Real estate broker and art collector Jonathan Travis has been the driving force (or the “Deus ex-machine”) behind Tribeca’s transformation into the new hotspot for art galleries. Today, the map of the gallery cluster there rivals Chelsea in both density and intimidation, stretching from Canal to Worth Street on one side and between Center and Church Street on the other. Observer sat down with the young broker and passionate collector to discuss how the Tribeca gallery district emerged, how he merged his passion with his career and what he envisions as the future of the neighborhood and the art industry at large.
Born and raised in New York, Travis’s deep knowledge of the city led him into real estate, starting with global real estate giant Newmark Knight Frank. “It was very corporate, suit and tie, and a good training experience as it was cutthroat and so competitive,” Travis told Observer, though he admits he felt the atmosphere stifled his growth.
Travis then set out on his own, teaming up with a friend and researching untapped opportunities across the city. While reading the Wall Street Journal in 2013, he came across an article detailing West Chelsea’s significant transformation thanks to the Hudson Yards project, the Meatpacking District to the south and the High Line in between. Art dealer Casey Kaplan commented in that article that, as his lease was ending the following year, he wanted to leave West Chelsea due to the neighborhood’s changing landscape. Though Travis had no connections in the art world, he reached out to Kaplan via cold email, which led to an immediate response and a search for a new gallery location—and the next hot gallery neighborhood.
Travis eventually found Kaplan a new space, and the move attracted the attention of a major real estate publication, which credited Travis as Kaplan’s broker. That mention gave his career a significant boost. “A couple of other galleries read the article and said they were thinking about leaving West Chelsea and asked if we could talk,” he said. “Casey introduced me to Anton Kern, and within a month or two, I had Casey Kaplan, Anton Kern, Bortolami and Alexander and Bonin. I didn’t even realize at the time they were all solid and established mid-market, mid-career dealers,” he recalled. In other words, dealers influential enough to set a trend. While Kaplan didn’t end up setting up shop in Tribeca, other dealers did.
“When I was searching for the space for Casey Kaplan, which ended up being on 27th Street, I found a space on Walker Street between Broadway and Church,” Travis said. That space eventually housed Alexander and Bonin and is now Mendes Wood DM after the veteran gallery closed last June after twenty-eight years. “Strolling around Walker Street, I noticed a lot of storefronts that seemed to be underutilized: a lot of big, old, beautiful buildings with cast iron architecture similar to Soho. Some were office spaces and other showrooms, but some were completely abandoned. It was a mixed bag full of potential as the rents were modest compared to other parts of the city, so this neighborhood made a lot of sense.”
Travis began reaching out to landlords, identifying spaces that were available or could become available. Simultaneously, he started contacting galleries, presenting them with the opportunity to move to Tribeca. “I started sending fifty-plus cold emails per day to every gallery in New York, Miami, LA, London, Paris and all over the world,” he said. “The rest is history.”
Although Tribeca’s art boom only gained widespread attention during the pandemic, Travis had been laying the groundwork for years. In 2019, several galleries, including James Cohan, P·P·O·W, Canada and Andrew Kreps, opened on the same night—a pivotal moment for the neighborhood. “It was an incredible moment in Tribeca, and Jerry Saltz wrote an article about what was happening in the neighborhood,” Travis said, recalling that at that point, there were maybe fifteen galleries total. But just as Travis’ career reached its peak, the lockdown disrupted everything. “It took until July and August for people to start coming back and asking, ‘Okay, what’s available?'” Despite the pause, deals were still made, with galleries like GRIMM and 1969 signing leases. And from late 2020 to 2023, the outreach and momentum exploded.
During our conversation, Travis told us that his passion for art developed to some degree as a result of working closely with galleries. “Before sending the email, I would look at the website and all the artists on their rosters and pick my favorites, whom I would mention as part of my outreach,” he said. “I started to keep track of whose names I would use and what type of work they were making. I was learning visually, seeing dozens of images of artwork daily. Then working with galleries, I started seeing art more in person, having conversations about art and learning about how the dynamics of the art world functioned.” But he was always a collector. As a kid, he bought and resold sports memorabilia, and during his college years, he collected antiques, watches and movie posters.
His first foray into collecting art involved buying street art. “It felt way more approachable, with smaller price points.” But he added that when he started working with galleries and learning about the contemporary world, he naturally made the transition to collecting contemporary art. His first art purchase proved his eye for quality was already sharp—he bought a painting on paper by Nicole Eisenman at an auction benefitting the Museum of St. Louis at a time when the artist’s prices were much lower than they are today. “I still have it and like it,” he said.
These days, Travis primarily collects and supports young, emerging artists, often spotting them early in their careers. “Most of my collection is focused on buying seminal works by younger artists,” he said. “I like being part of that journey. I like owning major works by these artists who I believe will be significant down the road, and even if they’re not, I want to love the works still.” While it’s satisfying when their prices rise, Travis emphasized that his main motivation is not the market but his passion for the art and supporting artists he believes in. “Everyone who buys as much art as I do would certainly think about the economic side of it, but it’s not the driver. The driver is the love for the work and the excitement of being part of the journey supporting a young artist.”
In line with this commitment to supporting new talent, Travis co-founded Wolf Hill, an art foundation upstate centered around a residency program, with Ethan Rafii. The program offers artists a four-month studio space, with the works created during each residency presented in an exhibition similar to a gallery show. The artists receive 50 percent of the sales, with the remaining proceeds going to a charity of the artist’s choice and covering some of the residency’s operating costs. “We’ve sold out, or nearly sold out, every show we’ve created,” he said. “I think the minimum we raised for a single charity was somewhere around $3,500, but most of the time, we were able to realize $5,000- 7,000.” At Wolf Hill they also showcase works from both collections, with some shared, including contemporary stars such as Sasha Gordon, Lenz Geerk, Jenna Gribbon, Didier William, Anna Weyant, Alina Perez, Shona McAndrew, Arcmanoro Niles, GaHee Park, Tunji Adeniyi-Jones, Jordan Kasey, Sara Anstis, Bony Ramirez, Dominique Fung and many more.
In terms of taste and what he gravitates toward at this stage of his collecting journey, Travis is mainly driven by his interest in human psychology and the way people interact with each other. Art is a way to see what their life experience is like through their lens. “Artists who create narratives based on their perspectives have always fascinated me, so this has been one of the focuses of the collection, which, more recently, has expanded into abstract art, landscape painting, and some sculptures,” he said.
One of Travis’s future goals is to share his collection more with the public, potentially by opening a foundation and exhibition space with Rafii. “I think it’s important for people to see kind of the narrative of what’s happening in the world at that time,” he added. “These works often represent moments in time and history, and hopefully the art that we collect and exhibit reflects that and allows people to see that moment—not from a news or historical perspective, but from an art perspective.”
When asked about Tribeca’s future and whether it will continue to grow as a gallery district despite the market cooling and galleries rethinking their business strategies, he told us that “it’s not quite to the same level as it was, but that was not sustainable. However, there are still things happening. Marian Goodman Gallery is about to open a new space in a 30,000-foot building at the end of October, which is another big deal for the neighborhood. There’s a lot of action still taking place.”