As it marks seven years of business, New York’s Charles Moffett gallery is beginning its next chapter by moving to a new space in the heart of Tribeca. Moving a few blocks east from its home on Washington Street, the gallery will take over the second floor of 394 Broadway, becoming neighbours with industry stalwarts like PPOW and Marian Goodman Gallery, as well as younger endeavours such as Chapter NY. The Lower Manhattan district has seen an influx of dealers in recent years that shows no signs of slowing. Doubling down on its growth, Charles Moffett has also added the rising star Melissa Joseph to its roster and hired the former Pace Gallery director Hannah Root as director of sales.
“As our artistic programme and our gallery team expanded, we needed a larger, more unified space than what our previous set-up across two buildings allowed,” Moffett tells The Art Newspaper. “While in many ways it was advantageous to be more of a destination—drawing visitors with real intention—we are really looking forward to planting our flag in such a vibrant, dynamic hub of the art market.”
Charles Moffett’s new space spans nearly 4,000 sq. ft, half of which will be devoted to exhibitions divided into two galleries, while the rest will comprise offices, storage, a small library and a private viewing room. The gallery worked with the New York-based firm Lang Architecture to renovate the space. For its inaugural show in this new home, the gallery will present a group exhibition, Longest Way Round (14 March-19 April), featuring artists who have exhibited with the gallery over the years, including the 13 artists on its roster—among them Kenny Rivero, Julia Jo and the latest addition, Joseph.
Melissa Joseph, Truckin’, 2024 Photo by Daniel Greer. Courtesy the artist
and Charles Moffett
A multidisciplinary artist, Joseph creates figurative needle-felted imagery on industrial felt, drawing inspiration from her personal experiences to explore histories of women’s labour and craft, as well as themes of immigration and her biracial identity. Joseph often embeds these scenes in found objects like rusted metal chains and bricks.
“Melissa is a genuinely singular artist,” says Moffett. “Her dexterous and visionary command of her material and the intimate, personal and yet universal stories she is able to tell through her art are remarkable. It is incredibly rare for an artist to marry material and storytelling as powerfully and as distinctively as Melissa does. And on top of her inestimable talent, she is a kind, generous and loving spirit who brings light everywhere she goes.”
The news of Joseph’s representation follows a year of accolades, including a public presentation at Rockefeller Center with the Art Production Fund and a sold-out stand alongside the artist Kim Dacres at Art Basel Miami Beach last December with Charles Moffett. Also in December, the Brooklyn Museum selected Joseph for its Uovo Prize, which awards an emerging Brooklyn-based artist with an unrestricted grant of $25,000, an outdoor installation at the museum and a public mural project.
The artist Melissa Joseph Photo by Miguel McSongwe for AnOnlyChild. Courtesy of the artist.
“Something that I recognised right away was how Charlie is deeply invested in his artists as people, not simply the work they produce,” Joseph says. “He is expanding his own footprint in the industry, and it’s great to have a partner like him to build and grow with. He’s smart, industry savvy and has great instincts, but more importantly for me, he is honest and really cares about people.”
Concurrently with the move and addition of Joseph to the gallery’s roster, Moffett has hired Hannah Root as director of sales. Root joins the small team after ten years working with Pace Gallery, most recently as a director. She brings with her extensive experience planning exhibitions and fair presentations across the world, plus liaising with some of the mega-gallery’s artists, including the late Robert Irwin.
“As I thought about the next step, I was driven to focus my experience and energy on supporting a programme of a smaller scale, a place that is realising a new future for what a gallery can be and how it can grow and evolve together with its artists,” Root says. “I think what really drew me to Charles Moffett and the programme is how distinctive each of the artists is—there is not an overriding gallery style or narrative; each artist is given the space to experiment and grow their practice as an individual. The gallery has the true sense of a creative community, and, as a lifelong New Yorker, I can say with confidence that these communities are integral to the fabric and vitality of the city.”
