Friedrich Petzel Gallery, founded in 1993, first opened on Wooster Street in the Soho area of New York City. In 2000, the gallery moved to its current address at 537 West 22nd Street in Chelsea and in 2006 expanded to include a separate space next door dedicated to smaller exhibitions, artists' projects and performances. In Fall 2008, Friedrich Petzel Gallery will open a joint gallery with Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne. This new gallery, called Capitain Petzel, will be housed in glass-encased gallery located in Mitte section of Berlin and will present exhibitions of established international artists.

Friedrich Petzel Gallery has continued to develop its program around a group of contemporary artists who are renowned internationally: Cosima von Bonin, Matthew Brannon, Troy Brauntuch, Keith Edmier, Thomas Eggerer, Andrea Fraser, Wade Guyton, Georg Herold, Charline von Heyl, Dana Hoey, Rezi von Lankveld, Maria Lassnig, Allan McCollum, Sarah Morris, Jorge Pardo, Philippe Parreno, Joyce Pensato, Seth Price, Stephen Prina, Jonathan Pylypchuk, Tobias Rehberger, Jerone de Rijke and Willem de Rooij, Dirk Skreber, Nicola Tyson, Corinne Wasmuht, and Heimo Zobernig. Each artist has exhibited widely in both museums and galleries throughout the world and are regularly included in international exhibitions such as Documenta, the Whitney Biennial, The Carnegie International, and the São Paulo Biennial. Numerous publications are available on all the gallery artists.

Friedrich Petzel Gallery also deals in outstanding artworks from the last thirty years by artists such as: Robert Gober, Mike Kelley, Martin Kippenberger, Jeff Koons, Sean Landers, Louise Lawler, John Miller, Albert Oehlen, Sigmar Polke, Richard Prince, Cindy Sherman, Thomas Struth, and Christopher Wool.