New York Gallery The Hole Sued Over Back Rent, Accused of Not Paying Artists and Workers

The Hole, a gallery known for exhibiting emerging and mid-career contemporary artists, is accused in legal filings of being in significant arrears on rent. The New York–based gallery has reportedly closed its Los Angeles outpost, and artists and workers have alleged that it has has been late in sending payment, according to new report in the Art Newspaper. 

“I’ve been here for 15 years and after two extra-successful years, sales were down significantly starting at the end of 2023. For everyone in our zone, not just for us,” Kathy Grayson, the gallery’s founder, told the Art Newspaper. “I’m recalibrating things here to focus on New York and getting everything stabilised again. The up can often be as destabilising as the down.”

The gallery was founded at 312 Bowery and added a location at 86 Walker Street in 2021. It took on an 8,000-square-foot space in West Hollywood in February 2022, at a moment when international galleries including Lisson, Pace, and David Zwirner were making inroads there. The gallery’s website indicates the last show there ended in September 2025.

A September 25 filing in New York City civil court against the Hole by Bremen House, the owner of the property at 312 Bowery, indicates that the gallery pays nearly $23,000 in base rent per month. As of August 14, the filing says, the Hole owed nearly $88,000 and had paid nearly $51,000, but had accrued about $23,000 more, leaving the gallery in the hole by some $60,000. Statements and rent demands are attached to the filing. 

A New York civil court filing from August 15 by Walker Broadway LLC, the landlord for its Tribeca space, indicates that the Hole had also defaulted on the rent for 86 Walker Street. Monthly rent was about $11,500, and the filing says the gallery owed some $124,000. A July 18 letter attached to the filing warns the Hole that they should pay up or surrender the property. A September 10 filing, meanwhile, indicates that the gallery had defaulted on nearly $57,000.

Both filings also indicate unpaid real estate taxes for multiple years. 

“We are current with Bowery rent and paying off arrears for the Tribeca space, slowly but surely,” Grayson told the Art Newspaper. 

The paper also reports that artists and staffers, speaking anonymously, say that the Los Angeles expansion was “rushed, with limited infrastructure in place to support the expansion.”

Kenny Schachter noted in his Artnet News column in August 2025 that the gallery was delinquent in paying artists, and pointed to a real estate listing offering its LA space for sublease. The Art Newspaper notes that the space was “used intermittently for events and brand activations.” Grayson tells the paper that she was unable to break her lease when she first tried to, in 2024. Schachter further reported last month that the gallery was delinquent in paying its artists for months at a time.

The trouble began over the last four years, according to staffers, one of whom indicates that the Los Angeles gallery was “financially unstable” starting in 2023. Workers told TAN that they were frequently paid late throughout 2023 and 2024, with one freelancer sharing records indicating they were owed nearly $8,000, finally getting paid up to date only in January 2025.

Grayson said she “tried to take strong steps to reduce expenses” in 2024, and the Art Newspaper notes that the gallery went from showing at a dozen fairs in 2023 to just one so far this year, Felix LA in February. The gallery showed at only three fairs—the Armory Show and Independent in New York and Expo Chicago—in 2025, per its website. 

It was not the first time Grayson found herself in hot water. Artnet News also reported in 2019 that Dallas-based artist Dan Lam sued the Hole and Mamacha, a cafe that was operating inside the gallery, for nonpayment from a 2018 show as well as failing to return unsold works and for damaging others.

Five artists speaking to the Art Newspaper also indicate delays in payments for works the gallery sold. Three reportedly remain unpaid, some saying it took threats of legal action to get up to date, with the gallery withholding payment for nearly 10 months in one case, pleading financial difficulties. Another artist claims to have not been informed when a work of theirs sold, only hearing about the transaction from another artist, months later. The artist also found that the gallery had given a steep discount of 35 percent, whereas the artist had agreed to discounts capped at just 15 percent. It took more than a year for the gallery to pay in full. 

“I had never experienced [such a process] in my 20 years of showing and selling work,” the artist told the Art Newspaper.

Grayson acknowledges the difficulties, saying, “There is a lot to do and improve on, all of which is in progress.”