47 Canal

In 2009, Lee began organizing performances, parties, and art exhibitions in her studio building in Downtown Manhattan.{{Cite web|url=https://www.artinamericamagazine.com/news-features/magazines/terminal-velocity/|title=Terminal Velocity|last=Droitcour|first=Brian|date=2016-10-20|website=Art in America|language=en-US|access-date=2019-06-08}} An artist-run project space, 179 Canal was named after its address, 179 Canal Street.

179 Canal's first exhibition, Nobodies New York, was organized by Josh Kline, and opened on May 1, 2009.{{Cite web|url=https://www.179canal.com/nobodies-new-york-organized-by-josh-kline/|title=179 Canal - Nobodies New York: Organized by Josh Kline|website=www.179canal.com|access-date=2019-06-08}} It featured Anicka Yi, Antoine Catala, Amy Yao, and other artists whom Kline was in dialogue with at the time. Other notable events held there include solo exhibitions by Antoine Catala, and Debo Eilers and Kerstin Brätsch's first collaboration as KAYA; Moving Shapes and Colors, a group exhibition curated by the now Art in America editor Brian Droitcour; and a performance by BFFA3AE.

In April 2010, Yi and Kline participated in a two-person exhibition entitled Loveless Marriages. Joanna Fiduccia in Artforum wrote that this evoked "a spirited irreverence that serves as a foil for deeper critical juices."{{Cite web|url=https://www.artforum.com/picks/josh-kline-and-anicka-yi-25366|title=Josh Kline and Anicka Yi at 47 Canal {{!}} Grand Street|website=www.artforum.com|date=20 April 2010 |language=en-US|access-date=2019-06-08}}

179 Canal closed in 2010 after its landlord, who had offered reduced rent throughout the gallery's first year, informed Lee that she could only continue to use the space at market rate. In October 2010, Matthew Higgs invited her to curate 179 Canal / Anyways, a group exhibition at White Columns, a nonprofit organization in New York's Meatpacking District.{{Cite web|url=https://www.whitecolumns.org/sections/exhibition.php?id=1223|title=White Columns - Exhibitions|website=www.whitecolumns.org|access-date=2019-06-08}} This "anti-retrospective" encapsulated 179 Canal's "roaming eccentricity," according to Artforum's Colby Chamberlain.{{Cite web|url=https://www.artforum.com/picks/179-canal-anyways-26827|title="179 Canal / Anyways" at White Columns|website=www.artforum.com|date=17 November 2010 |language=en-US|access-date=2019-06-08}} In December 2010, 179 Canal participated in NADA Miami, showing works by Yi, Nolan Simon, and Michele Abeles, as well as a collaborative photo project initiated by Lee.{{Cite web|url=https://179canal.com/179-canal-at-nada/|title=179 Canal - 179 Canal at NADA|website=179canal.com|access-date=2019-06-08}} The gallery received a nomination for “Best Alternative Space of the Year” at Rob Pruitt’s Second Art Awards at the Guggenheim.{{Cite web|url=https://www.artinamericamagazine.com/news-features/news/179-canal-47-canal-michele-abeles-oliver-newton/|title=Turning Profit: 179 Canal Opens as 47 Canal|last=Wallin|first=Yasha|date=2011-04-07|website=Art in America|language=en-US|access-date=2019-06-08}}

In 2011, Lee founded 47 Canal as a commercial project with her partner Oliver Newton.{{Cite web|url=https://www.artinamericamagazine.com/news-features/news/179-canal-47-canal-michele-abeles-oliver-newton/|title=Turning Profit: 179 Canal Opens as 47 Canal|last=Wallin|first=Yasha|date=2011-04-07|website=Art in America|language=en-US|access-date=2019-06-28}} The name change represented the gallery's new address in Manhattan's Chinatown. Many artists who had shown at 179 Canal were given exhibitions in the gallery’s first year, such as Kline, Yi, and Abeles. A younger generation of New York-based artists were also introduced to the gallery’s program during this period, including Amy Lien & Enzo Camacho and Stewart Uoo.

