Pix of Current Solo(s) Art Shows, Part 2

Long post, about 1,500 words, with 17 fotos.

Last Tuesday I showed pix of the main exhibition at Solo(s) Project House, Shoshanna Weinberger's "What Makes My Hottentot So Hot". Today, I'll show pix of the other three shows.

Hannah Craft's installation in the lobby near the main gallery of Solo(s) Project House (hereinafter, "Solo(s)" or "SPH") is not very large, but is pleasingly "airy-fairy" and feathery.

The third show is paintings by Christine Wagner of the Guerilla Galleries ("GuGa"), in the lobby just inside the building entrance and in the hallway back toward the main gallery.

Those paintings are similar to others of hers that were shown at One Gallery in August 2010. I thought I spotted her in the crowd at the reception, but the young woman I saw wasn't wearing glasses, so I wasn't sure it was Christine, in that I have always seen her with glasses.
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GuGa has produced several shows at One Gallery, in the old City Without Walls space on the ground floor of One Gateway Center, but I don't know if they are still in charge of that space. I have not been able to attend most of those shows because of the lack of street parking in that area during the daytime. I could get there by bus, but I need to accomplish so much on the days I go out of the house that I can't leave the car at home.

New Solo(s) Exhibition Space. I hadn't realized until the opening reception for these four shows that Solo(s) had opened another part of the 972 Broad Street building, this time a wonderful, two-story restaurant and art gallery called Stage Eatery, Gallery + Venue. The hours are shown as "Mon – Friday 11am – 4pm, [and] by appointment".

I spoke with Rebecca Jampol, principal of Solo(s), and joked that she seems to be taking over more and more of 972 as time goes by, such that eventually the entire building will be "Rebecca House". She smiled slitely but said that she is actually going to downsize somewhat. Not too much, I hope. It would be good if Newark had its own female real-estate mogul, a sort of nice Leona Helmsley.

The gent at the security desk just inside the lobby to 972 had confirmed to me that the door to Stage, which I had never before seen open, opened onto part of the evening's art reception. It turned out to be the site of the "Why Are You Yelling at Me![?]" exhibit.

This fuzzy foto presents a view of the one artwork in the exhibition in which people seem actually to be yelling at each other. Alas, my camera could not focus on this foto high on the wall. But you 'get the picture', so to speak.

The description of that show from Solo(s) is surprisingly brief, and refreshingly devoid of the "art-ese" I see too often in descriptions of impending art exhibitions.

Aggressive art confronting the viewer in scale, color and subject matter. Art that is "yelling" so to speak, open-mouthed and without shame. Each work dares you to pass by without taking a moment.

Solo(s) should emulate its own announcement for this show in its descriptions of other shows. And every other arts organization in Newark should strive to achieve no-nonsense descriptions like this for their exhibits. Who knows? It might spark a trend across the art world, equivalent to the "plain language" movement in the legal profession.

I asked, 'Is the Stage a restaurant in the daytime?', and Rebecca confirmed that. She told me the artist of some works I asked about, but I'm not sure I remember one of them, the creator of the mural on the wall behind the low actual stage. I think she said David Oquendo, whom I met at a student art show at the Robeson Galleries in May 2009. I show some pix of his work in that show, in my post of May 4, 2009.

These grotesque, colorful caricatures are by Brian O'Boyle. Should I say "striking" rather than "grotesque". Naah. I don't think O'Boyle intended to create pretty pictures.

I do remember Rebecca saying that this combination painting and video is by Stan Sudol (the other principal of Guerilla Galleries). There was a third member of GuGa a couple of years ago, but GuGa now seems a two-person entity. Sudol was helping tend bar at the reception in the main gallery.

In searching the Internet for information about Stage, I found that it apparently opened last October, with a show produced by GuGa, "HappyFeet and the Angry Inch".

I found, as well, another event, this one in the evening, that was held at the Stage at least once.

The ARTery Open Stage (OpenFloor/OpenMic) is an open stage for artists (graphic designers, fashion designers, culinary artists, deejays, photographers, film makers, comedians, painters, actresses, poets, writers, musicians, hairstylists & etc of all kinds to share, network and advertise their brand, business & etc with the audience and other entrepreneurial guests. You can bring your portfolios, cds, books, business cards, artwork, flyers, models, mannequins or any promotional tools. This is your opportunity 2 advertise you and your art.. I named it artery for the mere fact of the connection an artery has to da heart...Your talents is a heartfelt importance..
The first gathering is Wednesday November 16, 2011
Hosted and created by yours truly Breya Knight
At "Stage" a new Eatery & Art Gallery located dwntwn Newark, 972 Broad Street, Newark, NJ... [original punctuation, not a deletion]
Doors open @ 7:30pm Showcase starts @ 8..[.] $8 per person and free tour of the gallery..[.]
Special Thankz 2 Rebecca Jampol for the opportunity.

Fabric artwork made from 14 pairs of underwear.

I don't know if that event has continued or was a one-time thing — or, as we hear all too often nowadays, the Briticism "a one-off". I am disgusted with the Briticization of the United States of late. "Gone missing" for "disappeared"! British accents on dozens of commercials for dozens of products by dozens of American corporations! The San Francisco corporation Victoria's Secret speaking in British accents; the Government Employees Insurance Company, GEICO, having a gecko mascot that speaks with an odious, lower-class British accent; and on and on.

Two-sided screen (out-side) by stairway to upper floor.

It's as tho these "Americans" want to be taken back into the British Empire. Newark, however, is an old patriot town in which Thomas Paine started to draft The Crisis. It's a good place for me, who has an ancestor who was a private in the colonial army. But I am disgusted with an awful lot of my present-day compatriots and their fawning admiration for even the lowest-class British accent.

In-side of art screen.

SPH is located at 972 Broad St. in the arts district of downtown Newark, NJ. It is free and open to the public, Wednesday-Friday from 12-6pm.

Solo(s) Project House
972 Broad St.
Newark, NJ 07102
www.solosprojecthouse.com
info@solosprojecthouse.com