JSQ Art Crawl

 JSQ Art Crawl 2024

This year’s crawl was a massive success, especially for the rising artists. For the most part this would be just another event catering to the “established” artist, but thanks to Hudson County Community College and the Dineen Hull Gallery, students had the opportunity to share their work with the Jersey City Art Crawlers. The Student Showcase looked spectacular where some students framed and exhibited their work for the very first time. The work looked spectacular, some pieces easily rivaling a so called established artists.

Many of the guests seemed somewhat unapproachable to me and I felt kind of uncomfortable, which I usually don't. After the conclusion of the Anti-Pompidou protest next door, several of the protesters came to our show not to complain or protest but to see our artwork. I can't understand why people who enjoy gallery hopping and viewing exhibitions would be opposed to a new museum being opened right in the heart of Journal Square. This could also open opportunities for local artists to be highlighted in a major museum, right in their own community.

The first guest of the crawl was a lone middle aged man wearing a red and white, very generic plaid shirt and leather loafers, with a glaring homemade pin reading "pompi-don't" in black sharpie.  He looked very uptight, walking right past the student show into the main "shifting horizons" show. I decided not to talk to him.  More guests, and elderly couple viewed my Joker and Friends collage for all of 8 seconds, before the wife asked her husband, "Let me ask you, isn't this plagiarism? That's Frank Gorshin right there!" She wittingly points out a magazine cutout of Frank Gorshin as the Riddler in the 1966 Batman television series. Unsurprisingly, she did not recognize any of the figures from 1970 onward which I'm sure she would have also denounced as plagiarism. I had never thought about any legal ramifications behind this piece but the criticism certainly made my night.  After their critic, the couple approached the gallery attendant, Ellaf to complain, saying we knew little about our own artwork as well as the foundation artwork, claiming the gallery was wrongfully in possession of an Indigenous American Headdress. Meanwhile many spectators praised the student work, making this event an undeniable win.

I also had the opportunity to explore some of the other crawl locations, including beautiful shows by Daniel Guzman and team at DGA Studios and a solo show by Buttered Roll at Smush Gallery.  The diverse and unique art by the Jersey City artist is so inspiring to me.  It's events like these that I'll remember keep me going as an artist.