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Rejected! The Successful Creativity of Jersey City Artists
Clever catalyst for this show, which was making lemonade out of lemons while also sticking it back to the man and revealing the short comings of our town’s official art authorities. This show, a pastiche of paintings and sculpture by artists as the show’s title indicates, rejected by the Jersey City Museum. That institution is going through serious financial woes, with lay offs and curtail hours. I don’t know all the specifics and if you are interested in this debacle please go elsewhere. Jim Legge (website here), an artist, was the curator and the show makes a convincing argument that our city’s official hall for art might have its head up its butt. Not exactly an unknown condition in the state of New Jersey. On the other hand, as Dylan said, inside the museums infinity goes up on trial.
The art in Rejected! The Successful Creativity of Jersey City Artists included a diversity of acrylics, digital, water colors and ink. I guess when the J.C. museum rejects they reject across the board. Can’t accuse them of prejudice against a specific medium. Deidre Kennedy, pictured here with Jim Legge, produced some Japanese inspired “Semi-e Ink” , which are ink sketches on rice paper. “I like the minimalism of Japanese culture,” she said.
The show was held in the studio/workshop of Joseph Chirchillo, quite convenient since it was on 4th street and I was able to view the exhibit during the big art fest. I was most taken by the Chirchillo’s sculpture (not to mention his worskshop), which included wood carvings of cats, but more prominently, rube golberg like contraptions made with found art. Amusing pieces, I like this flying fish made out of what looked like coffee cans. You turned this crank, the wings or fins fluttered up and down.
I’ve always been prone towards found art. I love the idea of things and buildings being repurposed, like the Vietcong making sandals out of old jeep tires. It’s different than recycling. I just like the ingenuity of turning the flotsam of a dead civilization into some contemporary utility. The sculptures invert the idea of ingenuity; these gizmos seem to serve no utilitarian purpose beyond themselves. We should call them gizmos. They make you smile.
Clever catalyst for this show, which was making lemonade out of lemons while also sticking it back to the man and revealing the short comings of our town’s official art authorities. This show, a pastiche of paintings and sculpture by artists as the show’s title indicates, rejected by the Jersey City Museum. That institution is going through serious financial woes, with lay offs and curtail hours. I don’t know all the specifics and if you are interested in this debacle please go elsewhere. Jim Legge (website here), an artist, was the curator and the show makes a convincing argument that our city’s official hall for art might have its head up its butt. Not exactly an unknown condition in the state of New Jersey. On the other hand, as Dylan said, inside the museums infinity goes up on trial.
The art in Rejected! The Successful Creativity of Jersey City Artists included a diversity of acrylics, digital, water colors and ink. I guess when the J.C. museum rejects they reject across the board. Can’t accuse them of prejudice against a specific medium. Deidre Kennedy, pictured here with Jim Legge, produced some Japanese inspired “Semi-e Ink” , which are ink sketches on rice paper. “I like the minimalism of Japanese culture,” she said.
The show was held in the studio/workshop of Joseph Chirchillo, quite convenient since it was on 4th street and I was able to view the exhibit during the big art fest. I was most taken by the Chirchillo’s sculpture (not to mention his worskshop), which included wood carvings of cats, but more prominently, rube golberg like contraptions made with found art. Amusing pieces, I like this flying fish made out of what looked like coffee cans. You turned this crank, the wings or fins fluttered up and down.
I’ve always been prone towards found art. I love the idea of things and buildings being repurposed, like the Vietcong making sandals out of old jeep tires. It’s different than recycling. I just like the ingenuity of turning the flotsam of a dead civilization into some contemporary utility. The sculptures invert the idea of ingenuity; these gizmos seem to serve no utilitarian purpose beyond themselves. We should call them gizmos. They make you smile.
Timothy, you are a riot! Thanks so much for this charming review. We were very happy to get thousands of visitors - I personally stopped counting after 1,000 on opening day - while the official Jersey City Museum show had barely 100 visitors, according to artist friends who were in that show. The public did indeed vote with their feet! Thank you all! Artists, people, cats and dogs ...
ReplyDeleteThe Jersey City Independent, Sept. 30, 2010 http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/2010/09/30/local-artists-turned-down-by-jersey-city-museum-staging-rejected-show-during-studio-tour/