Just a week after Anglim/Trimble became the third gallery at Minnesota Street Project to announce its closure, a fourth has joined the list. Jack Fischer Gallery, established in 2002, will close at the end of January 2026.
Jack Fischer Is Fourth Gallery to Close at Minnesota Street Project
Minnesota Street Project has now lost 25% of its gallery tenants in quick succession. (Courtesy of Minnesota Street Project)
“The reasons are many, but suffice to say that it has become unsustainable from the personal to the existing gallery model,” today’s email announcement reads. Fischer notes that he is not retiring, but moving to a different venue he did not identify, “one with a smaller profile that is more sustainable.” He will continue to represent gallery artists.
From the start of his career, Fischer championed artists with disabilities, exhibiting work by Judith Scott, Marlon Mullen and Camille Holvoet, and collaborating with organizations like Creativity Explored, Creative Growth and NIAD. “The common ground of every work is based on intuition, vision and heart,” Fischer’s website states. “One of the most important factors in the program is that the hand of the artist be readily apparent.”
Before he had a fixed location, Fischer operated as a private dealer. Jack Fischer Gallery opened in the Union Square-adjacent 49 Geary building in the early 2000s and moved to 311 Potrero Ave. in 2013. In 2016, Fischer was one of the “founding” tenants at Minnesota Street Project. He gave up the gallery’s Potrero Avenue location in 2020.
The news comes after the announcement of Anglim/Trimble’s upcoming closure at the end of December, and the Nov. 22 closures of Rena Bransten and Altman Siegel; all are part of the Dogpatch arts complex established by Deborah and Andy Rappaport just under a decade ago.
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Prior to this, the Minnesota Street Project had 16 tenants — a mix of commercial galleries, nonprofit art spaces and one museum. This year’s closures represent 25% of the complex’s occupants.
In a recent interview with KQED, Andy Rappaport said the project has some gallery tenants already lined up to fill the soon-to-be vacant spaces. Other galleries will remain unoccupied, to allow for short-term projects and rentals.
Rappaport pointed out that it has become difficult for galleries to sell work outside of art fairs. Without sales, even in a building that offers tenants below-market-rate rent, expenses can easily outpace revenue.
“We have said to some, just as kind of a thought experiment, ‘What if your gallery was free? Would that solve the problem?’” Rappaport said. “And in this case the answer is no, because it’s a demand and an industry structure problem much more than than it’s simply a gallery cost problem.”
Jack Fischer Gallery’s current show, Timelines, featuring watercolors of found books by Ian Everard and drawings by Chris Whitefield, will remain on view through Jan. 30, 2026.
