A ghost story and more via Newark's Index Art Center

Group art show, open by appointment, runs to Nov. 15

In first picture, CB pigeon by the headphones and screen of Kelly Ann Pinho's video piece: this is a still from video where pale dark-haired woman with blank eyes stares out in pale light; second piece, silhouette of CB pigeon in front of one of the light scultures by Sunil Garg. This one looks like a combination of DNA and a jellyfish in red and green; in third photo, CB pigeons looks on at a section of the Newark Wetlands Project, from Amanda Thackery and collaborators. As pictured, a green-blue-lit canopy made from newspaper, along with blue-green tapestries and a section of a swampy pool

By D. Menzies

An artist group show opened Saturday, Oct. 11, in Newark at the Index Art Center’s art village at 245 Halsey Street — where the glow of the work inside was visible through the large glass walls on most of its street-sides

Newark-born, Jersey City-residing artist Kelly Ann Pinho has a video presentation in the show, “Deoraiocht¹,” which is the Irish word for exile, Pinho explained.

I’m not sure I would have let myself acknowledge the simple spookiness in them if Pinho didn’t say “Deoraiocht” is supposed to be like a little ghost story.

But some might call “exile” the state inherent to being a ghost, if they existed.

What I’ve seen of Pinho’s work is bold implementations that lack pretension; and a little ghost story that manages to be creepily interesting is neat to see around Halloween and yet kind of unexpected in a gallery show.

Photos: Going somewhere in Newark via gallery's showing of local artist's "Going Nowhere" paintings

I didn’t check out all the work of the group show, but everything caught my eye on some level.

Two of the literally bigger examples of this are Sunil Garg’s light pieces adding ambience; and the Newark Wetlands Project, which stems from artist Amanda Thackeray but is a collaborative project in which anyone around it can contribute to its imagining of Newark pre-Puritan settlement — when it was all marshland. The airport and the Turnpike are among the developments that sit atop what was left of these natural wetlands similar to the adjacent Meadowlands of Secaucus, where some wetlands like (the Kane Mitigation Bank) still exist around the six-year-old American Dream mall, the second largest mall in the U.S.

Humming with green-blue light, it’s a warm, inviting piece, where part of the goal is to spark conversation about environmental preservation and urban resilience. One of several factors Brick City has in common with Chilltown is the lack of green space; and in a NYC-real estate market wave that reaches into Newark as so much of it has washed over JC, what little green space there is, even if you take into account the commons, is in proximity to people with much more green than the pre-2000s baseline.

But there’s no complete “Deoraiocht” just yet.

The show is free and open to the public by appointment until Nov. 15th.

1. “Deoraiocht” is also the name of a 1910 novel by Pádraic Ó Conaire. Written in Gaelic, it has been touted for its sympathy and non-romanticized look at those struggling in urban Ireland.