Founding director, 56 Henry, New York
Ellie Rines was just 25 years old when, in 2013, she opened her first gallery at 55 Gansevoort in New York’s Meatpacking District, with enough money to last her about three months. Ten years later, the gallerist continues to move from strength to strength. She relocated to Henry Street in Chinatown in 2015, since when, both Rines’s gallery 56 Henry and the street itself have become bywords for lively, alternative exhibition-making. Rines represents only two artists – the painters Richard Tinkler and Cynthia Talmadge – but has enticed a great number of others to show their work in the space, among them Polly Apfelbaum, Michelle Segre and Anna Weyant. Rines still lives in the back room of the gallery, though last year 56 Henry doubled its square-footage by expanding into an adjacent building.