In the fall of 2011, when New York art dealer Daniel Reich closed his eponymous Chelsea gallery, he announced plans to relocate to an undetermined new space, where he hoped to find a “new formula or a new format for the art gallery,” one “that departs from the white cube as we no [sic] it today.” That was a year and a half ago; Reich never set up in a new location.
Earlier today, Artforum announced on its website that Reich had taken his own life on Christmas Day of 2012. His family confirmed the news. Reich was in his late 30s.
In a letter Reich posted on his website when he announced the gallery’s closing in 2011, he wrote about working for legendary dealer Pat Hearn, who herself had weathered—and endured—a financial downturn in the late ’80s. Reich went on to open his own gallery, first in his studio apartment, and later, in a ground-floor space on 23rd Street. There he showed artists like Amy Gartrell, Christian Holstad, Jack Early and the brothers Scott and Tyson Reeder, among others.
PHOTO: Daniel Reich. Via Artnet.