Twelve artists based in the DC-Philadelphia-New York region were selected to participate in "Promised Land," and were educated about the city's history and culture by local community leaders with the goal of placing Asbury Park into a broader historical context. They were then asked to create works "exploring current national issues as inspired by the past & present of Asbury Park, NJ." The result is a series of works in media ranging from photography, painting and film to video and performance art.
This sort of theme is nothing new for the beleaguered resort; artists, writers and musicians have drawn inspiration from Asbury Park's urban decay-meets seaside escapism vibe since its long, slow descent began over 40 years ago. Indeed, Asbury has often been depicted as a sort of microcosm of the complex issues surrounding the collapse of many of America's great cities.
Unfortunately, although the credentials of the participants are impressive, "Promised Land" does not live up to its potential. The collection sometimes seems more reflective of the artists' attempts to be innovative or unique than of any connection to the city of Asbury Park, and several works felt almost amateurish in terms of technical prowess. A piece titled Cone Spa comes off as kitschy, while another titled Good Installation, which includes a photograph of boardwalk graffiti quoting a line from a Springsteen song, feels overly cloying and simplistic.
The most coherent and thoughtful pieces in the exhibit are those that address the economic and social struggles of Asbury Park through its architecture. Altbauten aufbauen (Building Old Buildings) uses audience-driven video collages to "rebuild" and then collapse structures that resemble houses and apartment buildings. Local artist Mike Richison, who lived in the Detroit area for a time, draws from his experiences in the declining post-industrial city to create an interactive installation that lets viewers "build" and "destroy" structures with alarming ease, illustrating the fragility of cultural institutions both physical and artistic. And John Vigg's Mapping Asbury Park, a collection of Inkjet prints and wall text, walks its audience through a city landscape devoid of people, its images using the juxtaposition of texture and color to convey the unfulfilled promise of architectural renewal at the heart of the city's continued failure to include all residents in its redevelopment strategy.
"A Life of Vision & Sound," a new exhibit at the Where Music Lives space on Cookman Avenue, showcases original paintings and sketches by Jersey Shore guitar hero Sonny Kenn along with photographs and memorabilia from his long career as musician and bandleader. The exhibit is a first for Kenn, who has been creating sketches in some form or another since childhood. The leader of seminal bands like Sonny & the Starfires (featuring a teenage Vini Lopez) and Sonny Kenn & the Wild Ideas had spoken with museum director and photographer John Cavanaugh over the last few years about his artwork, and the opening of the Cookman space was seen by organizers as the perfect opportunity to present Kenn's art work while also highlighting his storied music career.
In a recent interview on WBJB radio, Sonny Kenn discussed his coming of age in the midst of the expressionist movement, and how he had always felt more drawn to realism, and his paintings of instruments and musical equipment often have the look and feel of carefully constructed photographs. Especially striking are Guitar Galaxy, a gravity-defying pile of colorful guitars framed by amps, guitar cases and other accessories and the newly-finished Devil's Music, which depicts a spilled shot glass of whiskey lying beside a freshly opened bottle, a large acoustic guitar lurking just behind them. Preliminary sketches accompany several of the works, and both originals and reproductions are available for purchase.
