The interests of the founders of the gallery, Helene Winer and Janelle Reiring, complemented each other very well. Janelle Reiring had been gallery director for the legendary dealer Leo Castelli while Helene Winer had been director of Artists Space for five years.  At a time when there were very few galleries of significance dealing in contemporary art, Artists Space was an alternative space that showed young artists not represented by galleries. As described by Helene Winer, “it was a generation comfortable with cross media work and the first generation that worked naturally with photographic, film and video, as well as more conventional forms. They were conceptually based, but not restricted to the non art object methods of the conceptualist and not opposed to visually seductive art. Photography, staged or appropriated, was really a new medium for artists to sue, as was having work executed by someone else.”

The first group show at the gallery included work by Sherrie Levine, Robert Longo, Richard Prince and Cindy Sherman, many of whom went on to have solo shows. While continuing to represent many of the artists associated with the gallery in the early years, both directors recognize the need for the gallery to grow and change and they continue to add younger artists.  For the current exhibition they have selected a group that represents the span of the gallery.  Starting with two artists who began with Metro in 1980 – Cindy Sherman and Robert Longo – it continues with two artists who joined the gallery in the 90s, Tony Oursler, represented by a projection piece and Gary Simmons with two new paintings. The selection concludes with a film and a collage by T.J. Wilcox and work by Olaf Breuning and Paulina Olowska, both of whom have recently become associated with the gallery.

Christophe W. Mao comments that he is “particularly pleased that Metro Pictures has agreed to be its first foreign “gallery in residence.”  In Metro Pictures, Helene Winer and Janelle Reiring have achieved something truly remarkable, a gallery that is significant historically and yet totally up-to-date in its interests.  They have the ability to discover new talent and work with the artists as their careers take off. As new galleries seem to open weekly in Beijing, both artists and dealers could learn a lot from the example of this outstanding New York gallery.”