David Diao's 'TMI' at Postmasters Marks Gallery's Final Chelsea Show Amid Rent Doubling

David Diao's exhibition 'TMI' at Postmasters Gallery from March 23 to April 27, 2013, coincided with the gallery's closure at its Chelsea location after fifteen years due to a rent doubling. The show at 459 West 19th Street in New York City served as a pointed critique of art market injustices, featuring paintings that documented the artist's works being undervalued at auction. Diao reproduced auction catalog pages with handwritten hammer prices and created miniature duplicates of devalued works sold at non-market prices. Other paintings adapted MoMA Picasso retrospective graphics for a fictional Diao retrospective and inserted his work into a painted rendering of the museum's trustees' dining room, referencing curator John Elderfield's unsuccessful presentation to the board. The exhibition shifted from Diao's previous 2009 Postmasters show about family history confiscated during China's revolution to focus on career grievances. While Postmasters relocated to Tribeca, the Chelsea space became the new home for Leo Koenig Gallery. Diao's conceptual abstraction style contrasted with themes of artistic entitlement, creating what the review termed 'Hard-Edge Patheticism.' The gallery's departure reflected broader Chelsea changes where spaces like Peter Blum and Sean Kelly gave way to condos and boutiques near the High Line.