Richardson Weighs in on Ward F Appointment: Jersey City Ward F councilwoman Viola Richardson, the apparent winner of one of two At-Large council seats that were filled in Tuesday’s special election, wants a say in who will next represent Ward F.

Council Report: Last night the City Council approved a controversial 20-year tax abatement for Goya Foods’ proposed Jersey City headquarters and distribution center; the council bid farewell to two of its members last night, as At-Large members Kalimah Ahmad and Ray Velazquez informally stepped down after having lost their seats in Tuesday’s special election. Look for full council coverage from JCI later today.

Beldini Hearing Postponed: A hearing scheduled for yesterday to decide if corrupt former Jersey City Deputy Mayor Leona Beldini could delay starting her prison sentence due to health issues was postponed until next week.

Willie Flood Street Naming: A portion of Forrest Street will be dedicated Willie L. Flood Way, dedicated to the former At-Large councilwoman who retired in February.

Brunswick Street Mural: Dislocations takes note of a Brunswick Street mural that recalls a bygone era.

Jersey City Resident on Millionaire: Jersey City resident Denise Bonnin will be a contestant on this Friday’s episode of ABC’s Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.

Crime Blotter: A Jersey City man who was convicted of shooting a 9-year-old boy and an 11-year-old girl in a city public housing complex playground in 2003 is being held on $225,000 bail for aggravated assault and weapons charges; a woman allegedly struck a restaurant worker with a metal post when an argument erupted after she demanded salt in a verbally abusive manner; a Seidler Street man has been charged with the aggravated sexual assault of his 5-year-old granddaughter; a Bostwick Avenue man who took off running Tuesday when he saw cops in Arlington Park was busted on numerous charges after he tossed a loaded gun while on the run, officials said; a Jersey City man was shot in the arm Tuesday night on the corner of Bergen and Lexington Avenues.

Today’s Best Bets: Painter and sculptor Jon Rappleye will be at NJCU this evening to discuss the works in his “Land of Promise” show — which our own Brendan Carroll called “the must-see show of fall” (starts at 4:30 pm).

In Statewide News:

Election Post-Mortem: NJ Spotlight takes stock of the statewide legislative election and concludes that what the off-year legislative election results really boil down to is the independence of New Jersey’s electorate and the truly local nature of these races.

Low Turnout Statewide: Voters in New Jersey appeared to show record apathy in Tuesday’s elections, potentially shattering previous turnout lows thanks in part to a shortage of competitive races and a district map favoring incumbents. [subscription required]

Dems Must Quell Infighting in Wake of Legislative Victory: The Ledger‘s Matt Friedman reports that before Democrats basking in the afterglow of Tuesday’s election victory take the battle to Gov. Christie — widely seen as having outmaneuvered them in his first two years in office — they’ll have to stop fighting among themselves.

NCLB Waiver Lacks Public Input: The Christie administration is scrambling to complete a proposal to the federal government that would essentially remake how New Jersey grades and monitors its public schools. But in the rush to complete its waiver to the No Child Left Behind Act, the state is being accused of skimping on a critical aspect of the application: public input.

Water Utilities to Get Paid Faster: The state yesterday approved a change that will allow water utilities to more quickly recover the costs of upgrading pipelines, hydrants and other infrastructure, a step that officials hope will speed up repair of New Jersey’s aging water systems.

The newest addition to Downtown Jersey City’s cafe scene, Steam Cafe, has been opened for a few weeks now on Newark Avenue between Monmouth and 3rd Streets. While many new food businesses have had trouble on that particular stretch over the past few years (the corner spot most recently home to Rue Viet has, for example, seen several establishments come and go), Steam owner Christina Coaker (at right) is hoping to thrive in her new venture by connecting with Jersey City’s arts community and neighborhood customers.

“We are branding ourselves as an ‘Art Gallery Cafe,’ we are upfront and personal, and we [strive] to be connected to every one of our customers,” she says. “We have a personal curator and artist Mark Finne who arranges our bi-monthly art shows.”

