Sean Kelly is the owner of Sean Kelly Gallery in the Chelsea gallery district. He got his start in the British museum world by curating special shows by sculptors such as Richard Deacon and Anthony Gormley. In 1995, he opened his gallery in SoHo, where he earned a reputation for hands-on work with artists. In 2012, the gallery moved to its current home, a 22,000-square-foot space designed by Toshiko Mori in the Hudson Yards neighborhood. Artists he represents or has represented include Marina Abramović, Joseph Kosuth, Julião Sarmento, James Casebere, Callum Innes, Idris Khan, the estate of Robert Mapplethorpe, Anthony McCall, Alec Soth, Frank Thiel, Kehinde Wiley, the estate of Poul Kjærholm, David Claerbout, José Dávila, Candida Höfer, Mariko Mori, and Sun Xun. The gallery’s artists have consistently been included in major international exhibitions and recognized with esteemed awards worldwide. Most recently, Kelly launched “Collect Wisely,” an initiative that challenges the status quo around collecting and places renewed emphasis on the primacy of art, artists, and connoisseurship. In 2018, Sean and Mary Kelly donated their extraordinary collection of the works of James Joyce to the Morgan Library. Kelly was instrumental in connecting PEN America to visual artists for the First Edition/Second Thoughts Auction in 2014. He served on the PEN America Board 2015-2024.
