The Hollywood entertainment behemoth United Talent Agency (UTA) has put its fine arts division on hold, a move that includes pausing operations of its physical gallery spaces in Atlanta and Los Angeles, a spokesperson confirmed to The Art Newspaper. The news was first reported by Wall Power, the art industry newsletter distributed by Puck.
UTA opted to pause UTA Artist Space and the division’s activities after its director, Arthur Lewis, decided to leave his position as partner and creative director.
“It’s been an honour to work with some of the most innovative artists and curators in the industry over the last five years,” Lewis said in a statement. “I want to thank my team, truly some of the most creative, passionate, and hard-working people in the industry. It’s been an honour to work with each of you in bringing the work of so many talented artists to life. Finally, I want to thank Jeremy [Zimmer, the chief executive of UTA] for being a true patron of the arts and for believing in me and the profound impact the arts can have.”
Lewis will stay on at UTA in a consultant capacity. The artists who signed on to the fine arts division will all stay on with UTA and be represented in other parts of the agency.
The fine art branch of the talent agency was formed in 2015 by the late art lawyer Joshua Roth, who was deeply embedded in both the entertainment and art worlds (his father was a co-founder of UTA rival Creative Artist Agency, or CAA). The division was the first in Hollywood to specialise in representing contemporary visual artists in business deals, like professional athletes or musicians.
In 2015 New York magazine ran an article calling Roth “the Ari Gold of the Art World”, referencing the over-the-top Entourage character inspired by real-life talent manager Ari Emanuel. (This was one year before Emanuel’s firm Endeavor acquired a 70% stake in Frieze, arguably making Emanuel the real “Ari Gold of the Art World”.) Roth established UTA Artist Space, a commercial gallery, in Beverly Hills in 2016.
After Roth died suddenly in 2018, he was replaced by Lewis, who had previously worked in the design office of Kohl’s, an American department store. Lewis oversaw the growth of UTA Artist Space to a second location in Atlanta, as well as laying the foundations for an expansion to New York—including a pop-up solo show by TikTok star Devon Rodriguez—though no plans for a permanent space had been announced.