Shine, Express Newark, site-specific social sculpture and installation, 2017-present.
A great department store, easily reached, open at all hours, is more like a good museum of art than any of the museums we have yet established.
– John Cotton Dana, Librarian and Founder of the Newark Museum, Newark, NJ, in 1909.
I draw inspiration from Dana’s quote as my art practice since 2017 has been largely based in Newark, NJ, and within an art center at the site of a once-thriving historic department store. In this project I’ve embraced interior design and decoration, my interventions transform a white-walled facility into inviting spaces brimming with comfort, creativity, and potential. The concept is to create a mashup of a luxury department store meets art studio, gallery, and a learning environment.
The installation spans multiple areas throughout the facility, including the lobby, studios, and interstitial spaces such as beneath a staircase, hallways, and nooks between structural elements of the architecture. I’ve created multi-sensory activations that engage the senses of scent, touch, sight, and sound. Upon entering, warm sandalwood, cedar, lavender, and iris create an immersive olfactory experience. To establish an intimate scale within the austere geometric architecture, carefully selected textures such as carpets, seating cushions, curtains, and tapestries are harmonized with color in lighting and wall paint. Additional installation elements include a Directory offering a snapshot of different studios, a vintage brass display case, ambient music, classic gold foil text on entrance doors and windows, a reimagined portrait photography studio with art deco-inspired "Changing Room," and a “clubroom.” A pulsing neon, front window marquee, large-scale lobby projection screen, and grand piano contribute to the overall ambiance, grandeur, heartbeat, and engagement.
This project serves as a supportive framework to showcase the work and creations of other artists and related programming. It is also designed as a space for respite, so I chose to adopt the style of a hotel promotional video above, crafting a narrative for people to envision themselves within. The art exhibits and programming featured in this footage are collaborative endeavors shaped by the Express Newark team, involving visiting artists and curators and influenced by Newark’s enduring legacy of art and activism. These projects have been ongoing since 2017 and are a result of my work at Express Newark, a socially engaged art center of Rutgers University-Newark. Thinking of the building as a “readymade,” I also draw on childhood memories of shopping with my mom. I would find hiding spots under racks of clothing, sink into comfortable chairs outside the dressing room, and roll around on stacks of ornamental rugs. Shaping spaces for the self, play, imagination, and learning inspires this work.
SHINE Portrait Studio, 2017-present
This project, originally conceived in 2007 is one of the first studios in Express Newark. It reimagines an early 20th Century “Main Street” portrait photography studio as a free publicly accessible educational hub and resource, where artists, curators, and members of the Greater Newark, New Jersey creative community can create, and experience cutting-edge art and photography through a variety of programs. SHINE, is based in Newark, NJ at the site of James Van Der Zee’s first professional photography job, and dedicated to his legacy.