How do you announce to the world that a major art tour is happening in your town?
If you are art curator Dylan Evans and property owner Bob Lehrer, you do it by turning Lehrer’s building, The Morgan Industrial Center at 350 Warren St. in downtown Jersey City, into one gigantic canvas to mount the mural project known as “Raw Power, The Morgan Grand Mural.”
The building will be the centerpiece for the upcoming Jersey City Studio Artists Tour, sponsored in part by the Hudson Reporter, on Oct. 3 and 4.
The tour allows visitors to check out the works of more than 600 artists for free all around town.
“A very interesting direction for the tour to go.” – Ron English
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There were plans to start putting the murals on the building as of the end of last week, according to Lehrer. Also, times are scheduled this Sunday, Sept. 20 (with rain date Sunday, Sept. 27) and Saturday, Sept. 26 for mural painters of all kinds to come to the building’s parking lot on Warren Street to create more murals. It is part of an extended block party with prizes for the best murals.
“While we are creating and putting up more murals, we get more and more attention as people see the paintings on the building,” Lehrer said.
The project itself will not be a two-day wonder just for the Studio Artists Tour, but it will stay on the building for a year.
Building mural-mentum
The unique exhibit that is “Raw Power, The Morgan Grand Mural” is borne out of several factors.
One, the Artists Studio Tour had moved away in recent years from where it had its roots, namely the area of historic warehouses and condo buildings now known as the Powerhouse Arts District, near the Newport community in downtown Jersey City.
At one time, the largest venue during the tour was the 111 First St. factory building, where upwards of 200 artists would display their works. But the expansive brick building was torn down for development in 2005, and now sits as an empty lot with piles of bricks as reminders.
Two, Lehrer’s building, located one block south from 111 First St., cannot be open to the public for exhibits right now because of “technical” and safety issues, according to Lehrer. Lehrer said that cracks were found in the structure last year. Lehrer has plans to eventually redevelop the building into a condo tower.
However, Lehrer was receptive to the idea proposed by the city’s Cultural Affairs division, working with local resident Dylan Evans, who recently formed an organization to bring mural art into the city. (See Jersey City Reporter >article “Murally Beneficial” Aug. 23).
“I thought it was a very good idea to promote the art tour and bring it back where it started, since in recent years, it had moved to the Canco Lofts,” said Lehrer about the Journal Square condo building that recently served as the largest venue for the arts tour.
Artists line up
The murals are also bound to attract attention – not only because of the billboard-size imagery, but because of the artists responsible.
Among them is world-renowned street muralist and Jersey City resident Ron English, known for his stylish and surrealistic anti-corporate pop art images of a bloated Ronald McDonald and of Marilyn Monroe with Mickey Mouse breasts. English is doing eight murals for the project after getting a call from Lehrer and working to get it done by the time the tour starts.
“A very interesting direction for the tour to go,” English said. “And it’s great a large group of artists to be concentrated in one place, many of whom don’t know each other.”
Interested artists can send their resume and a sketch of their project to KASLEHRER@YAHOO.COM attn: Keith.
Ricardo Kaulessar can be reached at rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com.