Jersey City Museum: “Masters of the Collection.”

 

As part of JC Fridays, a quarterly, city-wide celebration, the Jersey City Museum featured a rare exhibit: “Masters of the Collection.”

Landscapes, mainly from the 19^th century, ranged from busy waterfront scenes to a representation of when Montgomery Street was still pastoral, dominated the exhibit. I particularly liked -- “In Nicaragua Waters” by North Bush, which had elements of photographic accuracy and impressionistic perceptions. Misty, dreamy, colors. I’m not sure what a bust of Thomas Edison, a life-size wood carving of an eagle, or a display case of an old Old Glory and some cannon balls had to do with the overall exhibition theme, but that’s just nitpicking.

The fact the Jersey City Museum was participating in JC Fridays, was showing some of its art and was clearly operating again, even in an apparently limited capacity, should be applauded. It is a welcome development.

 

 

 

 

 

 Mark Rodrick, treasurer/board of trustee for the museum, was on hand for “Masters of the Collections” exhibition and his enthusiasm for the museum was noteworthy. The landscape category within in the collection is especially significant, and he was nice enough to show me some of the back spaces that are used for storage of the collection.

 

 

The Jersey City museum has a history of haplessness – for years it was just a floor of the library – then it moved into a new, impressive space, built specifically for the purpose of showcasing its collection of art and artifacts. But lack of adequate funding, lack of civic and community support, lack of vision, lack of ambition – seemed, besides some interesting art, the only the Jersey City Museum had was lack – plagued the institution and in the last two years to do, those lacks manifested itself in even more controversy. The place was bankrupt, staff was fired, the museum building itself was recently sold to Liberty Medical, the hospital conglomerate.

 

 

 

You follow the dreary saga in the local press and all you get are the accident reports – often with details that only raise more questions – not straight answers as to why the Jersey City Museum has become another city embarrassment. Our political and civic leaders are mostly silent on the Jersey City Museum issue, much less proposing solutions.

 

Well, you won’t get any straight answers on this blog either.

 As a commendable gesture of community outreach, Liberty Medical is letting the museum continue on the ground floor (the other floors are used as office space), which means a large reception area, two galleries, and a state-of-the-art small theater. This summer, the museum opened on weekends, that despite what many consider a prohibitive entrance fee ($10) for a mere two galleries and no theater programming, was a step in the direction making the Jersey City Museum something other than a memory or merely a museum in  name only. Being open as part of JC Fridays – and waiving the entrance fee – is another step.

Might be too early to declare momentum – or even clarify a goal – but these are positive signs. The “Masters of the Collection” verified that the museum has a collection worthy of display; now if only we could figure out how to make the museum worthy of our city (or should that be the other way around?)

 

Soulful Conclusion

 

 

The music of the soul played and the people danced and the summer stayed with us a little while longer, as long as we could hear the song. 

Jersey City’s warm weather outdoor music series reached a rousing conclusion with a hot set by the rock & soul stalwarts the One & Nines. Back in April, the One & Nines opened the series so having them as the last act on this humid late-summer night added a symmetry to one of the few successful ongoing community arts programs in town. A dozen or so revelers did 21^stcentury variations on the frug, pony and mash potato as scores of others shimmied, shook and swayed under the canopy set up for the five band finale of Groove on Grove.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jeff and Vera, who front the band, made it legal on August 11^th and this was their first gig since their Hawaii honeymoon and the music and crowd seemed infected with their fresh nuptial bliss. The band rocked harder than usual, stop-on-dime tight. A sweaty, loins-centric rendition of their neo-Stax ditty Walked Alone – ‘I want do everything to you on my own time – got the dance-a-thon going and only a few notes later it was going full throttle.

A glitch in the opening of the set seemed to hamper the festivities. A power outage took out the lights and instruments and the Groove on Grove crew scrambled to plug the band back in. The momentum was interrupted for several minutes and when everything was running again things got stranger.

