Francisco Correa Cordero, the founder of New York gallery Lubov, died on August 2. The news was announced in a post on the gallery’s Instagram account, which did not provide a cause or age.
“He accomplished and lived for his dream through the gallery of a safe and meaningful community for artists – what he built through Lubov will be felt through the art community forever,” the gallery’s post reads, which notes that Correa Cordero “passed away peacefully surrounded by what he loved the most – his chosen family, laughter and so much love.”
Lubov did not immediately return ARTnews’s request for comment. A pinned Instagram post from February 2025, featuring a Photoshopped “WANTED” poster for the dealer, lists his birthday as July 14, 1989, which means he would have been 37.
The gallery’s currently website lists a solo show for Kane Huynh for the fall, with its most recent exhibition having been a solo for Adelisa Selimbašić, which closed on June 21.
Correa Cordero opened Lubov in November 2016 in a second-floor unit at 373 Broadway in Tribeca, long before the neighborhood became a blue-chip gallery neighborhood. In 2019, Lubov moved to a fourth-floor space at 5 East Broadway, on the border of the Lower East Side and Chinatown, with the opening show being a solo for José Manuel Mesías, presented by Havana’s El Apartamento as part of Condo.
The gallery’s first-ever show was a solo for Chicago-based artist Boris Ostrerov, which was also his first New York solo show. In the years that followed, Lubov would become known for its eclectic mix of exhibitions, from single- and two-artist shows to group exhibitions, with both rising artists and well-known names, including Marsha Pels, Andres Serrano, My Barbarian, Eunnam Hong, Covey Gong, Parker Ito, Mimi Park, Shannon Cartier Lucy, and Mira Dayal. The gallery’s exhibitions would often be featured by several publications, including the New York Times, New York, Artforum, ARTnews, Art in America, Bomb, and Interview.
“Francisco supported my first solo gallery show in New York, and so clearly trusted my vision for the installation from the start,“ Dayal told ARTnews in an email. “I wanted to work with him specifically because he was one of the few people supporting labor-intensive, site-specific, and commercially irreverent work, and he was also kind and curious. It is particularly challenging to run that kind of program, especially while also working for another organization, and so it was exciting to see how he expanded the gallery and its community over the years—I specifically remember the enthusiasm over his first show of Shannon Cartier Lucy’s work, his temporary hair salon, and his excellent show with Mimi Park. Years after we worked together, he still showed so much support for me and my work. I’m sure he will be missed by so many artists.”
For the NADA Miami fair in 2022, the gallery described itself as “support[ing] the production and exhibition of new work by emerging artists through commissions and solo exhibitions,” adding, “By connecting different generations with multiple perspectives, and from various regions in the world, Lubov is committed to promoting overlooked practices and experimental approaches.”
Born in Mexico City, Correa Cordero previously worked at galleries such as Exit Art, Martos, and Yancey Richardson before setting out on his own. He also worked as executive coordinator for Independent Curators International (ICI) from 2015 to 2022.
“Francisco was one of the hardest working people I knew, which was something in him that was fueled by passion and endless excitement at the prospect of making the impossible possible,” ICI executive and artistic director Renaud Proch wrote in an email. “He was a dreamer in the best possible ways: he spent hours figuring out how to make something happen, because it needed to happen. His dreaming moved us forward, brought artists out of the shadows, rewarded us with weird, challenging, meaningful, exciting art. His dreaming, like so much of the art he championed, was countercultural; it found a place in our lives even when the conditions for its existence were absent. I honor his courage, I will miss him, and I will always remember his constant beaming, somewhat nervous smile.”
Several artists, curators, and galleries added their remembrances in the comments to the post announcing Correa Cordero’s passing. Margot Norton, chief curator of Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, wrote, “Truly utterly heartbreaking to hear this 💔💔💔 what a brilliant, sensitive champion of artists and wonderful person.” San Juan–based gallery Embajada commented, “We love you Francisco amigo ❤️😢 Rest in Peace🕊️ 😓.”
Artist Dennis Kardon, who had a 2024 solo show at Lubov, wrote, “This is a huge loss. He was the rare gallerist with an authentic intuition for what was heartfelt in work and elevated every artist that drew his interest. The artworld needs people like Francisco to power the engine of contemporary art. His welcoming charm and optimism are rare and he drew in a sophisticated crowd of young (and not so young!) artists and writers. I hope he will live on as a goal for everyone in art to be open and follow their dreams.”
