It seems like everyone is trying to get in on the action of the blossoming Jersey City arts scene. One of the newest venues to display creative work is the Justice William Brennan Courthouse, where representatives of the Hudson County Office of Cultural and Heritage Affairs (HCOCHA) hope to create a showcase for Hudson County art starting with Urban Complex, Contemporary Art from Hudson County, curated by Meredith Lippman, which opened last week.
“This show is up for six weeks,” said Lippman. “We wanted to let people who would not generally interact with art see it on a daily basis, which gives them time to form a relationship with the work.”
The work will be on display in the first floor rotunda until Nov. 20. Twenty-seven works were selected from 23 artists for the juried show.
“The idea was to show that art was being made professionally in our municipalities, not just Jersey City and Hoboken, which are well known for having professional arts,” said Lippman. “The other piece of it was to introduce the courthouse as a new venue for professionally curated art shows.”
The Urban Complex title was conceived by former HCOCHA employee Henry Sanchez, and was passed to Lippman, who had curated the Conversations show in the community gallery of 111 First St. last October. “There had already been outreach into the community for the Urban Complex,” said Lippman. “I took [the title] to mean a show that would elucidate or showcase the complexity of the art being made in Hudson County. It was the best way for me to interpret that sensibility and make it my own.”
The show includes hanging displays from five county municipalities, representing a variety of styles and media. They include representational and abstract paintings, sculptures, and photography.
Why the courthouse?
Lippman pointed to the hundreds of people who come in and out of the building every day, including lawyers, judges, jurors and elected officials.
“This is a working building, and the public comes in and out of this building,” Lippman said. “So it becomes a wonderful place to have an art exhibit.”
The building already has elaborate murals on the ceiling and marble architecture.
The art hangs on the marble pillars that form a circle in the main lobby. To hang the displays, Lippman had Carpenter Ivan Bitnik and Electrician Don Carr build cream colored walls with track lighting to cover the marble and not hurt the structure of the building.
“The courthouse is a historic landmark,” said, HCOCHA Director Bill LaRosa. “So we didn’t want to nail into the walls.”
The circular format allows the display to be unobtrusive, not interrupting the free flow of traffic. It also allows viewers to see the exhibit as a whole.
“In a circle, you can see the art in a way that’s very different from having angular walls,” said Lippman. “You can see the totality of the show and the way pieces relate to each other. You can take in a large amount of work in a fluid gaze. When I hang a show, sometimes I want a wall with tension on it, and sometimes a sense of how the pieces relate to each other in terms of the shape, content, and color of the piece.”
One of the pieces on display includes a suitcase that has a light in it, requiring the piece to be plugged in. It was contributed by Franc Palaia. Palaia’s style is to meld discarded items with contemporary ideas and images. Another piece is called Tone Poem II, by David Poppie.
“It’s mixed media, composed of small tin circles filled with wax,” said Lippman. “It’s a very abstract, subtle, and poetic piece. It’s poetic in terms of minimal information.”
‘You’re looking at a Renaissance in this city’
In another attempt to bring the county’s culture to the courthouse, the HCOCHA will institute a monthly coffee house musical series, starting Friday, Oct. 15. Café tables will be set up for concerts that will take place on the third Friday of each month.
Jane Kelly Williams and Barbara Beeman and Bill Vannon will appear at the first show, and there will also be open mic, so that anyone can showcase their talent.
“You’re looking at a Renaissance in this city,” LaRosa said.