 

 The preceding band, The Micks (I only caught the last part of their rocking set) had invited Jeff onstage for a blistering Candy’s Room and now they returned the favor, except the musician – with long frizzy red hair and NO GAS LINE t-shirt – hopped onto the stage from the mosh pit, plugged in his guitar and a feverishly silly yet still rocking Wooly Bully exploded, the horns sinking their teeth into the garage rock hook, and they jammed the old warhorse out, much to the delight of the crowd. Then as a nod to the married couple, Never Can Tell – Chuck Berry’s ode to a teen wedding that was made famous by the dance sequence by Travolta and Thurman in Pulp Fiction finished off the set. When the baritone saxophone wailed a solo, the trumpet player held an extra mike to the horn. The musicians were having fun and playing it loose, but they were still discovering some new things in the songs and never let their silliness become an excuse of amateurishness on the stage.

 Summer might have to end but what a way to celebrate its conclusion... with Soul!

 

 Anthony Vito Scuso, “Dancing Tony,”bids farewell to the One & Nines, and another successful summer season of Groove on Grove. He is a local promoter and event organizer who helms the weekly Groove on Grove shows. As community art/music events go, Groove on Grove is consistent – they are always fun, safe, family-friendly yet multi-generational and multi-ethnic. The shows are thoughtfully presented..Tony is the MC at nearly all the shows. 

 

 

The One & Nines opening up the 2012 Groove Grove in April. The band, favorites of Dislocations, bookended the Jersey City Spring>Summer outdoor concert series.

 

Direct TV Dirigible

Blimps are back. I’m not sure if Good Year has become Good Rich or if all the Blimpies are now Subways but there it was floating like an apparition in the sky above the most exciting city in the world advertising what all residents need – more TV channels to watch. The Zeppelin heads out to sea, probably for a whirl around the state liberty. Low in the sky, floating, more aesthetically pleasing than a helicopter or seaplane, don’t see dirigibles too often anymore.

Jamaica Calling

Not the one with palm trees, the one at the last stop of the E-train. Jamaica Queens. Pay phones two by two – leave that cell at home!

I had to go there for a work thing. Jamiaca is deep into Queens, far from Shea, and was pretty groovy but what struck me were the pay phones. They were still there. Clusters of them, restaurants that served pizza and fried chicken. And pay phones, no waiting.

Guy’s Laundromat. I dug their logo, humanizing the Maytag. Open mouth smile.  Open 24 hours. Makes you want to wash your underwear at 3:00 Am just do so; see what it is like, for the experience. I'll give you a call during a cycle. Then you can fold at dawn.

 

 

 

Nearby Guy’s was this make-shift memorial in front of Jackson Hewitt, between a 99 cents store and a bodega/deli, votive candles amassed. No pay phone in this shot, but there’s a poignancy I felt worth it to note: an apparent tragedy is the only explanation for the visible compassion. Is there any more human gesture of compassionate thoughtfulness than a candle?

 

 What a bright and clean pay phone. I love the suddenness of the phone off the hook. They can trace pay phones too – the calls are coming from inside the kiosk, get out of the kiosk.

 

 

 

 

Wedding Horse

 

Walking down to the pier at Exchange to contemplate the river and on the way back I see what looks like a woman dressing a horse. Isn’t clothes horse a euphemism for somebody who buys a lot of clothes. Well, this equine was no nag but a stag named Daniel and he was being outfitted in traditional Indian wedding garb because he was going to be part of a wedding. Hooray for Bollywood!

 

 

The wedding – more than 300 guests they said – was being held at the Hyatt and the horse is part of the ceremony. The owners of the horse have their own company – K.V. Carriage – which provides horses and horse drawn carriages for special occasions like, well like, weddings. Sure it’s ostentatious but why not flaunt it? Apparently the groom rides the horse as part of the nuptials. I didn’t attend the wedding and you can do your own googling to find out more about traditional Indian weddings. The horse handlers also had to get into their own special, matching silk grab, which included a decorative umbrella.

I became fascinated by the garments on the horses. There were layers and sections, blankets on blankets and blinders and a bridle, ankle wraps and even what can only be described as ear gloves, which were slipped over the ears. The steed had lost its dignity long ago but hey, being draped in colorful textiles sure beats the glue factory.

