Gladstone Gallery Now Represents the Estate of Pope.L

Gladstone Gallery now represents the legacy of Pope.L, a multidisciplinary artist whose performance and conceptual art left an indelible mark on contemporary art. The gallery will host the artist’s first solo exhibition in New York in 2027.

Gladstone will present contemporary art exhibitions on behalf of Pope.L in London and Vielmetter Los Angeles, both of which represented the artist at the time of his death in December 2023. (At the time, Pope.L was also represented by Mitchell-Innes & Nash, which closed its New York space the following June.)

Gladstone director Julian Ehrlich said in a statement: “Pope.L was a groundbreaking, visionary artist during his lifetime, and since his untimely death his immense influence and influence have become even more prominent and will only continue to grow. We are honored to be a part of the work that continues his legacy.”

Over the course of four decades, Pope.L created a body of work that is often difficult to classify, but at its core deals with the black American experience. His most famous performance is Eating wall street journal Or travel through various parts of New York on your hands and knees.

He first began his “crawl” series in 1978, but one of his most famous was performed in parts between 2001 and 2009, in which he crawled across Manhattan wearing a Superman suit and carrying a skateboard. Great White Road, 22 miles, 9 years, 1 streetAs Alex Greenberger writes in an article for Pope.L, the work’s title is a nod to “the difficulty of achieving freedom, while also implicitly alluding to an exploration of the racism that hinders that pursuit.” art news Obituaries.

In 2015, he had a memorable exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, which included accessoriesA 16-by-45-foot American flag ended up being frayed and torn by some high-speed fans during the course of the display. MOCA acquired the work in 2023. His work is also included in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Carnegie Museum of Art, and the Museum of Modern Art.

His works have participated in major exhibitions such as Documenta 14 in Kassel in 2017, the Sao Paulo Biennale in 2016, and the Whitney Biennial in 2002 and 2017. His work in the latter won him the prestigious Bucksbaum Prize, with a bonus of US$100,000. After winning, he had a solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum in 2019 and a retrospective at MoMA the same year. This spring, the New York Drawing Center will host an exhibition of his works on paper.

“Pope.L’s innovations in visual, performance and conceptual art pushed boundaries,” Gladstone senior partner Max Falkenstein said in a statement. “His work has left a profound imprint across culture, shaping and inspiring a wide range of artists today. We are proud to represent his legacy and ensure his impact continues to be recognized and celebrated.”

Correction, March 31, 2026 at 12:50 pm: An earlier version of this article misquoted Julian Ehrlich to Gavin Brown.