Monday Muse: The Aljira Fine Art Auction 2008

By Kimberly Baldwin

Aljira, the premier Center for Contemporary Art in Newark, is set to host its hugely popular annual Fine Art Auction on Thursday, April 3 at 5:30 p.m. in its Newark galleries.

This year’s auction will feature 120 works, including those by artists from New Jersey and the New York metropolitan area, such as Willie Cole, Cindy Sherman, James Siena, and Catherine Opie.

As in previous years, the live portion will be under the rousing gavel of Harmer Johnson of the popular PBS series Antiques Roadshow. Master of Ceremonies will be Jeffrey Norman, Vice President, Public Affairs at Newark’s own New Jersey Performing Art Center.

The auction will take place via online, silent, and live platforms. The online auction will feature 40 works available exclusively through aljira.org. Additionally, all of the works featured in the live and silent portions of the auction will be on view and available for advance bids online.

On the evening of Thursday, April 3, the silent auction will begin at 5:30 p.m., 591 Broad Street in downtown Newark. The live auction will begin at 7 p.m. sharp. Tickets are $75, and can be purchased by calling Aljira at 973.622.1600 or e-mailing info@aljira.org.

All proceeds from the auction support Aljira’s exhibitions and public programs.

The Monday Muse: Film Shorts to Benefit Hunterdon Museum of Art

By Kimberly Baldwin

Nicole Cattell is a 2003 Guggenheim Fellow, a 2004 NYFA Fellow, and an award-winning documentary producer/director. Named by Filmmaker Magazine as one of the "25 New Faces in Independent Film," she will be appearing at the Hunterdon Museum of Art for an evening of documentary shorts to benefit the museum's education programs and exhibitions.

Two of her films will be screened: Come Unto Me, a portrait of one artist who created a massive outdoor artscape in the heart of Detroit's blighted East Side, which received an Emmy and three Best Documentary awards at Sundance, and Revolucion: Five Visions. This film reframes the Cuban revolution through the art of photography, focusing on the personal stories of five Cuban photographers whose lives and work span nearly five decades of revolution in Cuba.

VIP reservation is $50 per person and includes a pre-screening reception with Ms. Cattell at 6 p.m., the film screenings at 7:30 p.m., and then a Q & A session with the documentarian. Call the museum at 908.735.8415 ext. 10 to RSVP, preferably by March 21.

The Monday Muse: Now is Then: Snapshots from the Maresca Collection

By Kimberly Baldwin

From now through May 11, 2008, view vintage images from America's golden age of snapshot photography at the Newark Museum. From early portraits to contemporary voyeurism, the 150 works in this exciting exhibition chart the evolution of snapshot art and form an extraordinary document of American life in the first half of the 20th century.

After viewing the exhibition, take notice of the flat-screen monitors on the museum's walls -- these are digital snapshots submitted by the public. Here you'll find present-day documents of our lives, as well as evidence that, while photographic technology changes continually, our needs for snapshots remains constant. Submit your own photograph, or view the current submissions at flickr.

The Newark Museum is located at 49 Washington Street, Newark, 973.596.6550. Suggested admission is $9 adults, $6 children, students with valid id, and seniors. Winter-spring gallery hours are Wednesday through Friday, noon to 5 p.m., and weekends 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Image above: Untitled (Dancing Couple), 1945 – 49, gelatin silver print, Gift of Frank Maresca, 2002

The Monday Muse: Art Around the State

By Kimberly Baldwin

From classic to contemporary, New Jersey's art scene is as vibrant as ever. Here is a sampling of current and upcoming exhibitions worth checking out.