The cafe, which seats about 15, will host an official ribbon-cutting ceremony with Mayor Jerramiah Healy this weekend. Coaker, a Harlem native who has lived in Jersey City for eight years, is also being realistic about the profitability of her new venture. Unlike some small business owners, she’s decided to not ditch her full-time job at the beginning of her new venture, which should allow her business to grow at a more traditional pace without the constant worry that it has to put food on her plate and a roof over her head.

“I decided to open a cafe a few years back when I realized how important it was for me to be a driving force in my happiness,” Coaker says. “For me, that meant creating my own space and not sitting behind a desk because I had to. I love meeting new people and I love espresso, tea and coffee, art and music.”

“I still work my day job in corporate America, while my baristas keep my dream alive,” she continues. “Steam is like my alter-ego … through the cafe I can talk shop, have art, and drink espresso be part of the world in a way that I can actually see the effects of my dreams come to life.”

The cafe features TM Ward coffee, homemade muffins and pressed sandwiches, and plenty of local items as well. Steam carries natural sodas from Fizzy Lizzy, baked goods from Sassy Sweet Treats and breads delivered daily from neighboring Pecoraro Bakery. There’s free wifi, and current hours are Monday from 6:30 am to 1 pm; Tuesday through Saturday from 6:30 am to 6:30 pm; and Sunday from 8 am to 6 pm.

Coaker is also turning Saturday’s ribbon-cutting into more than a photo-op for local politicians. The event features children’s face painting with Arts in Action’s Laura Dejean from 12:30 to 2:30 pm, with the mayor’s official ribbon-cutting ceremony at 3 pm, and performances from 4 to 6 pm.

THE DETAILS

Steam Cafe | 274 Newark Avenue | 201.706.2489 | Steam on Facebook | Steam on Twitter

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TODAY

Last week we caught up with Paul Sorvino, who tonight marks a return to the opera stage with a solo concert at the Loew’s ($75-$125, 7:30 pm).

There are two big openings today in Jersey City: Night Drawing at 58 Gallery features new work by Sean 9 Lugo and LNY (starts at 7:30 pm); and Dead Zone, a new installation and photography show about the United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus by _gaia artists Christine DaCruz and Doris Caçoilo, opens today (starts at 6 pm).

TOMORROW:

The Laugh Tour hits ArtHouse and promises to be a real kneeslapper with headliner Yannis Pappas, recently known better as the Lower East Side’s man-crazy Maurica Rodriguez ($15-$20, 8 pm).

Former Neutral Milk Hotel frontman Jeff Mangum plays an added date at the Loew’s after Sunday’s show sold out ($35, 8 pm).

SUNDAY:

Author, columnist and genealogist Maureen Wlodarczyk talks about her two books about Jersey City and her adventures in genealogy that helped her discover her family’s roots in 19th-century Chilltown at “Tea & Tales of Olde Jersey City” (2 pm).

When the festival began in 1981, just ten artists participated. Today, the tour features more than 200 artists, many of whom reside in Jersey City — including Glenn Garver, Mauro Altamura, Jennifer Krause Chapeau, Michelle Doll, Tim Daly, Stephanie Panepinto and Kara Rooney.

Back in Black at Neumann Leather

Organized by Jennifer Krause Chapeau, Back in Black is a group exhibition featuring 16 artists who work in a variety of disciplines. A portion of sales benefit the Neumann Leather Tenants Association.

Garver is an abstract painter who works paint around the canvas with the controlled aggression of a veteran prizefighter. Beneath his fluid, colorful brushwork is a cool aplomb.

Altamura, a conceptual photographer, is showing four pinhole photographs on 4-by-5-inch chrome film. The surveillance-like stills have a jerry-rigged vibe.

Chapeau is a landscape painter of the alienated variety. Chapeau’s paintings are based on a series of snapshots, which she takes from the passenger-side window of a moving car as the terrain whooshes past.

