Francis Irv


Francis Irv was a contemporary art gallery located in Chinatown and Tribeca of Manhattan in New York City, founded in 2022 by Shane Rossi and Samuel Marion Wilken. It closed in January 2026.
Artists exhibited by the gallery include Win McCarthy, Oliver Osborne, Rachel Fath, Benjamin Echeverria, Rose Salane, and Matthias Groebel. The gallery's name is a combination of the founder's middle names.

History

According to an article in Frieze, the idea for the gallery emerged in late 2020 over drinks at Fanelli Cafe, a now-closed restaurant that was popular in the NYC art world. At the time both Wilken and Ross were working as studio assistants.
Wilken and Rossi exhibited their first curatorial project together at As It Stands Gallery in Lincoln Heights, Los Angeles in 2022. Titled A Fool's Game Played By Cowards, It was co-curated with artist Aria Dean, and was a group exhibition of "b-sides" by artists Benjamin Echeverria, Jordan Wolfson, and Hannah Black. They opened their New York gallery in Chinatown in November 2022, showing a work by artist Angharad Williams that had not shipped to Los Angeles in time for the group exhibition.
In 2024 the galley moved to Tribeca, at 106 Walker Street. In 2025, Francis Irv was recognized by Frieze Magazine as a "NYC Gallery to Watch," alongside KAJE and Soft Network. In late 2025, the gallery hosted a play directed by and starring artist Georgica Pettus, which critic Andrew Russeth described as "wry and experimental."
The gallery closed in 2026, following a wave of gallery closures in the mid-2020s amid market uncertainty. The gallery updated their social media and website with the following message:
"It’s tempting to write some kind of eulogy or translation stone for everything the gallery did or was. So much of that will be swept up and indecipherable in a few years, and that’s the only part of closing up shop that seems properly daunting. Oh well. We made it to the chorus. Had the best time. Two kids hoisted in a trench coat, it was all well aligned and justified, surprisingly dainty. Ultimately Harvey Dent made the wrong choice, and we think it’s best to abide by the lesson of his failures. Thanks for the ride."

Notable exhibitions

  • Win McCarthy
  • Oliver Osborne
  • Rachel Fath