Serge Sorokko Gallery Opens New Napa Space and Debuts Joseph Kiblitsky Photography Show

Since 2023, Serge Sorokko Gallery has offered world-class post-war and contemporary art in downtown Napa, California. At 1500 First Street, its approximately 2,100-square-foot gallery by San Francisco-based architect Craig Steely has presented talents like Tina Barney, Candida Höfer, Donald Sultan, and Hunt Slonem. In February, that stage for art expanded. Just a few doors down, at 1301 First Street, Steely and team designed a new 4,000-square-foot Serge Sorokko Gallery space, creating an art trail between the two locales and allowing each to introduce new programming. This month, the first of those ventures opened. 1500 First Street, newly dedicated to solo exhibitions, is presenting the United States premiere of artist, photographer, and curator Joseph Kiblitsky’s “CUBA: Two Worlds – One Vision.”

In the photography show, Uzbekistani talent Kiblitsky turns his lens to Havana, Cuba, and Miami’s diasporic Little Havana. On view through May 31, the images explore the shared culture between the two places yet the disparate living situations of residents in each. “These photographs challenge clichés of both Havana and Miami,” explains gallery founder Serge Sorokko. “What emerges instead is a universal story of resilience, identity, and parallel lives.” Through streetscapes, homes, parties, and portraits, a collective vision of community, joy, and ritual forms.

“Kiblitsky’s work immediately stood out to me for its clarity and emotional depth,” Sorokko says. “He approaches his subjects with respect and precision, creating photographs that are both observational and deeply artistic.”

Meanwhile, at the new 1301 First Street location, works by Leonard Baskin, Adébayo Bolaji, Jordy Kerwick, Sultan, Slonem, Yuri Kuper, and more artists from Serge Sorokko Gallery’s core repertoire are on view in a group show. The space will function as the primary gallery, hosting daily guests and VIPs for tours and appointments with a rotating selection of artworks by its represented talents always on display. To support this, Craig Steely designed curved partitions that create more intimate, sculptural rooms of art-viewing across the expansive interior. The forms “operat[e] somewhere between architecture and furniture—shaping space rather than simply filling it,” describes Steely. “Moving through it becomes a dynamic, choreographed experience.”

Despite the current moment of art market uncertainty, Sorokko is doubling down. “At a time when many galleries are consolidating or closing, we’re choosing to expand—because we believe deeply in the experience of seeing museum-caliber art in person,” he says. Napa Valley, and its nearly 4 million annual visitors, are reaping the benefits.

“I was drawn to Napa because it offers a rare blend of extraordinary natural beauty and a cultural landscape that is visibly evolving,” Sorokko concludes. “For me, the opportunity to present exhibitions within two architecturally stunning spaces was especially compelling: each space has its own distinct character, yet they share a refined minimalist aesthetic that creates a cohesive dialogue between art and architecture.”