“4th Street Murals @ City Hall”

The name of the show was “4th Street Murals @ City Hall,” reportedly consisted of murals created at the 2009 4th Street Art & Music Festival and on display at the City Hall Rotunda Gallery. Hey, how many municipalities can claim an art gallery in City Hall? Or maybe, it was a gallery before someone came up with the bright and very righteous idea of displaying art there.

Words are funny things sometimes. Actually, only a few words are actually funny things, the definitions of words however, that’s a different funny things story. The generally accepted definition of mural as I understood it, was art painted on a wall. Earliest murals were cave paintings by our Cro-Magnon progenitors, but you can’t believe everything you read on the internet. I had heard bits about the mural project, figured maybe it was a start of painting more murals on the sides of buildings and other structures in our fair city. That still might be true. At the city hall show, I couldn’t find the word mural anywhere—no sign, nothing on the measly flier. These weren’t hunks of walls, but large canvases by “Jersey City” Artists. The deal is they were all painted at the festival, and considering the dreary rain of that day (followed by a great concert to cap it off), it’s pretty remarkable the artists pulled off this stunt successfully. Maybe they weren’t technically murals—or maybe there was some confusion and the mural project is something else—but placing the large canvases side by side, filling up large portions of the rotunda walls, accomplished a mural effect and feel.

A stroll through the rotunda—the show is on two floors—provides an excellent overview of the array of the current state-of-the-art being produced in Jersey City (and one assumes Hudson County and various environs). Is there a Jersey City school of art? A feel, a look, a common tendency, a set of shared philosophies that can be construed to signify and objectively symbolize the human condition in this unique post-industrial urban landscape? The short answer is, no.

The only thematic linkage of these pictures that came to me was a sense of humor. Everyone of them makes you smile, even the ones that seem dark. I also noticed a blurring of distinctions. Most of the work combined illustration with the color, light and line techniques found in abstract art. Elements of graffiti and “found art” were present but not overpowering. I’m not competent enough to state whether discarding art boundaries of yore is unique to our artists or to contemporary art nation-wide We live in a mash up culture anyway some say. The blending of styles within each painting not only indicates considerable talent but a clever attitude. Most of the paintings had a dominant color; the images on the canvass seemed more formed by shades of that color, perhaps that was a side effect of the performance art aspect of the art—all the paintings being done as part of the festival. Murals? Large Canvases? Heck, why get hung up with definitions. The show was featured on two floors of the rotunda. I went on Friday, around 5:00 (left the day job a tad early), no one was around except for the security guard. You would think, on opening day, somebody might be there to answer questions, give some guidance. It was JC Fridays after all, our fair city’s much promoted “Free” art event. If somebody was there to answer questions they might have explained why there were 32 paintings listed as part of the show; 32 paintings produced as a result of the painter event component of the 4th Street Arts Festival. But there seemed to be only 20 or so on display. I asked the security guard about it when I left and she said, she had no idea about the art, that it was the cultural affairs department, and they had all gone home. You know, the city is showing support for the arts to have a security guard, paid for with our tax dollars, so there is a space to display art. Perhaps on opening night the arts community might be able to cough up somebody to answer questions, or encourage interest. Maybe they did in the afternoon, or maybe they’re there for the reception (there didn’t seem to be one for this mural show). Is the problem with the organizers of JC Fridays, or the people of Jersey City. I was alone in the rotunda. Is there simply a lack of interest? Or is the art community a little too clubby and insular? Since I was the sole appreciator of the art, it’s unreasonable to demand that the art community have folks there for my benefit. It also is sort of silly to propose that having somebody there would have increased attendance. But sometimes it sure seems that the city is the one making an effort to support and promote art as part of the culture and the art community and the community at large are indifferent to the efforts. Both sometimes seem to lack appreciation of that effort or are simply unwilling to reciprocate with active and earnest participation.

What is a mural? Where are the missing pieces? Unanswered questions and uncertainty. I’m use to that by now. Instead I got to dwell on the contradiction of the rotunda art show. Arts need gallery space, they want to be seen. To be seen is to sell, and indeed the art was for sale with contact info for sales available (sales may be better served if somebody was there to answer questions). It is a good thing there that walls of city halls are used for art. In fact, I love going to city hall. The Jersey City Hall. It’s a cool old building with real WPA feel to it. It is what it is—bureaucracy, civil service, we the people. Good Government, in aspiration if not in practice. On the other hand, the lighting is awful, and the building and its purpose too distracting. Not optimal for art is an understatement—the rotunda is not conducive at all to thinking about the art you are seeing. I couldn’t dwell on what the artist was saying, or consider what influence the art festival had in the art in front of me. Instead, I was thinking what is a mural, where are the missing pieces, why is the art community unwilling to have an ambassador to those not in the club? Or, is Heally really different than Mcann?

Living in Jersey City has always meant resolving its contradictions either by celebrating them or denying them. Sometimes celebration is denial.