Jeffrey Deitch
Art Dealer and Curator
Deitch Projects is known for producing ambitious projects by contemporary artists. Since opening with a performance by Vanessa Beecroft in January 1996, the gallery produced over 250 projects and public events. Global in its outlook, the gallery presented projects by artists from 33 countries during its 15-year tenure.
In addition to its projects with emerging artists, the gallery actively produced exhibitions and books with more established artists who have been part of Jeffrey Deitch’s circle since the mid 1970s and early 1980s. The gallery was the exclusive representative of the Estate of Keith Haring and in 2009 presented projects with Francesco Clemente, Jon Kessler and Julian Schnabel. In May 2009, the gallery presented an exhibition with Jonathan Borofsky, who created his first public wall drawing in Deitch’s 1975 Lives exhibition. In 2007, the gallery produced a book and exhibition on Jean-Michel Basquiat’s work in the transitional year of 1981, when he went from working on street to working in the studio.
Deitch Projects is also known for embracing the new convergence of art, music, performance, film and design. Each year at Art Basel Miami Beach, the gallery presented a performance by a band that emerged from the art community. Performers have included Fischerspooner, Scissor Sisters, Chicks on Speed, Coco Rosie, The Voluptous Horror of Karen Black, Devendra Banhart, The Gossip and Santigold. In its New York galleries, Deitch Projects presented multi-media and performance projects with Madonna and Steven Klein, filmmaker Michel Gondry, architects LOT-EK and fashion designers As Four and Jeremy Scott. In January-February 2009, the gallery presented a retrospective exhibition of the work of the influential artist and designer Stephen Sprouse in collaboration with Louis Vuitton. From 2005 through 2007, Deitch Projects presented an annual, one-day Art Parade on West Broadway in SoHo that drew 1,000 participants.
Some of the gallery’s most memorable projects were I Bite America and America Bites Me, the notorious 1997 performance in which Oleg Kulik lived in the gallery for two weeks as a dog, Yoko Ono’ 1998 exhibition Ex It, featuring trees growing out of 100 wooden coffins, and in 2000, Street Market, an installation by Barry McGee, Steve Powers and Todd James that recreated an apocalyptic version of an urban street. In September 2008, Deitch Projects produced a project with Swoon that included the construction of seven boats in the form of floating sculptures that sailed down the Hudson River from upstate New York and docked in front of the artist’s exhibition in the gallery’s expansive new riverfront space in Long Island City. In December 2009, Deitch Projects and Goldman Properties organized the ambitious public project, The Wynwood Walls, which 15 artists created 11 permanent murals throughout Miami’s Wynwood district.
Deitch Projects closed to the public in June 2010. This website exists as the gallery’s definitive archive. Live the Art, a survey of the history Deitch Projects, was published in 2011.
In addition to its projects with emerging artists, the gallery actively produced exhibitions and books with more established artists who have been part of Jeffrey Deitch’s circle since the mid 1970s and early 1980s. The gallery was the exclusive representative of the Estate of Keith Haring and in 2009 presented projects with Francesco Clemente, Jon Kessler and Julian Schnabel. In May 2009, the gallery presented an exhibition with Jonathan Borofsky, who created his first public wall drawing in Deitch’s 1975 Lives exhibition. In 2007, the gallery produced a book and exhibition on Jean-Michel Basquiat’s work in the transitional year of 1981, when he went from working on street to working in the studio.
Deitch Projects is also known for embracing the new convergence of art, music, performance, film and design. Each year at Art Basel Miami Beach, the gallery presented a performance by a band that emerged from the art community. Performers have included Fischerspooner, Scissor Sisters, Chicks on Speed, Coco Rosie, The Voluptous Horror of Karen Black, Devendra Banhart, The Gossip and Santigold. In its New York galleries, Deitch Projects presented multi-media and performance projects with Madonna and Steven Klein, filmmaker Michel Gondry, architects LOT-EK and fashion designers As Four and Jeremy Scott. In January-February 2009, the gallery presented a retrospective exhibition of the work of the influential artist and designer Stephen Sprouse in collaboration with Louis Vuitton. From 2005 through 2007, Deitch Projects presented an annual, one-day Art Parade on West Broadway in SoHo that drew 1,000 participants.
Some of the gallery’s most memorable projects were I Bite America and America Bites Me, the notorious 1997 performance in which Oleg Kulik lived in the gallery for two weeks as a dog, Yoko Ono’ 1998 exhibition Ex It, featuring trees growing out of 100 wooden coffins, and in 2000, Street Market, an installation by Barry McGee, Steve Powers and Todd James that recreated an apocalyptic version of an urban street. In September 2008, Deitch Projects produced a project with Swoon that included the construction of seven boats in the form of floating sculptures that sailed down the Hudson River from upstate New York and docked in front of the artist’s exhibition in the gallery’s expansive new riverfront space in Long Island City. In December 2009, Deitch Projects and Goldman Properties organized the ambitious public project, The Wynwood Walls, which 15 artists created 11 permanent murals throughout Miami’s Wynwood district.
Deitch Projects closed to the public in June 2010. This website exists as the gallery’s definitive archive. Live the Art, a survey of the history Deitch Projects, was published in 2011.