Gallery hours: Friday, Saturday, Sunday: 1:00- 4:00 PM. Gallery also accessible by appointment OR during office hours (9:00- 12 & 1:00- 3:00 PM Mon-Fri)

If you would like to have your work considered for an exhibit at the Arts Guild, send us a sheet of 20 slides, a current resume/bio and a brief (2-3 paragraphs) statement about your work. DO NOT send three ring binders, DO NOT send digital prints of artwork. Include a self-addressed envelope with sufficient postage for return of slides. Mail these to: The Arts Guild of Rahway, Attn: Arts Selection Committee, 1670 Irving St. Rahway NJ 07065. PLEASE DO NOT SEND JPEGS BY EMAIL.

Artwork is reviewed by committee four times each year. Dates for submission for each quarter will be posted on this site (or contact us at 732-381-7511 artsguild1670@verizon.net).

The current art selection committee is:
Lawrence Cappiello, Artist, Executive Director/ Arts Guild of Rahway
Patricia Brentano
Rachel Faillace
Denise DeVone
Roger Tucker
Nicholas Impalli

10th Season Art Exhibits

During the 1970’s and 1980’s a significant number of artists from many countries produced pattern-based canvases, often rich in color, that eliminated the need of a subject and were presented to stand on their own merits.

The PATTERNS Exhibit features painting, prints and photographic images presented as a pattern or decorative surface. Sharon Libes creates canvases painted with small squares and dots in a limited palette. Subtle shifts in tone, color and value reveal patterns within patterns---squares within squares or diagonal stripes.

Laurie Riccadonna’s acrylic paintings are densely filled with smaller shapes of related or harmonious colors and several of her canvases divide distinctly different patterns in each quadrant of the canvas.

Ken Weathersby works on canvas, panels and aluminum, creating maze-like black and white patterns across the entire surface. While these avoid the optical effect of Op Art, they present a tightly woven black and white image that must be viewed a bit at a time.

Bill Westheimer creates photo-based collages in a roughly grid-like pattern using images of recognizable things; electric poles, a hand gun, DNA strands. Each unit of his pieces varies in tone or intensity from the next and the images are all cropped, trimmed or flipped to keep the eye moving around his work.

Aaron Yassin is represented by photo-based digital prints that are based on anything from water towers to architecture. Aaron takes a section of an image and rotates and flips the prints which he reassembles into brilliant kaleidoscopic patterns.

Each year we present a group of artworks in many mediums (painting, drawing, prints. photography, mixed media, collage, etc.) that are selected by these jurors. Different jurors are chosen by us each year to facilitate the selection process.

For 2007, the jurors are: Steve McKenzie, artist, Director of Art Education at the Newark Museum; Rachael Faillace, artist, Director of Exhibits at the Old Church Arts Center in Demarest , professor at Middlesex County College; Owen Kanzler, artist/photographer, pilot—Owen Kanzler Aerial Photography, Linden NJ.

This exhibit traditionally features works by 20 to 30 Union County artists.

The artists for this exhibit have been selected because their works take a look at small parts, fragments, or details of larger scenes, objects or people and, by isolating these details they present them to us for scrutiny. Parts of larger scenes, architectural elements, sharply cropped or unconventional presentation of the human form are often overlooked as we race through our busy days. By focusing on the smaller elements, the photographs represented in DETAILS present us with dynamic images that allow us to concentrate our gaze on those parts of things that are often overlooked or lost in a more distant, all-encompassing view. In doing so, they show the viewer that these parts or details have great interest in and of themselves and are often more compelling than a more comprehensive look at the whole. As the saying goes, the whole is more than the sum of its parts. However the parts are very often, as these dynamic photographs reveal, valid as a subject for art for their own sake.

Animals have been the subject of art since the brilliant, realistic and dynamic images of horses, bison, bears and other creatures were drawn on the walls of caves over 40000 years ago. Throughout each age animals have been included in the work of many artists in many mediums--from equestrian sculptures and paintings to portraits of favorite pets to wild beasts in their natural habitats to race horses and other thoroughbred prize winning show animals.

Darwin opened a whole new sense of the animal kingdom when he wrote his theory of evolution and first stated that research showed that the human race evolved from the lower animal kingdom. Indeed, we often find similarities between ourselves and animals and many people attribute human traits or characteristics to domesticated and wild creatures.

The MENAGERIE exhibit brings together over a dozen artists who have seen fit to include animal imagery in their art. They are presented here in two and three dimensional work, painting, prints, collage, sculpture, mixed media work and photography. They are shown in literal ways and as symbols, icons or metaphors.

