Gow Langsford Gallery is a

commercial art gallery An art dealer is a person or company that buys and sells Work of art, works of art, or acts as the intermediary between the buyers and sellers of art. An art dealer in contemporary art typically seeks out various artists to represent, and build ...

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

, New Zealand. The gallery was established in 1987 by John Gow and Gary Langsford. Gow Langsford represents and has represented many significant New Zealand and international artists, including

Max Gimblett Maxwell Harold Gimblett, (born 5 December 1935) is a New Zealand and American artist. His work, a harmonious postwar synthesis of American and Japanese art, brings together abstract expressionism, modernism, spiritual abstraction, and Zen calli ...

Jacqueline Fahey Jacqueline Mary Fahey (born 1929) is a New Zealand painter and writer. Biography Of Irish Catholic ancestry, Fahey was born in Timaru in 1929. Fahey had strong female role models in her life: her mother was a pianist who attended the Melbourne ...

, Paul Dibble and

Dick Frizzell Richard John Frizzell (born 1943) is a New Zealand artist known for his pop art paintings and prints. His work often features Kiwiana iconography combined with motifs from Māori art traditions, such as the tiki and tā moko. He is based in ...

. Although Gow Langsford Gallery is often associated with John Leech Gallery, whose origins can be traced back to the mid-19th century, Gow Langsford was created as a separate venture and with a different purpose in mind.

History

Gary Langsford and John Gow and jointly founded the gallery in 1987 in a disused Richmond Road petrol station in

Grey Lynn Grey Lynn is an inner suburb of Auckland, New Zealand, located to the west of the city centre. Originally a separate borough, Grey Lynn amalgamated with Auckland City in 1914. Grey Lynn is centred on Grey Lynn Park, which was not part of the ...

. The gallery opened with a group show that included

Judy Millar Penelope Judith Millar (born 1957) is a New Zealand artist, who lives in Auckland, New Zealand and Berlin, Germany. Education Millar received a BFA in 1980 and an MFA from Auckland University's Elam School of Fine Arts in 1983. As recipient ...

Greer Twiss Greer Lascelles Twiss (born 23 June 1937) is a New Zealand sculptor, and in 2011 was the recipient of an Icon Award from the Arts Foundation of New Zealand, limited to 20 living art-makers. Career Twiss was born in Auckland on 23 June 1937, ...

and Allen Maddox. Two months later, the stock market crashed and the gallery building's value was halved from what Gow and Langsford had paid for it. In 1990 the gallery moved to The Strand, and then again in 1992 to Kitchener Street, directly opposite the

Auckland Art Gallery Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki is the principal public gallery in Auckland, New Zealand. It has the most extensive collection of national and international art in New Zealand and frequently hosts travelling international exhibitions. Set be ...

, its current premises. Between 2002 and 2004 Gow Langsford had a

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

location on Danks Street, and between 2008 and 2021 another Auckland location on Lorne Street. Anna Jackson, formerly a gallery manager, became director of the gallery in 2015 and co-owner in 2020. In the

2018 New Year Honours The 2018 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...

, John Gow and Gary Langsford were both appointed

Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

. Gow Langsford has mounted more than 500 exhibitions around the country and many abroad. In the years preceding the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic the gallery participated in international art fairs and showed at

Art Basel Hong Kong Art Basel is a for-profit, privately owned and managed, international Art exhibition, art fair staged annually in Basel, Switzerland; Miami Beach; Hong Kong and from 2022, Paris. Art Basel works in collaboration with the host city's local instit ...

and Sydney Contemporary. Gow Langsford Gallery's stable of represented artists is now composed primarily of established artists from Australasia, but has also attracted artists from Europe and America. The gallery sponsors an annual Gow Langsford Gallery Art Prize, awarded to an outstanding recent visual arts graduate who has demonstrated excellence and resilience in their field.

Present

Gow Langsford is located in central Auckland directly opposite the Auckland Art Gallery. It represents both new and established artists and has mounted around 500 exhibitions since it opened its doors. Through their constant and varied exhibitions, Gow Langsford wishes to expose their artists to different types of audiences, hence, providing a forum for contemporary art on both the local and international scene. Gow Langsford's recent exhibitions included works by several notable artists:

Tony Cragg Sir Anthony Douglas Cragg (born Liverpool 9 April 1949) is an Anglo-German sculptor, resident in Wuppertal, Germany since 1977. Early life and training Tony Cragg was born in Liverpool."Tony Cragg." ''Contemporary Artists''. Farmington Hills, ...

Dale Frank Dale Frank (born 1959 in Singleton, New South Wales) is an Australian contemporary artist best known for his biomorphic abstract paintings. His practice has included found object-sculptures, performance installations, drawings and most recently ...

, and

John Pule John Puhiatau Pule (born 18 April 1962) is a Niuean artist, novelist and poet. The Queensland Art Gallery describes him as "one of the Pacific's most significant artists".

Represented artists

Laurence Aberhart Laurence Geoffrey Aberhart (born 1949) is a New Zealand photographer. Biography Aberhart was born in Nelson in 1949, along with three siblings, and was educated at Nelson College from 1963 to 1966.''Nelson College Old Boys' Register, 1856–200 ...

Katharina Grosse Katharina Grosse (born 2 October 1961) is a German artist. As an artist, Grosse's work employs a use of architecture, sculpture and painting. She is known for her large-scale, site-related installations to create immersive visual experiences. Sh ...

John Pule John Puhiatau Pule (born 18 April 1962) is a Niuean artist, novelist and poet. The Queensland Art Gallery describes him as "one of the Pacific's most significant artists".

Darryn George Darryn George (born 1970) is a New Zealand artist of Ngāpuhi descent who is based in Christchurch. Education George trained as an artist at the Ilam School of Fine Arts in Canterbury and graduated with a BFA in painting in 1993. He subsequently ...

* Paul Dibble *

Lisa Roet Lisa Roet (born 1967) is an Australian artist who lives and works in Melbourne. She studied at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. In 2005 she received the McClelland Sculpture Prize. The sculpture, ''White Ape'', is now part of the co ...

* John Walsh *

Michael Hight Michael Hight (born 1961) is a New Zealand artist and illustrator. Background Hight was born in Stratford, New Zealand in 1961. He graduated with a B.Soc.Sc from Victoria University of Wellington in 1982. Between 1984 and 1987 he traveled, ...

* Alex Monteith * Reuben Paterson *

Chris Heaphy Chris Heaphy is a New Zealand artist who is based in Auckland. His work explores cultural issues with a greater focus on the relationship between Maori and Pakeha due to the artist's background. Early life and education Chris Heaphy was ...

Bernar Venet Bernar Venet (born 20 April 1941) is a French conceptual artist. Early life Bernar Venet was born to Jean-Marie Venet, a school teacher and chemist, and Adeline Gilly and was the youngest of four boys. He was brought up in Château-Arnoux-Sai ...

* Allen Maddox *

Sara Hughes Sara Elizabeth Hughes (born February 14, 1995) is an American beach volleyball player. With teammate Kelly Cheng, she achieved a career-high world ranking of No. 2 in August 2023. Hughes has won six tournaments on the AVP Pro Tour and sev ...

* Karl Maughan

References

External links

* {{Authority control Art museums and galleries in Auckland Tourist attractions in Auckland Auckland CBD