Addis Fine Art has announced the closure of its London gallery, which opened in 2021 in the city’s Fitzrovia neighborhood. Co-founder Rakeb Sile attributed the decision to “overhead costs” and “market uncertainty.” The gallery, however, will continue to operate its flagship location in Addis Ababa.
On June 29th, Addis Fine Art’s London gallery closed its final show, “Ward El Juri,” a solo exhibition of Sudanese artist Amel Bashier. Still, the gallery will continue participating in two London-based joint exhibitions this September, including a presentation of Tadesse Mesfin at Vigo Gallery, as well as a group exhibition at John Martin Gallery. Moreover, the gallery will participate in London’s 1-54 fair this October.
“Niche galleries like ours have extremely low margins, especially in light of the increased cost of shipping artworks, cost of fairs, and so on,” said Sile. “It’s important for small galleries to have the opportunity to thrive and not just survive as we are in many ways the lifeblood of the industry, continuously uncovering and investing in new artists.”
Addis Fine Art’s closure announcement follows another earlier this week, from VITRINE, which was founded in 2010 and ran two spaces in London and another in Basel. In a statement, VITRINE’s founder emphasized the challenges for more established galleries too: “specifically the resources and staffing that are required to stay afloat and the growing expectations on mid-sized galleries to compete with much larger operations.” In March, London tastemaker Parafin announced its closure after 10 years. Meanwhile, blue-chip Marlborough Gallery announced it would shutter this summer after 78 years of business.
These closures also coincide with a wave of small to mid-level art galleries shutting down in New York. Beginning last fall with Denny Gallery, Queer Thoughts, Foxy Production, and JTT, the trend has continued well into 2024, with Mitchell-Innes & Nash, Fortnight Institute, and Cheim & Reid closing their gallery spaces in the first half of the year.