Pace Gallery Chief Executive Officer Marc Glimcher is looking firmly toward the future, choosing to move past a flurry of headlines over the last week regarding the international mega-gallery’s financial accounts and recent corporate restructuring.
Reflecting on a period of intense internal reengineering, downsizing, and strategic repositioning, Glimcher offered an optimistic outlook on the state of the business during a phone interview. He pointed to strong commercial momentum, upcoming international real estate moves, and a streamlined operational model as proof that the gallery has successfully weathered a turbulent chapter in the broader art market.
“We’re all off the bottom, we just had a record art fair at Art Basel Paris, and we’ve had sellout shows of primarily young artists—everything is turning,” Glimcher told ARTnews. He noted that the business has already returned to profitability and will soon open a brand-new European location, signaling renewed confidence in the gallery’s long-term physical footprint.
Navigating Real Estate Shifts in London and New York
The forward-looking comments come on the heels of several major real estate adjustments across Pace Gallery’s global network. In June, the gallery’s prominent London property on Hanover Square was put on the market. At the time, representatives for the mega-gallery stated that they were actively seeking a “less corporate” and more intimate exhibition space within the British capital.
A few months later, in September, Pace announced plans to seek tenants to rent out a portion of its sprawling Chelsea headquarters in New York City, prompting widespread speculation within the art community regarding the gallery’s financial health and spatial needs.
Despite these adjustments, Glimcher was quick to emphasize that London remains a vital and thriving market for the enterprise. Reassuring industry observers, he stated unequivocally that London is working very well and that the gallery will maintain a permanent presence in the city.
“We are never going to close in London,” Glimcher said.
Elaborating on the strategic importance of the British capital, he explained that many leading international galleries utilize the city as an essential hub where a substantial amount of administrative work is executed to manage both Asian and European operations.
“It’s a great place to have headquarters and it carries a lot of weight the way New York does,” he added.
Glimcher hinted that the gallery is already weighing “a couple of amazing choices” for its next London property. Pace has occupied its current Hanover Square location, which spans approximately 8,600 square feet. According to the CEO, the forthcoming gallery space will be roughly comparable in size but situated in “a more prime location that fits the model we’ve been working on.”
Reengineering Operations and Assessing Financial Disclosures
The CEO’s remarks arrive immediately following the publication of Pace Gallery’s financial accounts via Companies House, the official business register for the United Kingdom. The filings drew significant attention across the art press due to being submitted ten months later than initially scheduled, offering a rare public glimpse into the financials of a leading private mega-gallery.
The financial documents filed for the 2024 operating period revealed a turnover of $67.7 million, marking a substantial 35.5 percent decrease compared to the $105 million generated in 2023. Furthermore, the accounts recorded a pre-tax loss of $2,429 for 2024, a sharp contrast to the $6.8 million profit reported for the previous year.
It is important to note within the corporate structure that The Pace Gallery Limited serves as the UK-registered umbrella company overseeing the gallery’s operations across Europe and Asia, though it notably excludes independent branches such as the Tokyo and United States divisions.
Shortly after the release of the 2024 figures, Pace Gallery’s 2025 accounts were also published, indicating a more modest turnover dip of 2.6 percent down to $65.9 million. Addressing the figures directly, Glimcher explained that the apparent financial contraction and reported losses were largely the byproduct of a deliberate corporate restructuring rather than an operational failure.
“We did a balance sheet shift, which appears to be a loss because we’re changing around the way we invest money and take money from other units and let the money flow through each unit independently,” Glimcher explained. “We’re in a process of keeping those units a little more autonomous and self-sufficient, and to do that, you have to shift the balance sheet.”
He noted that the gallery’s internal reengineering has been heavily informed by the successful operational models of its existing regional arms in Berlin and Japan. These experiences have proven to be “very instructive” to the overall strategic vision of the enterprise, encouraging a decentralized approach that fosters greater local autonomy.
Streamlining the Roster and Workforce
The financial disclosures and real estate transitions coincide with a broader contraction in headcount and artist representation that took place earlier in the year. In June, Pace Gallery laid off 50 staff members and trimmed its artist roster by 50 names, parting ways with figures such as Keith Coventry, teamLab, John Gerrard, and Glenn Kaino. Following these adjustments, the gallery currently represents a total of 85 artists.
Now that the dust has largely settled from the restructuring process, Glimcher expressed confidence that the difficult decisions have positioned the gallery for renewed vitality and focus. He characterized the reduction in the artist roster as a necessary alignment rather than a sudden falling out, emphasizing that the gallery is committed to nurturing closer, more active relationships with the creators it continues to support.
“We’re always adding artists, and the artists that left the roster were artists [who] we were really not working with,” Glimcher said. “There were areas that we were really not engaged with, it wasn’t benefiting them or us. They were not artists that we had a super active engagement with. It’s just about focusing your efforts to do less better than doing more not as well.”
Glimcher observed that the challenges faced by Pace are reflective of a broader industry-wide evolution, noting that galleries across the board have been compelled to adapt their operational strategies to match shifting economic realities in the contemporary art market.
For Pace Gallery, however, the CEO believes those new strategies are already yielding tangible positive results. Pointing to commercial successes outside of the UK and New York, he underscored that the gallery’s proactive measures are translating directly into financial recovery.
“We have had an extremely profitable year already in Los Angeles,” Glimcher said. “The things we’ve done are already bearing fruit, and they’re bearing fruit because the market has substantially changed.”
With a stabilized business model, upcoming real estate plans in Europe, and a renewed emphasis on targeted artist relationships, Glimcher believes the gallery is well-positioned for its next chapter.
“What we’re doing in London,” he concluded, “when we have the space and announce it, it’s going to make a lot of sense to everybody.”
