Red Bank-area art enthusiasts can pin another destination on the map with the opening last week of a new downtown display space.
Patrons checking out an installation by Natali Bravo-Barbee, above. Below, gallerist Michael Mazzeo. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
Photographer and gallery owner Michael Mazzeo unveiled Galerie Lucida, at 18 Wallace Street, last Friday with a show called “Memento,” featuring works by nine artists.
A common thread running through the exhibit is the artists’ “critical engagement with memory, myth, and history,” Mazzeo wrote in a program note.
Included is “Flores de Femicidio,” a room-filling installation by Natali Bravo-Barbee that features 327 intricate flowers made of cyanotype photograms. The work was created as a memorial to victims of femicide in Bravo-Barbee’s native country, Argentina, in 2019.
Mazzeo, a Rumson resident who teaches photography at the City University of New York, told redbankgreen he was drawn to the space, previously occupied by a counseling service, even before it became available.
Among other must-haves on his list, the 1,700-square-foot storefront is ample enough to accommodate both the gallery and studio for his own photography, he said.
“I wanted north light, through the windows, so I could work with it,” he said. Plus, the location is close enough to home that he can bike to it, he said.
“Memento” runs through January 5. Galerie Lucida is open Thursdays through Sundays, from 12 to 7 p.m., but visitors may pop in other days when Mazzeo’s there.
Do you value the news coverage provided by redbankgreen? Please become a financial supporter if you haven’t already. Click here to set your own level of monthly or annual contribution.
