Marc Benda, a partner in the Friedman Benda gallery, which will now focus exclusively on design from the 20th century to the present, is teaming up with Thorsten Albertz, a former director of Friedman Benda, to found Albertz Benda, a gallery devoted to contemporary visual arts. The new venture, which opened on September 10 with a show featuring the work of Bill Beckley, occupies a separate space in the same Chelsea building as Friedman Benda.
“The two rosters, design and art, have grown to a point where they became two programs trapped in a single structure,” says Benda. “In order to service the artists and their collectors better, we saw the need to provide room for each discipline to grow.”
An additional space on the ground floor of the same building will serve as a project room for both galleries; starting September 12, performances by Agathe Snow will complement Albertz Benda’s programming.
Meanwhile, the work of design legend Ettore Sottsass will be on view at Friedman Benda September 10 through October 17.
A version of this article appears in the September 2015 issue of Art+Auction.
