Christie's-owned gallery Haunch of Venison, which saw the departure of its two founders earlier this year, has confirmed that it has hired Chelsea dealer Robert Goff as a director. According to a Haunch of Venison representative, Goff will be joining the blue-chip gallery along with four of his artists: Ahmed Alsoudani, Isca Greenfield-Sanders, Susanne Kühn, and Kevin Francis Gray.

"The question became, 'Can a gallery like mine grow organically?'," says Goff, who opened his ground-floor 23rd Street gallery five years ago as Goff & Rosenthal, and who split with partner Cassie Rosenthal earlier this year, of keeping the business open under his own name. "I decided that it would be at best incredibly challenging without a major backer."

Goff adds that "a lot is happening at Haunch." That is an understatement. As ARTINFO's IN THE AIR first reported, Harry Blain and Graham Southern, who founded the gallery in 2002 and sold it to Christie's in 2007, are leaving the gallery this month. Now, Haunch of Venison plans to open a Chelsea location in spring 2011, leaving its Rockefeller Center location, where it has been installed since September 2008 — though that space may still be used for projects. The new Chelsea base, which has been located but not yet confirmed, will be designed by Annabelle Selldorf. Meanwhile, Goff's former gallery space is likely to become the gallery of writer, curator, and artist Asya Geisberg.