Clockwise from top left: Andrea “Pinky” Adubato and Lauren Bellero; a Labradoodle portrait by Pinky; a textured box creation by Bellero.
By TOM CHESEK
The “fall back” days of November bring some positive news on Andrea “Pinky” Adubato, the Red Bank artist about whom we’ve been issuing occasional updates over the past year and change. A favorite Shore area painter for decades — and an elegant, lovably eccentric presence whose vivid paintings of people and pets were as familiar as her own custom-decorated house and car — Adubato suffered an incomplete spinal cord injury in late 2008 while hiking in New Mexico. She ending up spending more than 15 months recuperating at her daughterÂ’s house in Albuquerque, as husband Gene Goellner shuttled between NJ and NM.
An intensive program of physical therapy (including working with paintbrushes tied to her hands) eventually regained Pinky enough canes-and-walkers mobility to be able to make the long journey home earlier this year, arriving back in Red Bank just in time for the blizzard-bound, cabin-fever month of February.
Through it all, and despite continuing pain, the Pinkster kept her spirit “in the pink,” and a phone conversation from last winter found the artist, as par for the course, focusing her concern instead upon her daughter.
“I came to visit for a week and stayed for 67,” Pinky told us. “She really put her life on hold for me, poor kid!”
Back at work producing new series of sketches and portraits, Pinky resumed her local area art activities as early as March — and the weeks ahead find her returning to the public eye in a fun little event here in her hometown of Red Bank. That’s just one of several arty happenings going on between Tuesday and the end of the month around the greater ‘green.
Rockstar photographer Mark Weiss at left with Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider. At right: HIGH TIDE NAVESINK RIVER, one of the recent paintings by Jon Peters spotlighted at Laurel Tracey Gallery.
TUESDAY: Party Like a Rock Star, at Glen Goldbaum’s. And if you can’t flag down a rock star, grab the next bestest thing to one — local dude made good Mark Weiss. HeÂ’s the Rumson-based guy who parlayed his teenage pursuit (illicitly snapping and peddling shots of concerts he attended) into a career as one of the premier lensmen in the music and media biz, netting high profile commissions for Rolling Stone, record label promo shots, album covers, music videos, and a long stint as photo director for Circus Magazine, that starter home for generations of rock-fan lifers. You might also know the self-styled “Weissguy” as a fashion, commercial, wedding and portrait photographer — and if your memory goes back a couple of years you might recall him as one of the partners in the Runway 11 boutique, formerly of West Front Street.
Still, itÂ’s as a specialist in the world of arena-sized, smoke-machined, hair-extended classic rawk that Weiss has earned his battle-tested bonafides. And Tuesday night from 7 to 9p, a gallery of Weissworks will be on display at the two Bridge Avenue salons owned by master stylist Glen Goldbaum. That’s the original Glen Goldbaum 72 (at 72 Bridge, natch) as well as the neighboring Lambs & Wolves Den of Beauty Salon at 66D, both right across from the Red Bank train station. Between 7 and 9p, the salon spaces will go gallery for a display of famous faces that include such surprises as a young Drew Barrymore, Rodney Dangerfield and Cheech and Chong. Also on the bill is a chance to “taste super star wines” from Napa ValleyÂ’s A. Faustini Winery, owned by Rumson residents Anthony and Michelle Faustini.
NOW through Thursday: THE HEALING POWER OF ART at the Guild. There are just a few more days to drop in at the Guild of Creative Art headquarters on Broad Street, Shrewsbury, for a group art exhibit keyed to the launch of Lin’s Linens, a nonprofit organization founded by interior designer Liz Balogh and dedicated to providing a welcoming retreat where women can rest after surgery, radiation and chemotherapy — “a safe place where the ‘brave faceÂ’ can be set aside and a patient can curl up and heal.” Balogh was inspired in this endeavor by her sister Lin Salerno, an artist as well as a cancer patient, and the show boasts the combined energies of some 60 artists in a multitude of media. Donations of bedsheet sets and other comfort items will continue to be accepted, and more information about Lin’s Linens can be obtained by contacting [email protected].
SATURDAY: Autumn Art Festival at UUCMC. The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Monmouth County in Lincroft hosts a day of art (paintings, photography, pottery, jewelry and more) with refreshments on sale at the Arts Cafe, from 10a to 4p.
SATURDAY: OIL WAX & STEEL/ New work by Jon Peters at Laurel Tracey Gallery. Downtown Red Bank’s Laurel Tracey Gallery features a display of recent works by Jon Peters — not the Hollywood hairdresser-turned-producer who dated Barbra Streisand and had a wild ride as chief of Sony Pictures, but the artist who, with his wife Laurel, has made the White Street artspace a mainstay on the local gallery scene. All are invited to an opening reception on Saturday evening from 6:30 to 8:30p; the exhibit continues through the month during regular gallery hours, Tuesday through Saturday.
It’s called VIOLET STARBURST, and it’s one of many vivid examples of macro-photography by David Mills, going up at McKay Imaging in Red Bank.
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 14: Mudslingers Art Show and Sale in Red Bank. If you thought the season for mudslinging ended with Election Day, prepare to be pleasantly, even delightfully surprised. The 13th edition of the annual Mudslingers Art Show — hosted by award-winning artist Lauren Bellero and presented in the Mudslingers home studio at 39 Leroy Place in Red Bank — offers up an “all day hospitality reception” that spotlights the decorative and functional clay works of professional potter Bellero, with live music by singer and songwriter Jim Crawford. There’s also a very special guest — the aforementioned Pinky Adubato, making her first major public appearance in two years. Pinky will be showing off some of her new line of “Bu-dogs” (short for buddha dogs), and attendees are urged to bring pet photos, as the artist will be doing her single-line “Pinky Does Picasso” one-minute pet portraits at the event, between the hours of 1p and 6p.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 19: FLOWERS: THE BEAUTY AROUND US at McKay Imaging Gallery. There’s something to be said for stopping to smell the roses — and, in the words of awesome photographers and curators Robert and Elisabeth McKay, “We could all use a little Spring as Winter approaches.” Having recently hosted a display of inspiring amateur art from the Children’s Art Therapy program at Riverview, the husband/wife team return to what they do best — promoting local interest in photography as fine art — with a display of up-close-and-personal nature images by award winning lensman David Mills that focuses upon detailed studies of native flora from throughout the US and abroad. The artist (who describes these shots as “memories that will never be again; a memory of time lived to itÂ’s fullest and not wasted or lost”) is scheduled to be present at an opening reception from 7 to 10p on November 19 at McKay Imaging Gallery. The Flowers exhibit will remain on view through December 23 during gallery hours at the walk-up studio space (12 Monmouth Street); Wednesdays and Thursdays from 1p to 7p, or by appointment. Call (732)842-2272 for more info.
NOW through November 24: Statewide Juried Exhibition at The Art Alliance. Continuing through the month during regular gallery hours (Tuesday thru Saturday, from 12 to 4pm), The Art Alliance of Monmouth County hosts the 24th annual event for both members and nonmembers, juried by Kate Somers of Princeton University’s Bernstein Gallery.
NOW through November 28:Â WHAT I DID THIS SUMMER at Monmouth Museum. The Monmouth Museum hosts a group show of works by faculty members of Brookdale Community College; check website for museum hours and admission info.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 27: Gary Goryany/ The Ultimate Beginning at Butterfly Fine Arts. Ukrainian-born painter Gary Goryany is spotlighted in a solo show at Natalia Bedaya‘s recently inaugurated gallery (116 Broad Street), with an opening reception set for November 27 between the hours of 6 and 9p.
