Sperone Westwater

The cathedral-esque hush of its tall, skinny Norman Foster–designed building is the first thing we love about this place. The second is the freight elevator that looms above your head when you walk in the door. Don’t get us started on the globally acclaimed artists that show here.

Sperone Westwater has represented some of the most important artists of the European and American avant-garde since the 1970s. Many work within or nod to the movements of Arte Povera, Minimalism, and Conceptual art.

It may not be immediately apparent what the art here is all about: it’s deep, it’s philosophical, and it’s rooted in art history. All that can take a little time to sink in.

No matter their origins, the thread that ties the artists shown here together is that they use their art to create imprints of the human experience. We are born, we grow, we get old, and we die.

Whether drawn, molded, poured, performed, or filmed, the art spills from artists who pay attention—those who view art-making as a kind of holy meditation, a way to tune in to the fragile, ephemeral magic of being alive.

Founded by Konrad Fischer, Gian Enzo Sperone, and Angela Westwater in 1975, the gallery grew a reputation for showing the best of the best Italian and American avant-garde artists. The gallery started life in Soho during its heyday, then moved to Chelsea. Nowadays, it’s on the Bowery in a tall sliver of a building designed by star architect Sir Norman Foster, which they opened in 2011 down the street from the New Museum.