This space with an all-caps name is the New York branch of a gallery in Brussels, Belgium, and like the home office, the Brooklyn shop focuses on contemporary art by an international roster of young emerging artists with up-to-the-minute sensibilities. The gallery recently added an Upper East Side location. Nestled in the vibrant heart of New York’s art scene, Clearing Gallery emerged in 2011 as a beacon for emerging talents, founded by French artist Olivier Babin in the then-up-and-coming Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn.
With an unpretentious ethos, it quickly became a launchpad for innovative voices, showcasing bold works that blended sculpture, painting, and multimedia in ways that challenged conventional boundaries. Over its first decade, Clearing cultivated a tight-knit community of creators, drawing crowds to its raw, industrial spaces where experimentation thrived alongside genuine discovery, turning unknown artists into rising stars amid the city’s relentless creative churn.
In 2023, the gallery marked a pivotal evolution by relocating from Bushwick to a sleek three-story space on the Bowery in Manhattan, signaling its ambition to scale up while staying true to its roots. This move placed it steps from iconic institutions like the New Museum, amplifying visibility and foot traffic for exhibitions that continued to spotlight boundary-pushing talents such as Harold Ancart and Korakrit Arunanondchai. Expansions to Los Angeles in 2020 and a brief European outpost in Brussels further extended its reach, fostering international dialogues through group shows and solo presentations that emphasized narrative depth and material ingenuity, all while navigating the art world’s shifting tides with a crew-like camaraderie.
Yet, after 14 dynamic years, Clearing bid farewell in August 2025, closing its New York and Los Angeles doors amid escalating overheads and a cooling market that proved too burdensome for its artist-first model. Final exhibitions, like Coco Young’s intimate paintings in Manhattan and Henry Curchod’s vibrant canvases in LA, encapsulated the gallery’s enduring spirit of quiet rebellion and profound support for underrepresented narratives. Though its physical spaces dim, Clearing’s legacy endures in the careers it ignited, a poignant reminder of how fragile yet fierce the pursuit of artistic freedom remains in an ever-evolving metropolis.
Own or work here?