After more than 20 years of activity, the Simon Lee Gallery in London has entered into co-administration with the business consultancy firm BDO LPP. The news follows recent reports that the gallery was almost dissolved due to a tax dispute which she says has been resolved.
A canary in the coal mine was artist Sonia Boyce’s decision last month to part ways with the gallery after just two years of representation. Along with George Condo and Christopher Wool, she had been one of the gallery’s star artists after winning the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale last year.
The gallery had not responded to a request for comment by press time, but posted an online review and, according to art diary, on its doorstep in London’s Mayfair announcing co-trustees like BDO’s Matthew Tait, Christine Francis and Danny Dartnall. Their July 11 appointment came just a day before the gallery is due to hold its second insolvency hearing this year. After being subject to a notice of dissolution from Companies House, the company had its first hearing in April, but last month, Simon Lee told the art diary that the matter had been resolved.
Administration is a legal proceeding that occurs when a company cannot pay its debts and is therefore insolvent. It usually targets various measures such as restructuring, selling assets and cutting costs in the hope that the business can continue to operate.
“The joint administrators are working quickly to review the options available to the company with a view to achieving the best outcome for creditors as a whole,” Tait told the arts journal, adding that the immediate focus was on “safeguarding company assets”, including work held on consignment. “We appreciate that represented artists, and creditors more generally, have concerns and we are in the process of gathering and confirming relevant information,” he said.
The Simon Lee Gallery was founded in 2002 and over the past two decades has become one of London’s most prestigious contemporary art galleries. In 2012, it opened a second space in Hong Kong and a third in New York in 2017, although this location was closed in 2020. It is unclear if the gallery will cease operations or if it plans to remain open during the administrative process. .
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