Jack Hanley Gallery was established in Austin, Texas as Trans-Avant Garde Gallery in 1987. Early exhibitions include a solo exhibition of Al Taylor and Peter Saul’s recent work, paintings and works on paper by Christopher Wool, Thomas Locher and Claudia Hart, as well as an exhibition of Five German Artists: Rosemarie Trockel, Thomas Ruff, Günther Förg, Thomas Huber and Georg Herold.

In 1990, Hanley moved the gallery to San Francisco and changed the name officially to Jack Hanley Gallery. The following year, Hanley opened seminal solo exhibitions for Christian Marclay, Zoe Leonard, Erwin Wurm and Thomas Locher as well as comprehensive group shows of recent works by Richard Prince, Christopher Wool, Robert Gober, Sherrie Levine, Sophie Calle, Sigmar Polke and Stephen Prina. Solo and group exhibitions of Christopher Wool, Albert Oehlen, Sue Williams, Fred Tomasselli, Richard Prince, Paul McCarthy, Zoe Leonard, Félix González-Torres, Kiki Smith, Robert Gober and Jack Pierson followed in 1992. The impressive list goes on until 1996 when the gallery took a brief two-year hiatus for Hanley to focus on his love of music.

The gallery reopened in 1999 in the Mission District of San Francisco, where he nurtured a dialogue between local artists such as Tauba Auerbach, Alicia McCarthy, Chris Johanson, Simon Evans, Xylor Jane and international artists such as Jonathan Monk, Jim Lambie and Torbjørn Rødland. During his ten-year residency at 395 Valencia, Jack Hanley Gallery became synonymous with the Mission District, fostering local artists that came to be known as “The Mission School.”

In 2008, Jack Hanley Gallery relocated to New York City, closing both San Francisco and Los Angeles galleries. The gallery moved to the heart of Manhattan’s up-and-coming Lower East Side in 2012, and in 2021 relocated to a landmark building on 177 Duane Street in Tribeca. That same year, the gallery opened an outpost in East Hampton. Beyond its immediate artistic program, the gallery has regularly organized projects, published numerous artist books and printed limited edition posters.

For over 30 years, Jack Hanley Gallery’s artistic agenda has remained focused on discovering and fostering talented emerging contemporary artists.