News
Art Exhibit Celebrates 100 Years For RB
By John Burton
RED BANK - You walk up the narrow staircase at 12 Monmouth Street, and enter the studio that is home to McKay Imaging Studio and Gallery to find images of Red Bank past and present and maybe one or two of a Red Bank unknown to anyone but the artist.
Gallery owners Robert McKay and his wife, Elisabeth Koch-McKay are presenting a group show featuring 30 paintings and photographs focused on Red Bank.
The Red Bank Centennial Exhibit is being held in honor of the one hundredth anniversary of Red Bank's incorporation. The show features the work of 30 artists.
The couple has done about 30 previous themed shows, including exhibits focused on New York City and Asbury Park, since the gallery opened four years ago. But the McKays, who have lived in the borough for nine years, as well as working here, and, "We've been meaning to do it for a while," Bob said. "Once we heard it was the 100th anniversary it was a no-brainer to do it."
The works show, "A variety of ages and stages of Red Bank," Liz said, explaining the works represent images of the borough dating back maybe more than 100 years ago, until quite recently - actually five weeks ago in one photograph.
When they advertised for submissions, Bob said the studio received more than a couple of hundred works, from which they culled 30 for the show. "We tried to select as many as we could," he said. "We tried to put together a show that was visually cohesive."
The images show the borough's past in sepia-toned photos of locations that still may appear vaguely familiar, like a shot of Broad Street back when, to examples of today's hectic center of arts, entertainment and business. There are works from the extensive collection that had been held at the former Dorn's photography shop, a borough institution for generations on Wallace Street until a couple of years ago, to photos taken by such noteworthy artists as George Tice, a Middletown photographer who has 17 books to his credit, on to young fledgling and emerging artists, who submitted not only photos but also watercolors. The McKays are even featuring one of their own photos, a dramatically wide-angled color photo, entitled "Count Basie Renovation Montage," showing this summer's restoration project, specifically the construction of the stage area for the Count Basie Theatre, 99 Monmouth Street.
Another photo, which the McKays said elicited some of the most comments, shows a black and white image of one of the downtown parking meters with "Expired" displayed, which is also the name of the work. "We got some of the best reactions to it," Bob said.
"One of the nice things about these group shows," Bob explained, "is there are people who have never shown a thing in their life hanging next to George Tice." Bob McKay could have been talking about Ambra Talarico, whose photo, "Bar" is on display in the show.
Talarico's photo is of the interior of the Broadway Diner, just a little west and across the street from the McKays' gallery on Monmouth Street, showing some of the diner's wait staff standing and looking tired by the diner's counter.
"The Broadway Diner stands out so much here in Red Bank," Talarico said of her photo. "Most people know about it, it's crazy, fun colors."
Talarico, 23, lives in Highlands but said she sort of grew up in the borough, having spent much of her formative years here, and is currently an intern for the McKays.
Of the exhibit, Talarico said, "It represents a different view, a different perspective, a different angle, a different time in the history of Red Bank."
Like Tice's photo, depicting in black and white, the large camera that had hung in front of Dorn's for many years, which is featured on the cover of one of Tice's books.
The subject of his photo, "was a landmark, it was art," and given how important camera's have been to his life, Tice said it seemed an ideal choice for a photo and a photo perfect for this exhibit. "I felt I could make a photograph of it," he said.
The beauty of photography as a chronicler of time and place is, "You have a sense what's coming down the road," Tice observed. "For in a way, if you photograph it, you have it even if the thing is gone."
Bob said he hopes people who come to the exhibit will see, "A combination of a sense of nostalgia and a brightness of the future."
Given he and his wife had to narrow the show down to just 30 works, "It left me feeling a little unfulfilled," he said. "There is so much more we could have shown."
The McKays will probably do this exhibit theme again sometime in the future. "We'll keep plugging away."
The exhibit will continue until Jan. 8, with the gallery's hours Wednesday or Thursday 1-7 p.m., or by appointment.