Proudly We Serve: Our African American Military Experience, From the Civil War Forward, 1/19-4/6
An exhibit that highlights the contributions of African-Americans in photographs and artifacts -- from military uniforms and American flags to photo albums and written accounts. $2 or free with any Physick Estate Tour. Call for gallery hours.
Mid-Atlantic Center For the Arts, Cape May, 609.884.5404, capemaymac.org

The Nature of W. Carl Burger, 2/1-5/9
Master of mixed media W. Carl Burger sticks to the basics and says, "You should never tire of some of the ordinary things, such as nature." His current exhibit features large scale paintings of Southern New Jersey. Admission $4, Seniors and Students with ID $3, Members and Children under 6 free. Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Sunday, 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.
The Noyes Museum of Art, Oceanville, 609.652.8848, noyesmuseum.org

An Educated Eye, 2/23-6/15
The Princeton University Art Museum celebrates its 125th anniversary with an exhibition featuring many of its important works selected from among the museum's distinguished holdings. Free. Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, 609.258.3788, princetonartmuseum.org

Gretchen Ney Laugier: A Retrospective, 3/1-31
Taking cues from her father, the modernist painter of the abstract, Lloyd "Bill" Raymond Ney (1893-1965), Gretchen Ney Laugier has avoided the pressures associated with being an occupational artist by simply choosing to not make it her profession. Here, her vibrant paintings are on display -- many for the first time. Free. Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Riverrun Gallery, Lambertville, 609.397.3349

Kristin Lerner/Jules Shaeffer, 3/1-4/13
The contemporary figurative paintings of Kristin Lerner are paired with the surrealistic sculptures of Jules Schaeffer. Free. Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Sunday, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Ellarslie Mansion at the Trenton City Museum, Trenton, 609.989.3632, ellarslie.org

Young at Art, 3/3-30
Perkins Center's Young at Art Annual Exhibition, one of the center's most popular exhibitions, gives young artists in grades K through 8 the chance to exhibit their work in a professional setting. Free. Thursday and Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Perkins Center for the Arts, Moorestown, 856.235.6488, perkinscenter.org

An Italian Sense of Place II, 3/4-4/5
When shown together, the pivotal Italian color photography of Luigi Ghirri, painter Franco Guerzoni's collaborative photo-sculptural collage meditations, and the delicately apposite photo-projections of American Nancy Goldring create a rich understanding of the idea of Italian Landscape from within and without Italy and the Italian sensibility. Free. Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 12:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
George Segal Gallery at Montclair State University, Montclair, 973.655.3382, montclair.edu/Arts/aec/art_galleries.html

Dreams, Fantasies and Wondrous Curiosities, 3/5-4/26
This exhibition, curated from the Rutgers-Camden Collection of Art, explores the artistic imagination in a selection of works that present elaborate visions, quixotic states of being, mysterious encounters, fantastical landscapes, among others – sharing in this pervasive urge to present an alternative to the natural world. Free. Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Rutgers-Camden Center for the Arts, Stedman Gallery, Camden, 856.225.2700, rutgerscamdenarts.org

The Monday Muse: Frida Kahlo at the Philadelphia Museum of Art

By Kimberly Baldwin

Organized in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the artist's birth, Frida Kahlo is the first major Kahlo exhibition in the United States in nearly fifteen years. This exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art presents over 40 of the artist's most important self-portraits, still lifes, and portraits from the beginning of her career in 1926 until her death in 1954.

Rendered in vivid colors and realistic detail, Kahlo's jewel-like paintings are filled with complex symbolism, often relating to specific incidents in her life. In her iconic self-portraits the artist continually reinvented herself. Paintings like The Two Kahlos (1939, shown above) demonstrate her penchant for self-examination, and works like Henry Ford Hospital (1932) and The Broken Column (1944) express her struggles with illness throughout her life.

The exhibition opens February 20 and runs through May 18, 2008. Tickets for this exhibit are issued for a specific date and time, and include an audio tour. Buy online anytime or by phone 215.235.7469, 7 days a week, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m

Philadelphia Museum of Art
26th St. and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway
Philadelphia, PA
215.763.8100
www.philamuseum.org

The Monday Muse: (AUCTION) RED

By Kimberly Baldwin

An art auction to love -- about love -- takes place this Valentine's Day at Sotheby's. Hosted by (RED) co-founder Bono and artist Damien Hirst, the auction will feature donated works from more than 60 contemporary artists, including Hirst, Jasper Johns, Jeff Koons, Matthew Barney, Cecily Brown, Takashi Murakami, and Banksy (who thoughtfully defaced a Hirst piece just for this special sale).

