Pace Cuts 50 Artists From Roster, Layoffs 50 Staff In 'Model Correction'

Pace Gallery is shrinking its roster and its payroll in a move that underscores how sharply the upper tier of the art market is recalibrating. The gallery said it will lay off about 50 employees and reduce its artist list from 135 to roughly 85, a cut of about 30 percent on the representation side and roughly 20 percent on staff.

In a statement, CEO Marc Glimcher said Pace will remain a global gallery, but one that“grounds” its programs in the character of local art scenes. He described the change as a“model correction,” saying the gallery is returning to its roots and focusing on an intergenerational group of around 80 artists and estates. The language signals a deliberate retreat from the expansionist logic that has defined the mega-gallery era.

The layoffs were first reported before they had actually been carried out, according to sources at Pace, creating confusion inside the company ahead of a town hall scheduled for Thursday morning. The gallery has not said which artists are being removed from its roster, and it does not plan to publish a list. Still, several names have disappeared from the gallery's website, including Keith Coventry, TeamLab, John Gerrard, and Glenn Kaino.

The restructuring arrives after several years of market contraction driven by economic and geopolitical instability, high interest rates, Trump's trade war, and conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine. It also follows a wave of gallery closures in 2025, including Blum, which had collaborated with Pace on some artists.

Founder Arne Glimcher, who handed the business to his son Marc in 2010, has long criticized the mega-gallery model.“It's kind of like we're getting our gallery back,” he told the New York Times.“I think this whole mega gallery thing is ridiculous and also unsupportable.”

Pace recently announced representation of the estate of Constantin Brancusi and added Anicka Yi in March. It is also keeping its renovated Chelsea headquarters on West 25th Street, reportedly under a 20-year lease costing about $9 million a year in rent. Pace Di Donna Schrader Galleries, the collaboration with Emmanuel Di Donna and David Schrader, is also set to continue and debut at Art Basel.

The question now is whether Pace's smaller, more selective model becomes a template for others, or simply a sign of how much the market has changed.

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