Title: The Last View Format: 66"26" Medium: Acrylic on Canva [Available]

Jersey City Twilight : In Memoriam - A New Series of Paintings by: Miguel Hernandez>

The shadow of a waterfront high rise stretches across the Historic Powerhouse Arts District and partially obscures 111 First Street. Heavydemolition equipment slumbers outside awaiting a permit to come to life and commence destruction. A cat’s cradle of phone lines twists and tightens high above Marin Blvd. shrouded by the encroaching waterfront towers of glass, spit, and plaster. Lady Liberty holds court above cars moving slowly down streets partially blocked by construction and rerouting. Are the drivers long time residents or transitory occupants of the Gold Coast developments?

Miguel Hernandez’s new series of paintings, Jersey City Twilight, documents a city that is fighting with itself and fighting for its life. In Jersey City cultural conflict has left fresh wounds from the clash of old Jersey City – Hispanic, Philippine, Polish, Artistic – and the new waterfront wealthy. It’s hard to see these wounds with the naked eye though they become plainly visible in Mr. Hernandez’s canvases. One can see pain, frustration, and loss clearly in his brushstrokes – the settling in of a permanent urban twilight. The shadows of over-development creep closer and closer, threatening to transform the Downtown Historic District into a shiny American strip mall devoid of choice and independent ownership. Franchises lurk around the corner in the wake of an artist colony’s escape from the wrecking ball.

Mr. Hernandez, a native of the small town in the northern area called Cabrera in the Dominican Republic, loves his adopted hometown of Jersey City with a passion shared by many. He is fond of it and comfortable living here and wishes it could turn around on its heels and head five years back into the past. Mr. Hernandez’s paintings mourn the bleeding of the arts community and its eminent displacement – a community that actively helps define pride in this town.

Jersey City Twilight, a memorial of Jersey City’s recent past, was on exhibit at l.i.t.m Gallery Lounge through the month of February.

Garth Kobal
Arts Coordinator, Grace Church Van Vorst

Trish Szymanski

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