Every penny of the estimated $21 million raised will go directly to The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. Damien Hirst said to the Independent newspaper, "Money is a key and what we raise from this auction will make a huge difference for a lot of people. For a relatively small amount of effort on each artist's part we can actually save many lives. It's great to be able to give something back and make a difference." I'd personally love to see auction sales go through the roof.

Wondering what's behind the parentheses or brackets used by (RED)? It's there to denote an embrace.

Pre-sale exhibition (through Feb. 13):
Gagosian Gallery
522 W. 21st St.
New York, NY
212.741.1717
gagosian.com

(Auction) RED (Feb. 14, 7 p.m.):
Sotheby's
1334 York Avenue
New York, NY
212.606.7414
sothebys.com

The Monday Muse: Paul Stanley

By Kimberly Baldwin

Who knew that KISS front man Paul Stanley had such a passion for painting? Certainly not me! Turns out "The Starchild" made his debut as a painter in 2005 and continues to create emotionally charged compositions, citing Kandinsky, Mondrian, Klee, and Rothko as influences. And collectors are gobbling his works up; Stanley's art sales exceeded $2 million for 2007.

Stanley will present his work at two special appearances at the Wentworth Galleries in Hackensack on Friday, February 8 and Short Hills on Saturday, February 9. Both events are free and open to the public, but require an RSVP.

Friday, February 8, 6 to 9 p.m.
Wentworth Gallery – Riverside Square Mall
171 Riverside Square
Hackensack
RSVP: 201.488.7661

Saturday February 9, 4 to 7 p.m.
Wentworth Gallery – Short Hills Mall
1200 Morris Turnpike
Short Hills
RSVP: 973.564.9776

The Monday Muse: Robert Mahon

By Kimberly Baldwin

Photographic artist Robert Mahon has spent nearly three decades incorporating chance into the process of creating conceptual multi-image portraits. When using even a single element of chance in or out of the darkroom -- from determining which lens is used, the shutter speed, or the printing techniques -- an apparently ordinary image is rendered into something unforseen. Mahon says, "I keep in mind Robert Frost's remarks about making poetry ... 'If there's no surprise for the writer, then there's no surprise for the reader.'"

Mahon's latest work -- Merce Cunningham at 88 -- combines photos of Merce Cunningham, moonflowers, and text fragments from the writings of John Cage, who was Cunningham's life partner and Musical Director of the Cunningham Dance Company for over 50 years until his death in 1992.

Mahon photographed Cunningham, who is often referred to as America's greatest living dancer and choreographer, in 2006 after a long morning of teaching. Shown in a wheelchair, Cunningham appears serious and introspective, and still very much a force of nature.

While watching Cunningham's dancers, Mahon was reminded of moonflowers he had photographed in his garden the previous year. "After a night of being in full bloom, the delicate white flower slowly contorts and folds in on itself under the morning light. The movement stops when the moonflower finally curls into a taut irregular sphere and falls from the vine." Paired with Cunningham, the association of movement is exquisitely conveyed.

Merce Cunningham at 88, photocollages by Robert Mahon, are on view in the gallery at Holsome Teas, 27 Witherspoon St., Princeton, through Feb. 29. Gallery hours are Monday through Saturday, 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sunday, noon to 6 p.m.

Monday Muse: Viva Art!

By Kimberly Baldwin

Visual Arts Center of New Jersey kicks off Viva Art!, the Art Center's 75th Anniversary Gala on Wednesday, January 23 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Trustees, members, staff, and volunteers will come together for the kick off party. Viva Art! will take place on April 4 at the Park Avenue Club in Florham Park, and will honor and celebrate those who have played a significant role in the development of the Art Center, as well as raise funds to support their community outreach programs.

The Art Center is located at 68 Elm Street in Summit and on the Web at njcva.org.

The Monday Muse: The Guinness Collection

By Kimberly Baldwin

A clown that loses its head—and gets it back. A ten-foot high mechanical one-man band. A fairground organ that booms out ragtime tunes. A box that teaches birds to sing. All these amazing, 19th century mechanical marvels—and more—are currently on view, many for the first time ever, at the Morris Museum as part of the Musical Machines & Living Dolls exhibition.

