Ben Goldman can’t call his latest position as executive director of the Newark art gallery City Without Walls a new job anymore.
“I’ve just celebrated my one-year anniversary,” the long-time Weehawken resident said. “So I can’t claim that it’s a new job. But it’s certainly still a challenging job.”
The 46-year-old Goldman has taken on the responsibility to organize the gallery, after serving many years in public administration, then trying his hand at becoming a full-time artist.
“I came to the realization as a parent and as a home owner that trying to make a living as an artist is a tough task,” Goldman said. “About only sixth/tenths of one percent make a living out of being an artist. The rest do something else. I had to figure out a way to get all my talents and skills together in the same position, a way to put to use everything I’ve learned as an administrator, as a fund raiser, as an artist, my political background. I then just had to apply them all to the art world.”
Added Goldman, “I earned a fair amount of success and recognition as an artist, but when it comes to getting funds to pay for your kids’ college tuitions, it doesn’t work. My art now is building organizations and creating the opportunity to promote artists who are changing the art world, as opposed to painting pictures. Now, I don’t have the time to sit back and paint. Maybe there will be a day when I can do that again, but I can’t now.”
From politics to art
Goldman, who has a doctorate in public administration, ran for public office in Weehawken in 2002, spearheading the Weehawken Initiative Now (WIN) ticket that ran unsuccessfully against Mayor Richard Turner’s ticket.
Goldman was also very influential with the activist group Friends of the Weehawken Waterfront that opposed the Roseland Properties’ Port Imperial South development project along the waterfront that is still under construction.
But besides his political life, Goldman was an accomplished artist and painter, showing his work at galleries and art shows all across the country.
Now, his life is dedicated to helping other aspiring artists, giving them a home in Newark at City Without Walls, to showcase their talents.
“CWOW is the oldest alternative art space and gallery in New Jersey,” Goldman said. “We focus on emerging artists. We exhibit the work of approximately 200 artists per year. We also show the work of long standing contemporary artists in New Jersey, but we’re one of the biggest supporters to emerging artists.”
Building a business
Goldman said that when he decided to become the executive director of CWOW last year, it was an organization at its breaking point.
“We were at [a crisis point],” Goldman said. “We were in a place in Newark that was designed for redevelopment. It’s still somewhat of a dangerous area (Crawford Street in downtown Newark), but I took the job and things turned around.”
Under Goldman’s leadership, CWOW has tripled its income, quadrupled membership and has provided some stability in the contemporary art world in the Garden State.
“We’re off to a roaring start in 2007,” Goldman said. “We’re providing more services, updating and revamping our website (www.cwow.org) and creating more opportunities. We want cwow.org to become like the Youtube.com for community art and local artists.”
Goldman is excited about his next project and art presentation, entitled “Landscape Revisted: Fact and Metaphor,” which opens February 1, at City Without Walls. The curator of the show is Hoboken resident Peter Homitzky, who is one of the most respected landscape artists in the country.
Multi-media exhibit
“Landscape Revisited,” is a multi-media exhibit that will be shown in two locations.
It will be at CWOW from Feb. 1 through March 29 and at Seton Hall University School of Law from now through April 27. Admission to the presentation is free to the public.
According to Goldman, the exhibition treats the landscape as an experience rather than mere pictures of places. The artists approach their landscapes as conceptual works that are neither specifically literal nor descriptive.
The exhibit features more than 60 works from 20 different artists, six of whom hail from Hudson County.
Other than curator Homitzky, the other local artists featured are E. Jan Kounitz, Richard Leon, Roberta Melzl and Gail Nicholson from Jersey City and Eric Soll from Hoboken.
“We have other artists from New York and other parts of the country as well,” Goldman said. “I’m tremendously excited about this show. It has a chance to be the best one yet. We’re trying to do ambitious stuff and this certainly is.”
Goldman is happy where his career is at.
“Other than running for office, this is the most intense job I’ve ever had,” Goldman said. “It’s not a sprint. This is more of a marathon. It’s close to my heart, because it has my passion for art. I’m putting all the pieces together now to benefit other artists. It’s all part of the community oriented spirit.”
To learn more about Ben Goldman and City Without Walls, log on to www.cwow.org.