IN THE AIR has heard that Marlborough Galleries will be making a bold move in the direction of image revamp come September when dashing young Max Levai, scion of Marlborough head honcho Pierre Levai, officially joins the family business. (Mugrabis, Acquavellas, Sulzbergers, Kennedys, Rockefellers, Medicis – hey, is nepotism really so bad?) The gallery, which operates spaces in New York, London, Madrid, Monaco, and Barcelona — and which has been around for over six decades — began battling its somewhat fusty image a few months ago when it invited it-girl curators Casey Fremont (of Art Production Fund fame) and Karline Moeller (of now-defunct Moeller Snow Gallery, which she ran with the late Dash Snow’s brother, Max) to curate “Look Again” for its Chelsea space, a show stocked with work by hot young artists like Peter Coffin and mid-career stars like Tony Feher. (Aside from the occasional foray into youth – Marlborough does represent sculptor Will Ryman – the gallery’s usual approach to contemporary art runs more to older practitioners like Botero.)
In July, the Chelsea space will unveil a lively-sounding group show curated by art adviser Sima Familant that includes pieces by the likes of the very un-Marlborough-ish Wade Guyton and Kate Gilmore. Max, 23, has been the secret force behind all of this youthful programming. We wonder if he knows what he’s getting into, working with artists and all that. Of course, he could always ask his father. Pierre started working at the gallery when he was twenty, and one of his first days on the job brought him in contact with a literally falling down drunk Francis Bacon. When young Levai helped Bacon to his feet, he was rewarded with a punch in the nose.