The exhibition features over 150 pieces from the world-renowned Murtogh D. Guinness collection of musical instruments and automata. Largely dating to the 19th century, these ingenious objects once brought animated, musical entertainment to private settings and public places. Now, through video and audio technology, hands-on activities and live demonstrations of select instruments, visitors can see and hear these beautiful and intriguing historic objects and experience for themselves a largely lost chapter in entertainment history.

Steven H. Miller, executive director of the museum, noted that "before there were CDs, iPods, records or DVDs, and well before film, radio and television, there was an amazing age of mechanical invention that brought entertainment to people around the world. The Morris Museum is proud to present the story of this extraordinary epoch.”

The Morris Museum, located at 6 Normandy Heights Road (at the corner of Columbia Turnpike) in Morristown, is open Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; and Sunday, 1 to 5 p.m. Admission to the museum is $8 for adults and $6 for children, students and senior citizens. Admission is always free for museum members and is free to the public every Thursday between 5 and 8 p.m. For more information, call 973.971.3700, or visit morrismuseum.org.

About the image above: It’s all about illusion! This automaton performs a trick that results in its head disappearing—and then magically reappearing—on a table (complete with blinking eyes). Then, with a gentle wave of a feather fan, the head is back where it belongs! All is done to music, as this automaton contains a two-tune, cylinder musical movement.

The Monday Muse: Explore Homer's Epic

By Kimberly Baldwin

The Princeton Artists Alliance presents visual interpretations of Homer's Odyssey as contemporary works of art beginning January 11 and continuing through April 13, 2008 at the Noyes Museum of Art in Oceanville. Contemporary views of Poseidon's wrath, Penelope's tears, and Odysseus' escape from the Cyclops are among the struggles captured in this exhibition. Princeton artist Marie Sturken's handmade paper piece Outwitting the One-Eyed Giant (shown above) was inspired after the artist read Book 9: Lines 477-487, which talks about escaping from the sleeping Cyclops.

Two free lectures will be offered at the museum by The Interdisciplinary Center for Hellenic Studies at the Richard Stockton College of NJ in conjunction with the exhibit. On February 1 Professor Kate Ogden will present "The Continuing Classical Influence in Western Art" from noon to 1 p.m. and on March 23 Professor Rob Nichols will discuss "How Greek is Grecco-Buddhist Art?" from noon to 1 p.m.

Meet the artists at the opening reception on Friday, January 18 from 5 to 8 p.m.

Galleries are open 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. Admission fees are $4 for adults and $3 for seniors and students. Call 609.652.8848 or visit noyesmuseum.org for more.

The Monday Muse: Last Call for these NYC Exhibits

By Kimberly Baldwin

Considering our proximity to the art capital of the world (ahem, that would be New York City), I thought it would be fitting to share the details of some important current exhibitions that will soon be coming to a close.

Kinz, Tillou & Feigen, 529 W. 20th St., 212.929.0500
Jeremy Blake: A Memorial Exhibition, through Jan. 5
Jeremy Blake was an artist of recognizable accomplishment and promise. He was considered influential and iconoclastic. Sadly, Blake committed suicide one week after his beloved companion of 12 years, Theresa Duncan, committed suicide--the reasons for which remain open only to conjecture. His sixth solo show at Kinz, Tillou & Feigen is a memorial show and features a selection of wall works, a retrospective of daily screenings of his 21 short animated films, and documentation from his unfinished last film.

Metropolitan Museum, 5th Ave. at 82nd St., 212.535.7710
The Age of Rembrandt, through Jan. 6
The Met is home to the finest collection of Dutch art outside of Europe, and all 288 of these masterpieces are displayed together for the first time in this exhibition. On view is an array of circa-seventeenth century works--landscapes, genre pictures, still lifes, marine views, portraiture, and historical and biblical paintings--by celebrated Dutch masters such as Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Hals. The works are arranged by their acquisition date and reflect the taste for Dutch art in America.

