NEW YORK, NY.- Tanya Bonakdar Gallery announced the appointment of Sam Rauch as Director of Commissions and Special Projects. In this newly developed position, Rauch will work across the gallery’s artistic program to oversee a global portfolio of permanent commissions, projects in the public realm, and site-specific installations at the world’s leading institutions.

A veteran of Public Art Fund, the New Museum, and Madison Square Park’s Mad. Sq. Art program, Rauch has been integral to a number of the most ambitious public projects and exhibitions in New York City over the past decade and a half. Working closely with Tanya Bonakdar and Senior Director Ethan Sklar, Rauch will build on the gallery’s long record of supporting artists in realizing their most significant works. The new position underscores the gallery’s commitment to delivering new commissions and projects of unprecedented scale and worldwide impact at a moment when the public realm is increasingly recognized as a vital dimension of the contemporary art landscape.

"We have always been passionate about empowering our artists to push their practice beyond the constraints of the gallery walls," says Tanya Bonakdar. "Now more than ever, public space is an essential arena for social and cultural exchange. Introducing the work of the world's leading artists into the public realm has a transformative potential for our shared landscape, and is a crucial means to expand equity and access to the arts. We are pleased to welcome Sam to the gallery and know he will further our mission to bring the work of our artists to the widest possible public audience."

As the founding Director of Creative Partnerships at Public Art Fund, Sam Rauch established a new curatorial consulting division, which in 2020 realized monumental site-specific permanent commissions in New York City and Washington D.C. by artists Stan Douglas, Elmgreen & Dragset, Jeppe Hein, Sabine Hornig, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Laura Owens, Sarah Sze, and Kehinde Wiley. In his prior capacity as Director of Special Projects, he organized the installation of Good Fences Make Good Neighbors, a 2017 exhibition by Ai Weiwei spanning more than 300 sites across New York City. Previously at Public Art Fund, Rauch managed large-scale projects by artists Katharina Grosse, Ugo Rondinone, Thomas Schutte, and many others. Rauch has also served as the Director of Exhibitions Management at the New Museum, overseeing the installation of major exhibitions by Nicole Eisenmann, Pipilotti Rist, Anri Sala, Jim Shaw, and more. In 2008, Rauch was appointed the first dedicated administrator of the public art program at Madison Square Park and organized the 2010 presentation of Antony Gormley: Event Horizon, awarded Best Exhibition in a Public Space by the International Art Critics Association.

“Tanya Bonakdar has built one of the premier programs in contemporary art, and has long championed artists at the forefront of the kind of site-specific practice that most inspires me,” says Sam Rauch. “I am thrilled to have the opportunity to support and collaborate with visionary artists, realize groundbreaking new work outside of traditional contexts, and reach a virtually unlimited global audience. I am a firm believer that artists create the future, and it is with great enthusiasm that I join Tanya and her exceptional team to advance the mission of a gallery that shares this ethos.”