CURRENT EXHIBIT
Hopeful
Charlie Hewitt says, “Jersey City has been good to me and my family. I hope that this piece lighting up a small part of the City will be a beacon of light reflected in a commitment to our better natures.”
Hopeful’s Artist, Charlie Hewitt
Please walk by the NOW Project Space windows at 411 Monmouth St in Downtown Jersey City 24/7 for an instagramable experience with one of the nationally installed public marque conceptual and colorful word art sculptures.
A prolific printmaker, painter and sculptor, Charlie Hewitt lives and works in Portland, Maine. Stylistically rooted in expressionism and surrealism, Hewitt’s art is both playful and serious, a quality he shares with artists Alexander Calder, Joan Miro, Paul Klee and his mentor Philip Guston. Hewitt’s most important work to date is the Urban Rattle sculpture on the High Line Park in Chelsea, New York. Urban Rattle, located in the courtyard in the back of Ten23, is the only permanent artwork installed along the High Line Park.
Charlie Hewitt has since installed large public Urban Rattle sculptures in Lewiston and Portland, Maine. His imagery is largely influenced by the mill-working communities he grew up around. The energy and culture of these communities and the values of church, family and work have infused his artwork and are the foundation of his imagery and symbols. Hewitt’s work is represented in numerous collections, including those of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY; Whitney Museum of American Art, NY; New York Public Library, NY; Brooklyn Museum, NY; Library of Congress, Washington, DC; and the Portland Museum of Art, ME.
This “Hopeful” piece came first from the desire to use words and lights in a public art piece. It was originally installed on a roof in Portland Maine …that piece was 24 feet long since then at least 15 variations… ranging from 5 feet signs like this one here … to 30 feet long have been installed in public locations from Maine to Maryland. United Way of Maine has commissioned 3 new pieces to be installed in major cities in Maine and they are using the Hopeful image as part of their fundraising campaign this coming year. I am so pleased to be able to bring this message of Hope and Inspiration to Jersey City … a City that has done so much to transform itself into a vital and exciting creative community. Jersey City has been good to me and my family … I hope that this piece lighting up a small part of the City will be a beacon of light reflected in a commitment to our better natures. – Charlie Hewitt
PAST PROJECTS
Previous Exhibits
Here And Now’s Artist, Kati Vilim
Kati Vilim solo sight specific public piece, “Here and Now” can be viewed 24/7: “We are living in very special times of the human history. Each of us are experiencing life while sharing the same time and space on our planet. The way we are creating our reality as an internal experience is based on how we are dealing with space and time in its physicality and as a cultural experience.
Do we feel connected? How are we doing? How do we really feel?
Creating an internal dialogue between the art piece and the public, helps contemplation while looking at the colorful lights in the windows in the darkness of the night.
When the artwork helps to create an internal dialogue between the art piece and the public – Here and Now – magic can happen!”
This piece emphasizes the importance of positive social agreements as an alternative to the current political and social hostilities that surround us every day in America. The ink paintings depict diverse races of people pulling each other up. Each grouping is laser cut with text from international covenants for Human Rights actualized by the United Nations – www.ohchr.org
View more of her works on DianaSchmertz.com
Declarations on Human Rights, laser cut ink paintings on paper, 36 panels, 29 x 16 inches each ©2019
Future Fruit, mixed media, dimensions variable. 2019
DIANA SCHMERTZ
Declarations on Human Rights
FUTURE FRUIT is what’s to come, shiny, new, and sparkling. It is the poison we will happily eat, stand in line waiting for, and fight over the scraps. It is that which we covet, and that which we will never attain. It is the fruit of tomorrow.
The installation was borne of a desire to leave behind heavy content and meaning, to make something purely beautiful and mesmerizing. The work was inspired by a small handful of fictional stories, extracted from asides and slight mentions. The two framing sources are from Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut Jr and Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.
View more of her works on ashaganpat.com
Future Fruit, mixed media, dimensions variable. 2019
ASHA GANPAT
Future Fruit
FUTURE FRUIT is what’s to come, shiny, new, and sparkling. It is the poison we will happily eat, stand in line waiting for, and fight over the scraps. It is that which we covet, and that which we will never attain. It is the fruit of tomorrow.
The installation was borne of a desire to leave behind heavy content and meaning, to make something purely beautiful and mesmerizing. The work was inspired by a small handful of fictional stories, extracted from asides and slight mentions. The two framing sources are from Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut Jr and Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.
View more of her works on ashaganpat.com