PRESS RELEASE
This year marks the 20th anniversary of Margaret Thatcher Projects in Chelsea. In acknowledgement, we are delighted to present a selected group exhibition with works by many of the artists we’ve shown throughout our 20-year history. In March of 1998, Margaret Thatcher Projects opened in what was then, an emerging arts market in Chelsea; the culture of the neighborhood was in flux and it soon became the seedbed for myself and many fellow art dealer-dreamers, starting small cut-offs from larger, more established galleries.
Our initial space was supported by a very generous rental offer from Stefan Stux, with the anticipation of being a one-year experiment, at best, and become a sustainable venture. The gallery has since inhabited several spaces, including a custom-built space in the Whitehall building on West 25th Street, designed by one of our gallery artists: Carlos Estrada-Vega. Nine years ago we moved into our current home on the ground floor of 539 West 23rd Street.
Over the last 20 years we have built ourselves in the neighborhood and the neighborhood has built around us. We have seen many changes, such as the opening of the High Line in 2014, major real estate development, and the subsequent sharply rising costs for running a vital small business. While we are experiencing the effects of these changes, we are ever encouraged to continue to present rich, process-oriented programming.
As we acknowledge our 20th anniversary, Margaret Thatcher Projects continues to recognize the true vision of abstraction as a vehicle for expressing the best of us: intellect, beauty, history, narrative, and most important yet lacking these days, ongoing dialogue. We are a place for friends, artists and collectors to informally gather in the excitement of art discussions and to appreciate masterful works and experimentations, alike. Additionally, as a business we maintain a keen understanding of the market and are fueled by the sales and support of our programming, which is necessary to survive.
We especially want to thank the artists for trusting the vision of the gallery and continuing to help deepen and develop our mission. This exhibition is a thank you to them and to our community, which has seen us through both literal (Hurricane Sandy of 2012) and figurative storms over the last two decades. We have also included several newer voices to the gallery in Light Years, as a gallery is a fluid entity and change is inevitable and important.
We thank you for 20 years.
Margaret Thatcher