In 2014, 47 Canal relocated to the second floor of 291 Grand Street, but retained its name.{{Cite web|url=https://observer.com/2014/07/47-canal-moving-to-291-grand-street-keeping-name/|title=47 Canal Moving to 291 Grand Street, Keeping Name|date=2014-07-18|website=Observer|language=en|access-date=2019-06-08}} The first exhibition at this venue was New Feelings by Antoine Catala, a "series of experiments in sculpture and video" that incited viewers "to feel, both figuratively and literally, through machines."{{Cite web|url=https://www.dailyserving.com/2014/10/antoine-catala-new-feelings-at-47-canal/|title=Antoine Catala: New Feelings at 47 Canal|website=DAILY SERVING|language=en-US|access-date=2019-07-15}}

While growing, the gallery continued to stage noncommercial performances alongside its exhibition program, such as by Sadaf H. Nava and Joe Heffernan, as well as fashion presentations by the New York-based label CFGNY.{{Cite web|url=https://www.vogue.com/article/cfgny-new-york-art-fashion-label-tin-nguyen-daniel-chew|title=How a New Art-Fashion Label Is Exploring Asian-American Identity|website=Vogue|date=24 May 2018 |language=en|access-date=2019-06-08}}

In May 2016, Josh Kline presented Unemployment. The solo exhibition, which featured "uncanny" sculptures of 3D-printed human forms wrapped in plastic and a vinyl chair stuffed with shredded tax documents, was described by The New Republic as "a pointed portrait of what creative labor looks like in the gig-based economy, with all its shortcuts and crutches."{{Cite magazine|url=https://newrepublic.com/article/134179/future-according-josh-kline|title=The Future According to Josh Kline|last=Penny|first=Daniel|date=2016-06-10|magazine=The New Republic|access-date=2019-06-08|issn=0028-6583}}

In 2017, 47 Canal introduced a wave of new artists to its program, including Janiva Ellis, Elle Pérez, Wang Xu, and Cici Wu. The same year, the gallery reopened its original space at 47 Canal Street.{{Cite web|url=https://news.artnet.com/market/47-canal-gallery-is-returning-to-47-canal-street-1050428|title=Attention Mail Carriers: 47 Canal Gallery Is Returning to Its Original Digs at 47 Canal Street|date=2017-08-14|website=artnet News|language=en-US|access-date=2019-06-08}} It held exhibitions at both locations while maintaining offices at 291 Grand Street, before letting go of its 47 Canal Street location once again in 2018. This same year, Danielle Dean mounted her first solo exhibition at 47 Canal, entitled Bazar.{{Cite web|url=https://cranbrookart.edu/2018/09/14/danielle-dean-opens-solo-show-at-47-canal-in-new-york/|title=Danielle Dean Opens Solo Show at 47 Canal in New York|date=2018-09-14|website=Cranbrook Academy of Art|access-date=2019-06-08}} In the words of David Everitt Howe for Art in America, this "took the catalogues the iconic French department store Bazar de l’Hôtel de Ville has produced between the late nineteenth century and today as a lens through which to view the entangled histories of consumerism and racism."{{Cite web|url=https://www.artinamericamagazine.com/reviews/danielle-dean/|title=Danielle Dean|last=Howe|first=David Everitt|date=2018-11-01|website=Art in America|language=en-US|access-date=2019-06-08}}

Three artists represented by 47 Canal were included in the 2019 Whitney Biennial, curated by Rujeko Hockley and Jane Panetta: Kline, Ellis, and Pérez.{{Cite web|url=https://whitney.org/exhibitions/2019-biennial|title=Whitney Biennial 2019|website=whitney.org|language=en|access-date=2019-06-08}} Artworks by Yi and Catala were included in May You Live in Interesting Times, curated by Ralph Rugoff for the 58th Venice Biennale.{{Cite web|url=https://www.labiennale.org/en/art/2019/partecipants/anicka-yi|title=Biennale Arte 2019 {{!}} Anicka Yi|last=Arsenale|first=Central Pavilion /|date=2019-05-15|website=La Biennale di Venezia|language=en|access-date=2019-06-08}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.labiennale.org/en/art/2019/partecipants/antoine-catala|title=Biennale Arte 2019 {{!}} Antoine Catala|last=Arsenale|first=Central Pavilion /|date=2019-05-13|website=La Biennale di Venezia|language=en|access-date=2019-06-08}}

• 47 Canal Street, 2nd Floor (2011–2014; 2017–2018)
• 291 Grand Street, 2nd Floor (2014–2024)
• 59 Wooster Street, 2nd Floor (2024-present)

{{Coord|40|43|2.9|N|73|59|31.8|W|type:landmark_region:US-NY|display=title}}

Category:Contemporary art galleries in the United States

Category:Art museums and galleries in New York (state)

Category:2011 establishments in New York City