New Jersey Arts Incubator Presents “MUDLUSCIOUS”

West Orange, New Jersey, April 26, 2012- Mudluscious, the newest exhibit to grace the walls of the New Jersey Arts Incubator Gallery, will debut on Friday, May 4th with a reception from 6pm – 8pm. Artists showing in the exhibit include David French, Michelle Acuff, Shaun C. Whiteside, Martha Ferguson, and Joe Lugara. Mudluscious was curated by visual artists, and New Jersey residents, Nancy Gail Ring, Inger Starling and Jean Dominique.

Mudluscious, taken from the poem “In Just” by American poet E. E. Cummings, proposes a poetic investigation of fertile ground both earthly and as embodied by the artist’s imagination. What does the suffering of a planet exploited in the service of commerce exact on its collective imagination? Artists are asked to address primal ooze as metaphor, material, scientific investigation, poetic mythology and psychological terrain. Particular emphasis is placed on works that honor the authentic qualities inherent in the materials they are made from — luscious paint, bone, wood, fur, and paper, among others. In a time when the collective imagination is besieged by commercially driven images, it has become instructive and necessary to question ideas of potency, impotency, fertility, barrenness, sustainability, depletion, growth, and systemic processes of failure and rebirth. How do we respond imaginatively when fertile ground itself is in a fragile state of flux and endangerment?

Mudluscious will be on display starting Friday, May 4th and will run through May 25th at the New Jersey Arts Incubator Gallery located at 495 Prospect Avenue, Essex Green on the Courtyard. Just ‘follow the art’ down the walkway to the AMC Cinema entrance and turn right at the beautiful mural. Opening reception will take place on Friday, May 4th from 6pm – 8pm. The Incubator Gallery is open by appointment only Please contact Nancy 973/464-5043 or Inger 862/224-6178 to schedule a viewing.

The Incubator Gallery presents a year-round schedule of changing exhibitions devoted to contemporary arts. The mission of the Incubator Gallery is to curate and present the work of emerging and established New Jersey artists with a commitment to providing exhibition programming with depth and relevance to multiple disciplinary perspectives and a diverse community audience. In particular, the gallery strives to provide an environment dedicated to inspiration and culture enrichment.

The mission of the New Jersey Arts Incubator is the economic development of artists and arts organizations in New Jersey through technical assistance, employment, marketing, programming, performance, and education in an effort to support, sustain, and promote viable arts agencies to act as economic drivers in communities across the State of New Jersey.