Doll, a representational painter, often focuses on the female figure. In the past, she depicted women attending to various grooming rituals in domestic settings — and in various states of undress. In her newer work, she continues to focus on the appearance of the body sans the warm domestic interiors.

Daly, who was born and raised in Jersey City, is known for his hyper-realistic landscapes of the Hackensack Meadowlands and their immediate environs. He is showing a new series of drawings featuring men engaged in armed struggle.

Empty Spaces at Hoboken Business Center

Panepinto organized this three-person exhibition, which features a selection of artists from a larger show currently running at STUDIO III VII I in Downtown Jersey City.

Rooney’s multidisciplinary work includes paintings, sculptures and installations through which she explores the tenuous relationship between language and people. In one installation, she inscribed letters (both familiar and unknown) onto a collection of wooden modules like a kid’s alphabet block set.

Panepinto, a Jersey City native, is a representational painter and draftsperson. In addition to her studio practice, she runs Jersey City’s STUDIO III VII I. She envisions the gallery as a collective space that will host viewings, theatrical performances, photo shoots, art exhibitions, movie screenings and other events, as well as build a community of artists.

DETAILS:
Back in Black
Neumann Leather Building
300 Observer Highway, 4th floor
Hoboken, New Jersey 07030
Exhibition hours: noon to 6 pm November 5 and 6

Empty Spaces
Hoboken Business Center
50 Harrison Street
Hoboken, NJ 07030
Exhibition hours: noon to 6 pm November 5 and 6

Photos of Jennifer Krause Chapeau’s “Leaving Santa Fe” and Kara Rooney’s “At the Banquet #1″ courtesy of the artists.

All of this combines to make Jon Rappleye’s new exhibition, “Land of Promise,” the must-see show of the fall.

Midori Yoshimoto, director of galleries at New Jersey City University, says Rappleye is one of the most exciting artists currently living and working in Jersey City.

“I didn’t know of his work until I saw his solo show at [Jersey City Museum] several years ago,” Yoshimoto says. “I was awestruck then to find such a gem in [Jersey City].

“Rappleye’s paintings of constructed nature are fantastic and fairy tale-like, but at the same time, contain contortions, tensions, and suspense as if something horrifying were to occur.”

Rappleye’s paintings read like fables on acid.

In his painting, “In the Land of Promise, In the Land of Famine,” a proboscis monkey is caught between two worlds as it crouches in the mouth of a tree. In the foreground, a throng of animals – both real and imagined – encircle the monkey in seeming chaos. At the perimeter, anthropomorphic shapes and neon flashes explode like psychedelic patterns in a kaleidoscope. In the background, a bucolic landscape is revealed, which features pale blue skies and pristine mountain peaks.

Minute details appear throughout the work; the scenic vista in the back is as clear and precise as the figures in the front, while the bark of the tree and the wrinkles on the monkey’s face have been finely rendered.

In “Sheltered in Nature’s Benevolence,” (seen at left) a baby gorilla embraces its mother as they sit in the nook of a tree. To the left and right, butterflies and birds flutter against open skies. The picture brings to mind Renaissance altarpieces of the enthroned Virgin and Child. As we look closer, the mood turns darker. Like bookends, two skeletons sit on either side of mother and baby, their heads cocked to the side as if in conversation. In the distance emerges a confluence of storm clouds. Like memento mori, Rappleye’s work reminds us of our mortality and of the brevity of life in the face of God and nature.

Rappleye draws inspiration from his native Utah, with its lunar landscapes and atmospheric light. His other muses come from art history, photography, the Internet and literature. Like the Flemish Renaissance painters Rogier Van der Weyden and Jan Van Eyck, the hallmarks of his work include attention to detail, craftsmanship, and inventiveness. Though his work appears deliberate, Rappleye allows for intuition and spontaneity to help inform his imagery.

If you go to one exhibition this season in Jersey City or New York, make it Jon Rappleye’s “Land of Promise” at New Jersey City University’s Harold B. Lemmerman Gallery.

