Pop Art Legends, Mana Contemporary, Ed Ruscha, Andy Warhol, Alison Van Pelt, Keith Haring, Jenny Holzer, Yayoi Kusama

Pop Art Legends, Monumental Sculpture & More Coming to Mana Contemporary

Big things are happening this weekend at Mana Contemporary, with six exhibitions featuring Pop Art classics, protest art from Syria and other gems.
On Sunday, Sept. 29, guests will be able to wander the sprawling art complex visit over 70 artist studios and also see six exhibitions of painting, sculpture, video and more.
“Pop Culture: Selections from the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation,” spread out over two floors of the building, features some of the most iconic work from the 50′s and 60′s art movement and highlights its continuing influence. The show, which is a collaboration between the Eileen S. Kaminsky Family Foundation and curators at the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation, includes all 10 of Andy Warhol’s famous Marilyn Monroe silkscreens as well as prominent works by the likes of Keith Haring, Jenny Holzer, Yayoi Kusama, Roy Lichtenstein and Edward Ruscha.
At Mana’s brand-new Department of Decorative Art and Design, guests can see “Ilana Goor: New Limited Edition of Artistic Furniture and Bronze Sculpture,” curated by Donna Karan, which includes life-size and monumental bronze figures.
Other attractions include “Carole Feuerman: The Golden Mean,” a new collection of works from the world-renowned hyperrealist sculptor who works from a studio at Mana and a chance to learn more about the bronze pouring process at the Keating Foundry.
The Middle East Center for the Arts (MECA), which is housed in Mana, has a solo show by internationally renowned artist and filmmaker Shoja Azari called “Magic of Light,” which includes “Silence,” a fourpiece “video painting” series created in collaboration with painter Shahram Karimi as well as “There Are No Non Believers in Hell,” a video installation that shows the timelessness of Renaissance art through the lens of contemporary existential anxiety.
MECA is also presenting “Syria: A Silenced Scream,” which includes resistance posters created by the members of the group “The Syrian People Know Their Way” who are opponents of the Assad regime. The exhibit also includes the musical “Damascus Square,” which will bring audiences to on a journey into the hearts and minds of the region’s people. Lastly, MECA is also extending their “Voices from the Interior: Palestinian Women Artists” video art exhibit.
The exhibits open on Sunday, Sept. 29 from 1 pm to 6 pm at Mana Contemporary, 888 Newark Ave. For more information, visit the Mana website.   By Summer Dawn Hortillosa • Sep 26th, 2013
Photo by Adam Cohen

Yayoi Kusama, Alison Van Pelt, Jenny Holzer, Roy Lichtenstein, Edward Ruscha, Keith Haring, Claes Oldenberg, Andy Warhol, Yoram Wolberger at Mana Contemporary

Pop Culture:  Yayoi Kusama, Alison Van Pelt, Jenny Holzer, Roy Lichtenstein, Edward Ruscha, Keith Haring, Claes Oldenberg, Andy Warhol, Yoram Wolberger at Mana Contemporary. Selections from the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation curated by
Billie Milam Weisman, in conjunction with the Eileen S. Kaminsky Family Foundation (ESKFF), Pop Culture: Selections from the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation explores the roots of the Pop Art movement in the 1950s and ‘60s and its continuing influence.

When the Pop Art movement first began in the mid-1950s, artists sought to challenge traditional conceptions of art making by incorporating aspects of consumer culture and everyday objects into their work. Artists during this period transformed those icons associated with mass media, comic books, and popular culture into visuals that often reflected a growing societal infatuation with consumerism. When it originated, the Pop Art movement strove to ironically emphasize images representing the kitschy or clichéd elements of a given culture. Today, contemporary artists have elaborated on the traditions established by the Pop artists who created an aesthetic that reflected the changing needs and interests of varying societies.

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/2013/09/26/pop-art-legends-monumental-sculpture-more-coming-to-mana-contemporary/