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Wayne Blank

Mr. Wayne Blank is an entrepreneurial arts advocate and dealer who co-developed Bergamot Station, a thriving contemporary arts complex in Santa Monica, home to nearly 40 galleries, the Santa Monica Museum of Art and other non-profits, such as the Los Angeles Ballet.  Opened in late 1994, Bergamot Station through Mr. Blank’s direction was transformed from a decaying urban trolley-car station and defunct industrial space, into a cultural enclave that receives over 800,000 visitors per year.   Enjoying almost instant success, Bergamot Station’s six-acre site is filled with galleries, shops, and cafes. 

After earning his BA in Philosophy in 1966 from the University at Buffalo, Mr. Blank started his business career in marketing at General Electric in Utica, New York.  He moved to California in the 1970’s and established Museum Editions, specializing in the publication and distribution of fine art lithographs, posters and prints for museums. He later sold the business in the mid-eighties.  In 1986, he established a contemporary fine art gallery called the Shoshana Wayne Gallery, along with his wife Shoshana.

Mr. Blank has been involved in several cultural/civic real estate projects with the City of Santa Monica including the development of a vacant city-owned hangar at the Santa Monica Airport into art galleries.  Based on his success with this project, Mr. Blank was approached by Santa Monica’s resource management department to develop the land soon to be Bergamot Station.  His vision for Bergamot Station was that of a cultural destination utilizing the existing aesthetic appeal of industrial structures with soaring ceilings, skylights and corrugated steel walls.  These ideas were compelling enough to convince the city to offer him the master lease on the property. In turn, he personally invested and developed the site along with a limited partner. 

Reacting to the under representation of Los Angeles art dealers at New York’s influential Armory Show, Mr. Blank founded and organized the “L.A. Art -- in New York” show, which ran the same days and offered shuttle service between shows.