Details:
Jon Rappleye
: Land of Promise

November 2 – December 14, 2011


Artist’s Reception: November 10, 2011, 4:30 – 7:30 pm
Artist Talk: November 10, 2011, 5:30 pm (in the gallery)



Photos of “Astounding in Infinite Awe and Wonder” and “Sheltered in Nature’s Benevolence” courtesy of the artist.

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TODAY

The Golden Door International Film festival launched last night with a gala opening and screenings of Rohit Gupta’s Another Day Another Life and Sam Borowski’s Night Club at the Loews Jersey Theatre, and films and Q&As continue all weekend. More films screen tonight at the Loews and Art House Productions (starting at 5 pm), with an after party scheduled at Skinner’s Loft. On Saturday, films screen at Studio III VII I, Art House and Bar Majestic (1 to 7 pm), with an after party at Bar Majestic; films include Lily of the Feast, a mafia-themed short starring Paul Sorvino and Federico Castelluccio that was shot in Jersey City. Films screen Sunday at previously mentioned venues and LITM (noon to 5 pm); Sorvino and Academy Award-winning producer-director Leon Gast will be honored at an awards ceremony Sunday (6:30 pm).

It’s a good weekend to be a beer lover. Bar Majestic’s annual Oktoberfest brings a block party to Grove Street outside the bar-restaurant and features brews by Hudson County’s own New Jersey Beer Co. (4 pm to midnight). Zeppelin Hall’s Oktoberfest offers live music by Breidenbach (9 pm to 1 am) and eight Oktoberfest beers on tap. Oktoberfest continues at Zeppelin Hall on Saturday with Breidenbach playing again (5 to 9 pm) and Alpine Squeeze (9 pm to 1 am), plus eight different Oktoberfest beers.

J CITY Theater’s production of Race by David Mamet continues (8 pm tonight and Saturday).

TOMORROW

If you don’t mind getting up early, head to Iris Records to comb through 20-plus boxes of records of all genres that the store is giving away to make room for new inventory. The record free-for-all starts at 7 am and new stock goes on sale at noon.

Check out the closing reception for the inaugural exhibition at WOOLPUNKstudios, which includes artists Caroline Burton, Lisa Dahl, Margaret Murphy, Jon Rappleye, Allison Green, Stephanie Romano and Carol Westfall (2 pm).

Don’t miss Insurgo Stage Projects and Downtown Live’s presentation Art in Motion: This Body, featuring an art installation by Ceallaigh Pender, video by Eugene Yu, and performances by M. Hille Refakis, Elena Callahan, Avianna Perez, Magda Polkowska, Susan Quinn and Kathy Stout. $10 at the door (8 pm).

J CITY’s art exhibition space, Gallery 9, hosts a reception for photographer Noa Griffel (2 pm).

SUNDAY

It feels more fall-like than last weekend, that’s for sure, and Stevens Cooperative School’s 13th annual Harvest Festival celebrates the season with food, arts and crafts, games and activities for kids of all ages. The event is free but ticket sales for food, games and activities benefit the school (11 am to 4 pm).

Curious Matter is showing “Dividing Light Measuring Darkness,” with work by 23 artists (Noon to 3 pm).

Attention DJs: Check out Downtown Live’s monthly forum for DJs to meet, make music and network. DJ Pastiche is your host (4 to 7 pm).

The medical center wants to purchase the foreclosed building to use its second and third floors for office space, according to hospital CEO Joseph Scott. All of the art in storage would remain there, he says. The museum and Caroline L. Guarini Theater would reopen to the public in some capacity, though the details have yet to be worked out. Scott did not say how much the medical center offered to pay the bank for the building.

The hospital would use the offices for billing, collections and other administrative functions now performed at rented office space in Secaucus, and made an offer to the bank on Wednesday.

“We’re trying to make it a win-win situation,” Scott tells JCI. “I think it’s a community asset and I want to preserve it.”

