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'We Buy Gold' Art Gallery Comes to Nostrand Avenue

By Camille Bautista | March 17, 2017 5:07pm | Updated on March 19, 2017 1:55pm
 WE BUY GOLD, a new art gallery, is opening on Nostrand Avenue near Madison Street this month.
WE BUY GOLD, a new art gallery, is opening on Nostrand Avenue near Madison Street this month.
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DNAinfo/Camille Bautista

BEDFORD-STUYVESANT — Don’t be fooled by the “CASH FOR GOLD” sign posted up in this Nostrand Avenue storefront — it's a new gallery for art aficionados to peruse.

WE BUY GOLD, an art space at 387A Nostrand Ave. near Madison Street, opens on March 19 with a month-long exhibit.

Bedford-Stuyvesant resident Joeonna Bellorado-Samuels said she sought to create a gallery in her neighborhood, outside of the more traditional art spaces in areas such as Chelsea.

She came up with the name after seeing similar “Cash for Gold” and “We Buy Gold” signs throughout the city.

“I was interested in the idea around evaluation and commodity and exchange, but also kind of thinking about what an art space is,” Bellorado-Samuels added.

The owner also works as director at Jack Shainman Gallery, which operates three locations in New York.

“So many artists and colleagues also live in the area, I think aside from art workers making it really culturally rich, it’s inherently culturally rich,” she said of Bed-Stuy.

“It just feels like a place I’d like to be able to contribute in some way.”

WE BUY GOLD is free to the public and open on Fridays and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday and Monday from noon to 7 p.m. It will be open through July, and Bellorado-Samuels hopes it becomes “a space that can emerge in different places and different times.”

The opening exhibit, “ONE,” kicks off on Sunday, March 19, with works by Torkwase Dyson, Renee Gladman and Harold Mendez.

Sculptures, photo-based work, paintings and drawings will fill the 850-square-foot space through April 24.

The gallery will have a small shop with books and a variety of other objects for sale, and will host programming such as talks, film screenings and workshops throughout its five-month stint.

“I hope to bring artists talking about interesting issues and making it accessible, but also challenging,” Bellorado-Samuels said. “I hope it’s a place people feel welcome to come into.”