Rahway Arts Guild Gets Blinged Out

With its earliest origins in hip hop culture, the term 'bling' has been popularized by its references in rap music. In its simplest form, bling is meant to denote extravagance and a love for all things ostentatious. It is most recognizable and materialized in the form of jewelry - sparkling diamonds, glistening gold, and shiny silver have all been used by musicians and celebrities alike to showcase wealth and status.

Turning away from its literal form and more towards an artistic approach, the Rahway Arts Guild is hosting an art exhibit of several featured artists chronicling the origin and modern interpretations of this concept of bling.

Navigating through the exhibit at the Rahway Arts Guild, it is highly evident just how much of a stake bling has in pop culture. Case in point is artist Glitter Mortis, who has a collection of artwork in which she takes pop icons from the music and cinema world and ‘glitterizes’ them. 

Old Hollywood superstars like Marilyn Monroe and Lucille Ball are on full display alongside pop music sensations like Madonna and Michael Jackson. All were celebrity heavyweights in their own regard and were no strangers to controversy; the glitter effect serves to further accentuate the personas of these highly talented icons.

Also incorporating images in his artwork is Raul Villareal, who works on canvas. Villareal has art from his ”BLING BLING - BOOM BOOM” series on display, which according to Rachael Faillace, a curator for the Rahway Arts Guild, takes images from magazines and advertisements and puts them on backgrounds of destruction, in an effort "to comment on the media’s influence on consumerism and American society.” In his piece “Down the Shore,” Villareal depicts a topless, muscle man wearing a diamond encrusted chain in the foreground of an explosive background.

Among my personal favorites in the exhibit is the Yeni Mao Wu-Tang illuminations and Karen Fitzgerald’s oil and gold creations. Coincidentally they are also the most expensive at $7,200 and $5,000 a piece. The former displays the nine members of the famous rap group, Wu-Tang Clan, in a nine piece gold leaf and acrylic panel. In a larger sense, to me, it surmises the role this group has had in defining bling within hip hop culture.

Karen Fitzgerald’s pieces are both standouts in the exhibit. “The Far Side of the Sea” is an oil image with 23K gold and a 42” diameter. It has a rich tone and appears to set the sea in motion on an MDF (medium-density fibreboard) panel.

The full list of feautred artists is: David Abecassis, Liz Brown, Karlos Carcamo, Colleen Cunningham, Amy Finkbeiner, Karen Fitzgerald, Jill Baker Gower, James Jaxxa, Nancy Staub Laughlin, Rory Mahon, Yeni Mao, Glitter Mortis, and Raul Villarreal.

Admittance to the exhibit, which runs through April 14, is free and monetary donations are welcomed. The exhibits are open from Monday through Thursday by appointment only, and on Saturdays and Sundays from 1 to 4 pm.

For more information visit the website at agnj.org or call the Rahway Arts Guild at 732-381-7511.