The Lower East Side gallery On Stellar Rays announced in April 2016 that it was expanding into 4,500 square feet, to allow for a more ambitious exhibition program as well as performances in its basement space.

This month, just over one year later, the gallery announced that it was closing.

On Stellar Rays has plenty of company. In February, Andrea Rosen, a 27-year Chelsea veteran gallery owner, announced that she was closing her exhibition space on West 24th Street and not taking on more living clients. Other stalwarts of the New York art scene that recently closed locations include Mike Weiss Gallery, CRG Gallery, Laurel Gitlen Gallery, Murray Guy, Kansas, Feuer/Mesler and Lisa Cooley.

In Los Angeles, the dealer Mark Moore closed his Culver City gallery in December after 33 years, and this month Acme gallery in Frogtown ceased operating after more than two decades. And in London, several galleries have recently shuttered, including Limoncello and Vilma Gold.

Midsize galleries have long struggled to compete in a field increasingly dominated by mega-galleries with multiple locations, like Gagosian, David Zwirner and Hauser & Wirth. But lately the trend toward an intensely commercial and competitive art market has resulted in a critical mass of galleries folding, moving or merging.