 

 

 

 

The company provides services for other weddings – a horse drawn carriage has become popular apparently and the owner said he had a couple renew their vows wearing civil war era garb – but the traditional Indian weddings have really taken off. Daniel appears in 50 – 60 Indian weddings a year. They make all the garments themselves, there are several patterns, not just the gold and red used here. A lot of research goes into making sure the details are accurate, even the fabric used is the authentic silk (it looked like silk but maybe it was satin). The final look, especially after the handlers were in their costumes, was stunning.

A small crowd of onlookers watch the wedding horse get dressed. Somebody shouted mazel tov as the silken horse and his owners walked into the Hyatt.

 

 

 

Kirby Closing

 

 

 

 

 

Norm Kirby has had other solo exhibits before, but this was his first closing party. “I sold a lot of the art at this show, so having a closing seemed like a good idea,” he said. More than a dozen well wishers, fellow artists, friends and curiosity seekers came to bid farewell to this rare exhibition of one of Jersey City’s rising visual talents.

A some time street artist – he takes credit for the BinnyOwl, although there are some other Dislocations street art sightings that he was probably responsible for – and even a minimalist/muralist – Norm is a distinctive illustrator, and this exhibit showcased his range of mediums – ink, pencils, stencils and wire as well as his very clever range of subject manner  – self portraits, nudes, domestic scenes, city-scapes, interiors, office supplies and even a rock band.

 

 

Yes, the list of mediums, you read correctly.

 

 He works in wire.

Thermostat wire to be precise.

According to Norm, he was puttering around his grandparent’s house and found some wire in the garage and after forming it into one of his sketches an idea was born. A visit to a hardware store led to the discovery that thermostat wire holds a shape and comes in a better color selection. The “wire drawings” start as sketches, mainly from life form drawing classes, then he “traces”the sketch with the wire. The wire sketches – technically, sculptures – that were framed utilized small pins that affix the wire to foam board, the framing actually creates a shadow effect as well as a hint of movement.

 

 

 

The work amuses.A humanism that is both optimistic and romantic seems evident yet there is also a realism – his bodies are not idealized forms; imperfections, such as bits of flab or lack of musculature, are included – a compassionate realism that enhances the work’s intrinsic warmth. The work is funny and touching, you can’t help but smile when you see it. Even the nod to satire – a silk-screened –actually it’s a repetitive series of stencils – replica of Andy Warhol famous, multi-toned self portraits, with Norm’s bewildered visage replacing the more recognizable celebrity – has a palitable melancholy.

Equally notable as the resulting experience of the art is how little is used to achieve the desired impact. His illustrations are minimalist – sparse and squiggly lines -- and while often funny, the work can genuinely be moving, conveying a depth of emotion as well as depth of space. Rarely does so little invoke so much.

Which brings me back to his range. While the simplicity seems an obvious strategy in a picture of a nude couple in a sexual embrace with aggressive undertones (notice the fingers clutching a throat), it’s a more counter-intuitive accomplishment in a two color sketch of the (new) Yankee Stadium. All the field of dreams clichés come to mind:the roar of the crowd, the smell the hot dogs, the verdant vastness of the outfield, the angular gleam of the Manhattan skyline visible above the Technicolor scoreboard and upper rows. No one can dispute that the drawing is a complete and satisfying depiction of everything that is baseball, summer and the Bronx stadium. Then you realize how few lines are used – which makes you further realize how each line is deliberate and immensely purposeful – you can’t help but marvel at the artistry.

The two week show was hosted by Made with Love, the artisan bakery and café, on Jersey Avenue (early blog here). Celeste Governanti, proprietor of Made with Love, contacted Norm after seeing some pieces in a group show. They had never met until he came to hang the art on the brick walls of her establishment, which indicates that her interest was due to the art itself and not an outgrowth of J.C. art scene networking.

Art Galleries have been popping up in cafes, bars and warehouses for a while now; it’s a commonplace occurrence in many urban areas and now is tightly woven into the texture of Jersey City life. But most of our repurposed galleries, while well intentioned, are badly lit.They’re either so dark that flashlights should be distributed so the art can be adequately viewed or the lighting is so bright and harsh that the art is awash in glare. Made With Love’s lighting system was soft and dreamy, the perfect complement to Norm Kirby’s witty warmth.