I'm reminded of this often, but never more than when I walked into a gallery show a few weeks ago at the Cast Iron Lofts. Swati Rastogi, a lovely artist who I have written about in these pages before, had invited me to the Jersey City Art & Studio Tour - also known as JCAST. She had her work in several locations, but my schedule was hectic and the weather was stormy, and so I made my way one afternoon to the location that was the easiest for me to get to, thinking I'd see a nice small show and then I'd be back on my way home again. It's always been my experience with buildings or companies that offer space to artists that, though they mean well and want to be generous, their idea of a good space for an art show is usually that area just off the lobby near where the mail room is. So imagine my surprise when I went to the front desk to ask where the gallery show was and I was directed back outside and around the corner to a 10,000 square foot space with cathedral height ceilings that is at least half a city block. And the icing on the cake is that the space, though cleared and cleaned for the gallery show, was left fairly raw with a look and feel that I have had a love affair with since I saw an invitation-only play that Andre Gregory produced on one of Manhattan's abandoned piers almost twenty years ago.
The day I went to the Gallery At The Cast Iron Lofts, I stayed much longer than I had planned. I met some of the artists who were there that day, and spoke for some time to John Fathom, the Art Director of the creative and collaborative artists' space 660 Studios who I'll be writing more about in the coming weeks, and as I walked around the space with the light streaming in, I felt like history was repeating itself in a wonderful way and I was breathing in that feeling of coming home again. I was so impressed by what I saw, and in the generosity of the building management in sharing that amazing space, that I asked who I should contact to find out more. I was given the contact information for the Mayor's office, and I started to do some research. This beautiful gallery show is only part of a much larger project, the Jersey City Mural Arts Program, or JMAP, which was started in 2013 by Mayor Steven M. Fulop, and is a project of Mayor Fulop, the Jersey City Municipal Council, the Department of Cultural Affairs, and the Department of Public Works, and is funded by a Clean Air Communities grant. I've written before in these pages about how much I admire the work that Mayor Steven Fulop does, and that was before I knew about the scope of this program. More than 85 works of art are in this show alone - my apologies to the artists that I can't list everyone here. For a complete list see www.thejcast.com, Facebook/OUTSIDE/in. The JMAP program has brought 86 public works of art created by local and international artists to areas all over the city. It takes a true visionary to think about adding public art in this way into communities, and to recognize the value and contributions of the art of local people as well. And the fact that a building of the size and breadth of the Cast Iron Lofts would be open to this vision is amazing. In addition to the gallery show I saw that day, a mural had been commissioned. The internationally renowned Brazilian street artist Eduardo Kobra was creating a 180 foot tall portrait of David Bowie on a wall of the building above the gallery space. I could continue on and write for days, but I want you to see these photographs. Though I am a writer and a story teller, I know that pictures can tell the story much better than I can.
OUTSIDE/in
At The Cast Iron Lofts
837 Jersey Avenue
Jersey City, New Jersey
John Fathom
Taking A Rare Moment Of Pause With His Installations
Taking A Rare Moment Of Pause With His Installations
Kobra
David Bowie
Mayor Steven M. Fulop Shares His Vision
Kobra Dedicates His Masterpiece
Post Dedication Public Celebration At Outside/in
DJ StadiumStatus
Artist Norman Kirby
Fashion Photographer River Clark
Artist Duda Penteado
Catering By Whealth
You Can Go Home Again
Before Chelsea became the artist gallery mecca it is today, I went to see the play that I mentioned above that Andre Gregory produced on one of the abandoned piers near 25th Street. Now that the High Line has become a destination spot, that area is bustling with nightlife every night of the week, but once upon a time it was rare to go past 8th Avenue unless you were someone like me who walks everywhere and is always up for an adventure. When I was invited to a gallery opening on 25th Street at an address that was near 10th Avenue, as I walked over block by block it was as if I was walking back in time in my memory. So many people, so many places, so many good times. I still see some of those old friends from time to time, a few are still around, but some have moved to other countries or other places and our lives have all changed so much that those good old days sometimes seem like a dream. So happy was I to walk into the ArtFall show at HL25 and be whisked past the guards by one of the artists who knew the very nice person I'd met on my way into the building. I was on the invite list, but the place was so packed and the guards so busy it would have taken a while to get in if I hadn't had the escort I did. The artist who greeted us, Eddy Bogaert, was standing in front of his gorgeous work, and graciously took the time to tell me about it. They are very personal pieces that speak of his own life's journey and vision, through the eyes of the child he once was. As with so many of us, art saved his life, and seeing his beautiful work added life to my own.
The room was filled with art and design and fashion - all the things I have always been putting together and combining and curating. There they were all together under one roof, happily celebrating together in joyful abundance. My apologies again to the artists and designers for not listing all of their names here - for a complete list of names see Facebook Events Artfall. The visionaries behind this project are patrons The Saints NYC, Blue Pampa, Heidi Gardner, Grey Space Art and Suforia. I was so excited to see what they were doing and that they were doing it so well.
ArtFall
At HL 25
555 West 25th Street, NYC
Artist Eddy Bogaert
Shares His Fight To Stay Alive Through Art
A Special Thanks To Shawn Kolodny
For The Invitation
A Few Of The Wonderful Pieces
Curated With Care
Jewelry And Fashion And Accessories
From Preeminent Designers And Visionaries
Blessings,
Jannie Susan
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