened at 2 Savile Row, designed by Hesselbrand. In 2023, a new gallery space at 51 Conduit Street will open, designed by Cowie Montgomery, replacing Eastcastle Street. Pilar Corrias now represents 34 international artists – two-thirds of whom are women – including Ian Cheng, Shara Hughes, Tala Madani, Philippe Parreno, Christina Quarles, Rachel Rose, Tschabalala Self and Shahzia Sikander. The gallery is dedicated to supporting ambitious projects such as Philippe Parreno’s Tate Modern Turbine Hall Commission in 2016, Ian Cheng’s participation at the 2019 Venice Biennale curated by Ralph Rugoff, Tschabalala Self’s solo show at the Hammer Museum in LA in 2019, Christina Quarles participation at the 2022 Venice Biennale curated by Cecilia Alemani, and this year, Shara Hughes’s solo exhibition at Kunsten Museum of Modern Art in Aalborg, Denmark and Tala Madani’s MOCA LA retrospective. Koo Jeong A will represent Korea at the Venice Biennale in 2024. pilarcorrias.com @pilarcorriasgallery