Museum of Modern Art, 11 W. 53rd St., 212.708.9400
Georges Seurat: The Drawings, through Jan. 7
Once described as "the most beautiful painter's drawings in existence," Georges Seurat's mysterious and luminous works on paper played a crucial role in his short, vibrant career. This comprehensive exhibition, the first in almost twenty-five years to focus exclusively on his drawings, presents over 135 works, primarily conte drawings, oil sketches, and paintings. While Seurat is best known as the inventor of pointillism, this exhibition clearly demonstrates his achievement as a draftsman and the significance of his working methods and themes for twentieth-century art.

PaceWildenstein, 545 W. 22nd St., 212.989.4258
Joel Shapiro: New Sculpture, through Jan. 19
Since his first one-person exhibition in 1970, Joel Shapiro's work has been the subject of over 100 solo exhibitions and retrospectives. Here, he's displaying nine new works: four painted wood sculptures and five bronzes. Shapiro's assemblages are beautiful and always alter the viewers perceptions of volume, space, and movement.

The Monday Muse: It's Winter Break. Now what?!

By Kimberly Baldwin

Looking for some fun yet educational ways to occupy the kids this winter break? A trip to one of the state's great art spaces might just be the answer.

The Newark Museum is hosting "Holiday Fun Week" from Wednesday, December 26 through Sunday, December 30, from 1 to 4 p.m. Besides offering daily holiday-themed tours, the week will be filled with music, dance, theater, art activities, and scientific explorations. The planetarium even gets into the spirit with daily laser holiday shows, featuring kid-approved gems from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman to White Christmas and Winter Wonderland.

Gather the children and head to the Morris Museum December 27 through 29 for a variety of fun and educational activities, including interactive workshops, like making unity dolls, learning the art of dance, and creating colorful New Year's Eve party hats. Entertaining theater performances will also be offered daily, such as the top kid-pick Rick Adam's Holiday Parade.

Treat bigger kids to Reflecting Culture: The Evolution of Comic Book Superheroes at the Montclair Art Museum, up through January 13. The museum is closed Christmas day, but otherwise open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

A Sense of Place: Children's Book Illustrations by Catherine Stock are on view at the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum in New Brunswick through January 28. The lyrical watercolors will fascinate children and adults alike, and hands-on activities are also available for visitors in the gallery.

The Monday Muse: Kayt Hester Lent

By Kimberly Baldwin

Jersey City's "it" girl has had quite a year. Her work was featured in many prominent city places, such as the Hudson County Courthouse and the 58 Gallery, and she was even called in to create a special masking tape installation for the Jersey City Museum's front windows.

Kayt Hester Lent's latest works are images of Jackie Kennedy made from hand-torn masking tape. Why Jackie O.? Lent says she, "chose Mrs. Kennedy because she was such a beautiful woman who lived an incredible life." Lent is right, and her gorgeous masking tape recreations tell a magnificent life story in big bold pictures.

See Lent's work alongside Hiroshi Kumagai, another JC mainstay, in Sticky Fingers, an exhibit at the Grassroots Arts Facility, 43 Christopher Columbus Drive, 3rd Floor, Jersey City. The show runs through January 19, 2008.

The Monday Muse: Princeton University Art Museum's Beloved Daughters: Photograhs by Fazal Sheikh

By Kimberly Baldwin

Between now and January 6, 2008 you absolutely must make time to visit the Princeton University Art Museum to see Beloved Daughters: Photographs by Fazal Sheikh. The exhibit is a combination of two of the artist-activist's 2005 projects: photographs and testimonials of dispossessed widows in the northern Indian holy city of Vrindavan that appeared in his fifth book, Moksha (Heaven) and Ladli (Beloved Daughter), a funded project that explored the challenges faced by girls and young women in a fast-changing yet tradition-bound society.

On the surface, you'll find 150 black and white aesthetically beautiful and haunting images. Each photograph is expertly composed and captures the essence of each subject. As you read the accompanying text and learn the stories behind the faces – of the abandonment, forced prostitution, domestic slavery, and murder – you are forced to reconsider your initial reaction to the works. The stories are deeply moving and may come as a shock to many. The exhibit will leave you much more aware and questioning India's retrogressive treatment of women in a time when their economic profile is becoming more contemporary.

The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, 1 to 5 p.m. Find more exhibits and art events here.