Last week, on Paris’s oldest planned square, the Place des Vosges, the global gallery brand Mendes Wood DM opened its fourth branch. The two-storey space takes over a newly renovated 18th-century building in the artistic Marais district. It joins Mendes Wood DM locations in New York, Brussels and São Paulo, where the gallery was founded in 2010 by Pedro Mendes, Matthew Wood and Felipe Dmab to show a roster of contemporary Brazilian and international artists, which includes Sonia Gomes, Lucas Arruda and Lynda Benglis.
While Mendes Wood DM is one of three prominent international galleries to have opened in the French capital over the weekend before Paris + by Art Basel (until 22 October), along with Hauser & Wirth and Modern Art, its plans pre-date the city’s current art market boom, Mendes says. “Paris has always been important to us. This is where Matthew and I met as students in the 2000s, and where I lived for seven years—our experiences in Paris are what led us to open our first gallery in Brazil.”
Of course, the city’s ascendant position within the global art trade is a draw too. “Paris feels like the perfect gateway to Europe—and it has a renewed energy,” Mendes says. The move also allows the gallery to be physically closer to institutions and collectors that have led the way for the visibility of Latin American art in the West, including the Centre Pompidou and the Fondation Cartier, he adds.
The Mendes Wood DM team considered opening their newest space in London, Mendes says, but “Paris felt more like home”. He continues that Brexit-related issues were certainly factors that the gallery took into account when deciding between the two cities, but also that he has heard of instances in which the UK’s departure from the EU has created “favourable tax situations” for some galleries.
The gallery opened its first overseas outpost in Brussels, in 2017. This was a necessary step to allow many of its European clients to more fully engage with its programme. "It’s important to have a physical presence. Collectors need to understand your gallery beyond the context of the art fair circuit," Mendes says.
The Brussels space allowed Mendes Wood DM to begin operating in a country where legal and tax structures are more favourable for art trading. "Ease of doing business is certainly one of the reasons we create these 'embassies' in various countries," Mendes says. Establishing a gallery in Brussels was also informed by a desire to not have another space in a huge metropolitan city like São Paulo, Dmab says.
Mendes Wood DM's New York space opened in 2022, cementing the gallery's position as a serious player in a global industry, although it ran an office-cum-project space in the city for a few years in the late-2010s. With locations on three continents, Mendes Wood DM counts itself among a growing number of Latin American galleries that have expanded to the West in recent years, including Mexico City’s Kurimanzutto, and Nara Roesler, from Brazil, both of which have opened in New York. Madrid is witnessing a new influx of Latin American galleries too, such as Ginsburg and Hilario Galguera.
Mendes reflects on whether his Latin American-founded gallery is at risk of losing its identity by expanding so far outside of the region. “In the beginning there was a boxing in for galleries like us—and now often people don’t remember our origin. Brazil is our home, just like Paris, New York and Brussels are our homes. From the beginning we have represented artists whose practices were outside of the centre. When we began in São Paulo we were a black swan—people said our artists were too formalist, too crafty. So if people don't understand our gallery, it doesn’t bother us. We’re used to being on the outside anyway."
Mendes Wood DM’s Paris space is directed by Nicolas Nahab. He joined the gallery last month from Marian Goodman Paris, where he was a partner. He was previously with the Paris gallery Yvon Lambert. “This is the first time I am working with a team of gallerists who are of my generation, and that’s an exciting prospect,” Nahab says of his reasons for joining. “I like how horizontal the structures are at this gallery, it appeals to me.”
Mendes Wood DM's inaugural show in Paris, curated by Fernanda Brenner, features around 50 artists, most of whom are not represented by the gallery. Its title, I See No Difference Between a Handshake and a Poem, comes from a 1960 letter by the poet Paul Celan. Themed around hands, touch, and mark making, the multi-media show includes works by Tosch Basco, Michael Dean and Marguerite Duras.