3 New SF Galleries You Need To Visit Now

SERGE SOROKKO GALLERY

Serge Sorokko has expanded his footprint in downtown Napa with a second location of his namesake gallery. His original space (1500 First St.) is now a dedicated exhibition venue, while the new gallery, a few storefronts away (1301 First St.), is the primary space for daily visitors and rotating artist presentations.

“This lets us do two things well instead of forcing one space to do everything,” says Sorokko. “The primary gallery is designed for clarity and focus—strong presentations, thoughtful pacing and an environment where visitors can really see the work without distraction. The dedicated exhibition venue gives us freedom: to mount more ambitious shows, to take curatorial risks, to [install works] that need space, time and a slightly different energy than group shows.” Together, he wants the two spaces to encourage repeat visits. “Instead of one quick stop, there’s a reason to come back—because there’s always a main presentation to see, and a deeper exhibition program unfolding in parallel.”

 Serge Sorokko's new gallery is a great reason to visit downtown Napa. Photo By Bruce Damonte

Craig Steely Architecture designed the large showroom with rotating circular partitions that animate the space and create a sequence of intimate rooms that clearly display art. Works currently on view include art by Donald Sultan, Hunt Slonem and Yuri Kuper, as well as new pieces by British-Nigerian painter Adébayo Bolaji.

At 1500 First Street, Sorokko presents the U.S. premiere of Joseph Kiblitsky’s Cuba: Two Worlds–One Vision, a show that features more than 50 photographs taken in Havana and Miami’s Little Havana.

Sorokko is excited to interact with the local community at both of his galleries. “In Napa, the engagement tends to be more deliberate and less performative,” he says. “People spend longer with a piece. They ask different questions—how a work lives, how it changes a space, how it feels over time. What I find especially interesting is that museum-caliber work in Napa doesn’t feel like an ‘import.’ It feels like a natural extension of how people here already live—with attention to craft, taste, design and the pleasure of living with beautiful things. That alignment can produce a surprisingly deep connection.”

He hopes to make art more accessible in wine country. “The goal is to help make contemporary art a normal part of the Napa experience: not something you have to go to a city to see, but something that’s woven into how Napa lives.” Multiple locations, sorokko.com