If the deal goes through, it would mean a new twist in the recently sad tale of the museum, a 110-year-old institution that moved in 2001 from the Jersey City Free Public Library building on Jersey Avenue to 350 Montgomery Street, a building of its own. The space was donated, but the museum borrowed a reported $11 million to renovate. By the time the museum refinanced with Sovereign Bank, through the Economic Development Authority, in 2008, a debt of $2.7 million remained and that number has since grown faster than the museum could pay it down.

The museum laid off essentially all of its staff in April 2010 and closed its doors to the public towards the end of that year. This April, a plan by the United Way of Hudson County to purchase the building fell apart and the bank took ownership.

Another idea that was discussed was a partnership with Liberty Science Center, according to several sources. The science center received a $2.5 million bridge loan from the city in late 2008 that allowed it to keep its doors open; the city denied the museum’s request for a similar loan, and decreased funding to the museum by 25 percent in 2010 before cutting funding entirely in the face of its own fiscal crisis.

Observers say the safety of the museum’s collection should be paramount under whatever deal is made, and that one big challenge facing whoever buys the property will be sky-high utility bills; the museum’s HVAC system is key to keeping the work safe.

The museum’s collection, which has been called perhaps the best trove of contemporary art in the state, includes works by Cy Twombly, Andres Serrano, Leonard Baskin, Chakaia Booker, and Jaune Quick-To-See Smith, as well as many local artists.

Maryanne Kelleher at the city’s Division of Cultural Affairs says her office was not told the medical center intended to buy the museum building.

“We weren’t aware,” Kelleher says. “But it is our hope that the next occupant, whether it be the medical center or whoever, that it remains at least partially an arts institution and that the artwork is accessible to the public in some manner.”

Reyes and artist John Besante, who owns the building, have struggled for years against accusations of violating what Reyes calls antiquated laws. The gallery is considered commercial and not a “legal” use in the area, which is zoned industrial and located within the Harsimus Cove Historic District. A use variance and sign-off from the Historic Preservation Commission are required before the art space, at 58 Coles Street, can be considered legit.

Besante plans to appear in court on Wednesday to respond to the latest notice of violation from the city. He says he’s been to court for this on a half-dozen other occasions and the case has been dismissed; if it moves forward this time, he intends to continue to fight.

He runs a business in the space making props, special effects and scenery, and says the gallery is not a commercial or “retail” space open to the public with regular hours.

“We don’t have a commercial operation here,” Besante says. “This is just a service for the community. There’s no money in this, we’re not making money on this.”

58 has long been a staple of the annual Studio Tour, an event space with occasional live music and hub for emerging talent from the local community and beyond. It has outlasted a long list of influential art spaces in the city, including 111 First Street, Cooke Contemporary, Residue, Nobis Gallery and the recently shuttered Jersey City Museum.

Besante says he closed two other galleries he used to operate, Es Oro and The Annex, both on Brunswick Street, because of similar problems with the city.

“I was tired of the harassment and I sold them,” he says.

In Reyes’ view, the process he and Besante are being asked to take on, which is daunting and could cost in the thousands, is too much to ask after 10 years of exhibitions.

“It’s these ridiculous demands they make of you,” Reyes says. “I could open a soap factory here tomorrow and the city would be okay with it because it’s industrial. They’d say no problem, because we’re zoned for that. I’m sure my neighbors wouldn’t appreciate smokestacks.”

“I’m tired of being used to sell condos,” he adds, “under the pretense of this rich artist community that they are systematically stamping out.”

City spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill says the city certainly does not want 58 Gallery to close and would like the issues to be resolved as quickly as possible. But in order for that to happen, she says the necessary applications must come in.

“City officials working on this have been working with Reyes,” Morrill says. “Everyone’s aware of the great work they do there. We want to help them and move along quickly so they can be a conforming use.”

The Distillery gallery went through a nearly identical process this year to get a variance that would allow it to operate in a residential area. The process was lengthy and complicated and involved the gallery hiring a surveyor, an architect who drew up plans, a planner who signed off on the plans, and a lawyer. The building department was consulted to determine the gallery’s true address on Hutton Street. A professional was enlisted to give a presentation at a public hearing — a hearing that was put off several times because the planning board did not have a quorum.

