KASMIN Director Nick Olney on Paul Kasmin, painter William Copley and California Surrealism

Nick Olney, Director at KASMIN Gallery, discusses the life and legacy of Paul Kasmin, the gallery's founder who died in March 2020. Olney illustrates Kasmin's vision through an examination of the William Copley show that opened just days before New York fell under a "stay-at-home" order that closed the galleries temporarily. Copley was a California-bred painter who became an ardent and self-styled surrealist before becoming an artist in his own right. Copley's experience dovetails with the subject of another show at KASMIN Gallery—"Valley of Gold: Southern California and the Phantasmagoric"— temporarily suspended too.