With the intention of enhancing the current art scene, Red Saw is aimed to exhibit and promote both established and emerging contemporary artists. The four gallerists will be alternating curating, inviting guest curators, and holding juried shows. In between larger exhibitions, Red Saw seeks to hold cultural events, which will include various forms of creative media, such as hosting film festivals and screenings.

The SPRAWL exhibit at The Arts Guild of Rahway presents the artists’ view of this contemporary phenomenon. The show includes photography, painting, prints, installations and work in a variety of other mediums. The artwork presents literal views of the overbuilding of the one-time “Garden State” as well as views that are more philosophical, conceptual and abstract.

Stepping away from recognizable imagery, Judith Braun creates a series of drawings where the graphite marks appear and disappear into the whiteness of the paper. The precise lines resemble those made by a tracing wheel in pattern-making. The intimate scale of these works, and the faintness of the marks, invite close inspection. Braun approaches these hand-drawn works with the eye of a perfectionist. She uses a set of four guidelines as parameters for making each drawing.

Michael Dal Cerro shows a similar interest in structure and repetition in his wood block prints. The prints suggest futuristic urban environments and stylistically refer to comic book illustrations. Dal Cerro’s work is as much about process as it’s about image. This laborious technique uses multiple wood blocks, each cut and printed in layers of separate color, to produce the final image. Jonathan Gabel worked with simple robotic systems to create this series of mechanical drawings. Using his knowledge of electric circuitry, Gabel developed a simple machine whose sole purpose was to create the most complex and subtle drawing it possibly can. The resulting drawings are reminiscent of the natural tendency of electrical current to flow in the form of a wave.

Lucas Monaco’s aerial landscapes are part of a series of ink and gouache drawings based on Los Angeles topography. Displacement is sensed in Monaco’s work. The isolated sections of sprawling development resemble islands of imagery of the white paper. His semi-fictional landscapes reflect the past and potential future geography of urban centers. His work considers issues of urban planning, architecture, and socio-economic trends.

Chakaia Booker typically uses rubber tires and wood to create her three dimensional works. Booker’s work explores and pushes these materials to their limits. In “Visual Impressions #2”, Booker uses handmade paper and wire as her materials. In her earlier works, Booker addresses African American identity in largely figurative sculptural pieces. More recent works are abstract and Booker’s use of reference becomes less apparent.

John Rappleye’s work often combines fantastical landscape with hyper-realistic animal imagery. Here, his realistic drawing style is applied to a single female figure. The figure is surrounded by cartoon-like imagery, creating a bridge between drawing styles. The subtle background color provides a strong contrast to the graphic shapes in the foreground.

Kiki Smith focuses on nature and storytelling in her two dimensional and three dimensional works. Smith is represented here by two prints. Throughout her career, Smith has worked with printmaking, a process she considers to have a crucial role in her work. “Parrot” is an example of Smith’s delicate drawing style combined with her interest in decorative elements. A second print exemplifies Smith’s interest in creating a narrative. Smith often recounts fairy tales with feminine characters in her prints. Trenton Doyle Hancock shares Smith’s interest in creating narratives. Hancock creates works which tell the story of mythical creatures he calls the Mounds. He blends Biblical stories and creation myths with his own fiction to address larger issues of life, death, and good versus evil. Shown are two panels from a larger portfolio of prints combining digital processes and lithography. Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons focuses her practice on issues of memory and identity. Her work is largely autobiographical, examining her Afro-Cuban roots. Her print is a photolithograph with eyes painted on the surface of the paper using paper pulp. This process uses pigmented paper pulp as a drawing medium.

Buzz Spector’s works explore concepts involving the book as an object. His works consider associations of knowledge, structure and order. In this piece, Spector has created a waterfall effect with string. The string embedded in paper at the top of the piece, is pulled out from the paper towards the bottom. The string rests in a pile on the floor, recalling the splash and tumble of water as it reaches the bottom of the falls.

Ronna Lebo is also interested in the book as an object. Lebo has created a handmade book in the shape of a hand grenade. Inside the book, images of birds explode on the pages. Lebo explores issues of personal space, while referring to territorial conquests and boundary crossing. Particularly in mind, is the relationship between government territory and the personal territory of a suicide bomber, especially young teenagers. They also represent how youth are often used in the most violent acts of hostile negotiations.

Willie Cole is represented by a print titled “Bush Burn”. Cole makes a strong statement on the involvement of the United States in current global politics. The image of a burning bush references the Biblical story of Moses leading his people out of slavery. Surrounding the central image are thirteen red stars, recalling the original thirteen British colonies in North America. Finally, the title refers to President George W. Bush. Interpreted together, the symbolism reflects Cole’s objection to U.S. interference in world politics.