Gagosian has announced that the inaugural exhibition at its new ground-level space at 980 Madison Avenue will feature the iconic "readymades" of Marcel Duchamp. Opening April 25, the show will showcase a series of 14 authorized replicas created in 1964 by Duchamp and dealer Arturo Schwarz, including famous works like "Fountain" and "Bicycle Wheel." The exhibition is timed to run concurrently with a major Duchamp retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, the artist's first in the United States in over half a century.
The event marks a significant homecoming for both the gallery and the artist's legacy; Gagosian recently secured this new space after being forced to vacate its long-term headquarters in the same building following its purchase by Bloomberg Philanthropies. Historically, the 1964 replicas made their American debut in this very building in 1965 at the former Cordier & Ekstrom Gallery. By revisiting these provocative mass-produced objects, Gagosian reinforces the enduring influence of Duchamp’s conceptual breakthroughs on the definition of contemporary art.