Bond Street Gallery in Brooklyn is Closing (Updated)

(Updated with comments from gallery director Amani Olu at the end of this post.)

The Bond Street Gallery, a new and well-received photo art gallery in Brooklyn, just sent out the following e-mail blast:

"I regret to inform you that effective Saturday, November 1, 2008, 6PM, BOND STREET GALLERY will close its doors. Though short lived, I had a great time working with so many talented photographers and curators. With that said, I would like thank you for supporting the gallery and its vision to promote new art photography.

Best,

Amani Olu
Director/Curator, BOND STREET GALLERY"

This is unexpected. The gallery had an opening on October 15 for a show called "Revisiting America" that was supposed to run until November 15. Amani Olu joined the gallery just a few months ago with a mandate to position the gallery as a place for contemporary art photography. Olu is also the founder and director of the Humble Arts Foundation.

Here is some basic information from the Bond Street Gallery Blog:

"Bond Street Gallery is located in Carroll Gardens between Smith Street and Park Slope’s restaurant and shopping districts. Established in 2008 by photographer agent Bruce Kramer and photographer Robert DiScalfani, the gallery is dedicated to fine art photography, showcasing various forms of contemporary works from emerging and established photographers."

This afternoon, we spoke by phone to gallery director Amani Olu. "To be frank, I think the owners got impatient and had unrealistic expectations about how the gallery system works in New York," Olu said. "It just takes time to build anything... I didn't really get a fair shot."

"Revisiting America" show was the first full show Olu curated since joining the gallery in June; the rest had been smaller shows or had been planned before he came on board. The gallery didn't get much traffic since it was located in Carroll Gardens, several subway stops from the gallery districts in Chelsea, Soho and Dumbo. Olu remains director of the Humble Arts Foundation and says he hopes to continue working with new art photography somewhere else.