Every year, like cicadas and Europeans, the art world disappears in August. But before that, New York galleries traditionally stage a group show—usually modest, often thematic, and occasionally, miraculously good. In recent years, though, dealers and critics have lamented that these shows feel timid, incoherent, or like thinly veiled attempts to offload unsold inventory. Some have wondered if the group show is fated to die out altogether.
But in talking to dealers and advisers, it seems less like the once-ubiquitous summer group show is not quite disappearing. Instead, galleries have simply become more clear-eyed about the true purpose of these shows.
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Most summer shows don’t intend to remake the canon. What most of them do—quietly, imperfectly—is help galleries maintain visibility during a slow season, offer trial balloons for emerging artists, and foster the kind of mid-tier networking that powers the art world when its bigger machines are idle. At their best, these shows let you see work in a way it hasn’t been seen before. And even in its diminished state, the summer group show remains a vital site for soft power: relationship-building, artistic development, and subtle market testing.
For Alex Glauber, president of the Association of Professional Art Advisors, group shows tend to fall into two buckets. The typical summer group show is “either a thoughtful curatorial endeavor that’s meant to advance a conversation, or it’s a show built for relationships—a way to keep artists close and collectors engaged,” Glauber, who has curated group shows at Lisson, Andrew Kreps, and Casey Kaplan, told ARTnews.
Both approaches have their merits, he said, but the challenge lies in execution. Group shows, which typically involve artists from other galleries, get expensive once you factor in shipping and installation, and that galleries often earn less when consignment splits are involved with partner dealers. Those same splits can also make it harder to secure top works, as some dealers prefer to hold back pieces they’d rather sell outright than share.
“The margins get tight, and everyone’s getting less,” he said.
That’s what makes it all the more striking when a gallery embraces the format not just out of obligation, but with real intent—and even a sense of play. Adam Cohen, founder of Chelsea gallery A Hug from the Art World, opened his first summer group show this year with a premise that manages to poke fun at art-world solemnity, while still taking the job seriously.
Install shot of “Open Eyes” at A Hug from the Art World.
JENNY GORMAN
Titled “Open Eyes,” the show was organized by 14-year-old Luke Newsom (son of painter John Newsom), who approached Cohen with a pitch—and a surprisingly strong checklist. “When I was 14, I never would have had the gumption to even propose something like this,” Cohen told ARTnews. “He had a vision, and I wanted to honor that.”
Still, this wasn’t just a novelty act. The show, which includes work by KAWS, Urs Fischer, and Raymond Pettibon holds its own. “There’s an inherent lightness to it, but that doesn’t mean it lacks rigor,” Cohen said. “If you’re thoughtful, you can do both. The fun of summer doesn’t have to come at the expense of substance.”
What really makes Newsom’s show work, Cohen added, is that it acts as a relationship-builder. “Group shows are connective,” he said. “They’re how you start conversations with artists, with collectors. That matters more than whether everything sells.”
Nearly every dealer interviewed for this piece echoed that quality as the hallmark of a great summer show. Success for such shows is rarely measured strictly in sales, but rather in visibility, and the opportunities down the line—like future institutional placements—that result.
A blend of ambition and openness also characterizes “Summer Reads,” a group exhibition at Galerie Lelong organized by assistant director Grace Hong. The show centers on the act of reading—literal, visual, metaphorical—and includes standout works by Martha Rosler and John Clang. (Works from Clang’s ongoing series “Reading by an Artist,” in which he uses ancient Chinese metaphysical systems to craft live portraits of participants in the gallery, were recently presented at the Sharjah Biennial; those pieces are now making their New York debut here.)
Mary Sabbatino, director of Lelong’s New York space, told ARTnews that she views group shows as vehicles for opening institutional and professional doors—for artists, yes, but also for younger galleries. She pointed to the gallery’s 2022 exhibition “Open Doors,” a collaboration with Welancora Gallery and Luis De Jesus Los Angeles. Welancora went on to do Frieze LA for the first time the following year.
“Group shows are a place to take chances,” Sabbatino said. “If you’re not using them to open the field a bit, why bother?”
For the gallery Timothy Taylor, the summer show is a strategic release valve from the pressures of selling. Its current exhibition, “The Kids Are Alright,” brings together more than 40 artists exploring the real and imagined lives of children. The show, organized by Helen Toomer, features artists ranging from Ruby Sky Stiler and Gordon Parks to Dominic Chambers and Cecily Brown, but the goal wasn’t just breadth.
“It would be easy to sit on our hands and say we know who we are,” partner Chloe Waddington told ARTnews. “But the summer gives us space to loosen up, invite different voices in, and reach people who might not otherwise walk through the door.”
The gallery plans such group shows six to eight months in advance, she said, allowing enough time to secure strong works, manage shipping costs, and think through tone and concept. That lead time also helps balance the books.
While group shows can be expensive—especially with multiple loans and far-flung consignments—Waddington emphasized that they don’t have to be budget-busters. There are typically no dinners and no champagne towers. The gallery’s big opening gesture this year? An ice cream truck.
“It’s not about spectacle,” she said. “It’s about building relationships. We met advisers and collectors this summer who’d never been in the gallery before. That’s a win.”
And while not everything in the show was for sale, according to Waddington, quite a bit did sell—proof, perhaps, that playfulness and profitability aren’t mutually exclusive.
Still, as has become apparent over the last several years, there are more than a few galleries who sit the summer out. Among those skipping the summer: Bortolami, David Kordansky, Andrew Kreps, Pace, and Alexander Gray.
“We haven’t done a group show in three years,” Fionna Flaherty, a partner at Lehmann Maupin, told ARTnews. “There was a time when you couldn’t walk through Chelsea in July without tripping over a group show. But just because it’s tradition doesn’t mean it’s useful.”
The gallery didn’t opt out of the summer season entirely. At its New York location, Lehmann Maupin is presenting two solo exhibitions—by Arcmanoro Niles and Tammy Nguyen—which Faherty described as part of a broader plan to support artists ahead of institutional milestones or shifts in market attention.
So is the summer group show dead? Not quite. Faherty said she isn’t against that format—she’s just skeptical of inertia.
“If we ever do one again, we’ll want it to have a real purpose. Otherwise it just becomes filler,” she said.