Reiring reflects on how her role as a dealer changed over 40 years.
March 8, 2021
Janelle Reiring and Helene Weiner, the founder of Metro Pictures, in 2009. Photo by Patrick McMullan via Getty Images.
Many art-world players were surprised to receive a candid email from legendary contemporary art gallery Metro Pictures on a Sunday afternoon, no less announcing the founders’ decision to close after 40 years at the end of 2021.
The platform, co-founded by Janelle Reiring and Helene Winer, launched the careers of famous Pictures Generation artists including Cindy Sherman, Robert Longo, Sherrie Levine, and Louise Lawler, whose witty exploration and appropriation of mass media and advertising imagery immediately resonated with both collectors and broader audiences.