LOWER EAST SIDE — After opening more than a decade ago, art gallery DCKT Contemporary will close its doors later this month, its owners announced Wednesday.
In email and Facebook announcements, the gallery’s founders, Dennis Christie and Ken Tyburski, said they would close the gallery at 21 Orchard St. after the current exhibition ends on Oct. 19.
Tyburski said there was no specific reason for their decision to close. The founders still get along, he said, and the gallery did not have issues with rent or its landlord.
“It’s really just a life change. We’ve been doing it for a while,” he said. “It was just the right time for us professionally and personally.”
Christie and Tyburski have shown more than 100 established and emerging artists in more than 80 solo and group exhibitions since the gallery opened, they said.
Tyburski said the gallery originally opened in Chelsea in February 2003 before it moved to the Bowery in March 2008. The gallery has been located on Orchard Street for the past two years, he said.
“It’s so bittersweet,” Tyburski said on closing the gallery. “We loved it. We love what we do. We love working with the artists [and] putting on the shows but at the same time, it’s time for a new adventure for all of us.”
He said their future plans include “some independent consulting, some private dealings — stuff of that nature,” but nothing is set in stone.
Tyburski said there are no plans to host an event celebrating the gallery’s run. For now, he said, they are focused on closing the gallery and their current exhibition, which showcases the work of Sophie Crum and Aline Kominsky-Crumb, the daughter and wife of underground comic book artist, Robert Crumb.
The founders said they were grateful for the support they received over the past 12 years.
“We extend immeasurable gratitude to everyone we have worked with over the years, especially the collectors, critics and curators who have supported our vision,” Christie and Tyburski wrote in their announcement.
“Most importantly, our sincere and heartfelt thanks go to the all the artists we have had the immense honor of working with. Without you, none of this would have ever been possible!” they wrote.
