As far as the Jersey City Museum is concerned, reports of irony’s death have been greatly exaggerated.
In spite of the gloomy state of affairs that have marked recent events – an economic recession, growing unemployment rate, and war on terrorism – regional artists have not lost their sense of humor. Looking through contemporary culture with this sense of humor has produced the 17th annual Winter 2002 Fine Arts exhibition by New Jersey State Council on The Arts.
This year, the exhibit is taking place at the newly-opened Jersey City Museum at 350 Montgomery St. As a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts provides an opportunity for artists living and working in New Jersey to showcase their work in a state venue. The Jersey City Museum received a $100,000 grant from the Council this year. The exhibit is co-sponsored by six other New Jersey museums, rotating hosts each year.
Rocio Aranda-Alvarado, the assistant curator, and Victor Davson, director of Aljira, a Center for Contemporary Art, collaborated on selecting the 38 works in the exhibit by 22 artists, 14 of whom reside in Hudson County.
The exhibit runs through April 28.
As the exhibit’s jurors, Aranda-Alvarado and Davson pre-selected some works and chose the rest by judging 300 pieces that were submitted for the exhibit statewide. Aranda-Alvarado said the exhibit showcases an equal mix of emerging and established artists. Although the jurors did not select works on a common theme, Aranda-Alvarado said she felt the works were all characteristically “challenging, intelligent, thought-provoking, and very inspired.”
If a running theme does not bind the works individually, there is an overall comic undertone that runs through the two floors of the exhibit, as lighthearted, flowery images are often placed beside austere, chilling ones. Entering the museum, a viewer is immediately greeted by a giant, hanging bouquet of artificial flowers. A sharply contrasted image of a silver-leaf ceramic sculpture of a head with robotic features rests a few feet away. The difference between the two greeting images is startling, and a good introduction for the art-induced smirks and giggles that lie ahead.
For Aranda-Alvarado, this exhibit marks the first one she has curated at the museum and the first major one of her career. Aranda-Alvarado, who was responsible for installing the pieces, said the exhibition’s selections allowed her to maximize the use of the museum’s space. Aside from the gallery rooms that house photographs, paintings, and mixed media works, Aranda-Alvarado placed sculptures and abstract three-dimensional pieces along the walls outside the gallery rooms in order to give them breathing space.
On the south wall of the second floor, another odd ensemble of sculptures stretches the ironic current that flows through the exhibit.
Can’t get enough of his Schwede bones
A dinosaur-sized wooden sculpture of two human bones joined by Hoboken resident Matt Schwede rests against a wall close to Shandor Lafcadio Hassan’s sculpture that is assembled from an old, rusty Ford bumper. Separating these two works, a delicate beige fabric veil with buttons sown in different places hangs from slopes off the wall. The “feminine mystique” that Arand-Alvarado said is bound in Megan Wood’s “Veil” has found a curious home in the exhibit, caught between the two adjacent structures that are riddled with classic masculine pride.
“It’s a perfect way of having the museum express what it’s all about,” said Marion Grzesiak, the museum’s new executive director. When stepping into her new role, Grzesiak said she wanted the museum to showcase New Jersey artists with a contemporary edge. For Grzesiak, the ironic touches found in the exhibition’s pieces are the threads that bind it together. She classified the exhibition as “culturally diverse art that it’s in a contemporary vane and out of the mainstream.”
A chance for exposure
Being a part of the exhibit is a chance for New Jersey artists to draw attention to their work in a high-profile venue. Patricia Lay, who sculpted the robotic head displayed by the entrance of the museum, has been in the annual exhibition twice before.
v Although her works have appeared in the New York’s prestigious Whitney Museum, the Montclair State University professor said it’s a pleasure to have her work displayed in New Jersey. “The museums are really just about the only outlet for them [artists] to show their work in New Jersey,” Lay said. Lay has lived in Jersey City for 20 years, and views its burgeoning arts scene as emblematic of the SoHo she resided in before making the leap across the river.
Jon Rappleye, a Utah native now living in Jersey City, also sees his adopted home as a supportive arena for artists. Rappleye, whose comic-book style of painting pop-culture images in watercolors and acrylic adds to the exhibit’s humorous tone, said the meaning of his work “changes over time.” One painting called “Spacegirl,” depicts a Jetson-like character sitting on top of a crescent moon with a plastic bubble helmet and a big smile. Below her, he painted an image of a lamb smoking a cigar, slightly resembling the infamous Joe Camel pitchman. “You can only focus on one area at a time,” Rappleye said. “I’m giving you a lot, but I want you to slow down and look at each individual part.”
Commenting on his participation in the exhibit, Rappleye said that there are many talented artists that don’t get shown. “New Jersey has given me that opportunity,” he said.
For Megan Malloy, a Hoboken resident born and raised in New Jersey’s rural town of Long Valley, the state has played a crucial role in her career as a photographer. The urban sprawl that has led to giant shopping complexes and long strips of retail along every inch of the highways prompted her to document the dirt-road paths of her youth. “My photographs are like a preservation of the way I grew up,” Malloy said.
Her submissions in the exhibit, however, focus on her perception of her own “tomboy” personality as a self-portrait of her in a friend’s trailer depicts her taking a swig from a can of beer. “My main objective is just to get as many people to see my work as I can,” Malloy said. Being accepted into the New Jersey Fine Arts Annual has brought her closer to that objective.
The exhibit opens to the public on Jan 18 and remains on view through April 28, 2002. The Jersey City Museum hours are Wednesdays and Fridays 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. It is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Admission is $4 for adults; $2 for children over 12 years old, students and senior citizens. Children under 12 are admitted free with an adult. For further information, call the Jersey City Museum at (201) 413-0303.