“The process is intensive,” says Irene Borngraeber, the gallery’s founder. And expensive — while some of the work done on the gallery’s behalf was pro bono, she says the cost, including permitting fees, was in the thousands.

But she takes issue with the notion that the artist community is being treated unfairly.

“We’re not being persecuted as artists,” she says. “This would have happened to anyone else. That might be why other businesses aren’t cropping up in residential areas, because it is so difficult.”

Reyes says he will decide what to do with the gallery after Besante’s court date next week. If he does choose to leave, Besante says he would continue to show art in the space but stop participating altogether in city-sponsored events.

Beyond the cost and the annoyance, Reyes is bothered by the larger issue of what the city will be moving forward. He cites the lack of progress on revamping entertainment ordinance, which has been a thorn in the side of DIY music spaces, galleries and other small venues for years.

“If you put out a survey, I think you’d hear a lot of people want a gallery, or a little music venue where you can see live bands,” he says. “It’s not a lot to ask for in a thriving city, or it shouldn’t be. That’s where I’m at right now — are we working so hard for all of this to just have it taken away?”

The opening reception for 58 Gallery’s annual group show — which includes work by Beau Stanton, Dylan Egon, Fefe Talavera, Isaac Fortoul, Joe Russo, John Besante, Kai Margarida-Ramirez de Arellano, Lenny “lny” Correa, Melissa Cody, Nyugen Smith, Scott Albrecht and Sean “9″ Lugo — is Friday, October 7 from 7 to 10 pm, at 58 Coles Street.

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TODAY

58 Gallery hosts an opening reception for its annual group exhibition tonight; the show features work by a few handfuls of talented artists: Beau Stanton, Dylan Egon, Fefe Talavera, Isaac Fortoul, Joe Russo, John Besante, Kai Margarida-Ramirez de Arellano, Lenny ‘lny’ Correa, Melissa Cody, Nyugen Smith, Scott Albrecht and Sean’ 9′ Lugo (7 pm).

J CITY Theater kicks off its New Jersey premier of David Mamet’s Race this weekend (8 pm tonight and Saturday), while Hudson Pride Connections Center hosts A Night at the Paradise Burlesque as it gears up for Sunday’s Pride Festival (8:30 pm tonight; 8 pm and 10:30 pm Saturday).

And speaking of Pride, there are a few other worthy Pride-related events tonight. Chillfest hosts a free screening of the documentary Outrage at City Hall (7 pm), while Gayborhood Jersey City and Pint team up for an Oktoberfest event at the latter (9 pm).

SATURDAY

Boxing fans and history buffs will want to check out the free afternoon talk at the New Jersey Room by Jim Waltzer, the author of The Battle of the Century: Dempsey, Carpentier, and the Birth of Modern Promotion (2 pm). Later on, the Pershing Field Babe Ruth League hosts a tricky tray auction and dinner fundraiser for the little baseballers (6 pm). And the Lamp Post hosts a great bill of intense rock, with No Pasaran!, They Had Faces Then and Polyabuse (10 pm).

SUNDAY

Forget resting, Sunday is jam-packed with stuff to do around Jersey City.

First up, there’s the massive 2011 Hudson Pride Festival & Parade. Forced to move from its original August date to October due to Hurricane Irene, the festival features tons of live music, vendors, food and more at Exchange Place (11 am to 7 pm). Once that’s done, there’s also the Official After-Pride Block Party at and outside of Hard Grove Cafe (7 pm).

On a related front, Chillfest presents a screening at LITM today of We Were Here, the acclaimed documentary that explores how San Francisco’s gay and lesbian community came together with compassion and determination in response to the AIDS epidemic (4 pm).

Elsewhere, there is the annual Columbus Day Parade, ending at City Hall; a “From Broadway to Hollywood” organ concert at the Loew’s (3 pm); and the one-year anniversary party for Madame Claude Wine (7 pm).

All photos by Catherine Hecht