Jersey City values its arts and its artists | Opinion

By Jersey Journal Guest Columnist
on October 22, 2015 at 3:53 PM, updated October 22, 2015 at 3:58 PM

BY STEVEN FULOP

This week, high on a scaffold above Columbus Avenue, the renowned artist Shepard Fairey turned a blank wall into a giant mural of a wave – the "Jersey City Wave," he titled it. 

The mural, I suppose, can represent a lot of things: our city's economic resurgence; the storms (literal, like Sandy, and figurative) that we have weathered. Some have even said climate change. When it comes to art, everyone's opinion is valid.

To me however, the "Jersey City Wave" indicates one thing above all else: Jersey City values its art and artists – and our artists value Jersey City, in turn.

Shepard Fairey may be the most famous artist to create mural in our city – he designed the acclaimed "HOPE" poster during Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign – but Shepard isn't the only muralist to adorn our streets. Thirty-five artists from all over the world – and just around the corner – have created more than fifty murals, spanning every ward and every community. They've made outdoor galleries out of our communities, and turned our entire city into a walkable museum.

The art isn't just on the side of buildings. It's everywhere. It's in our galleries, like the Mana Contemporary. Two weeks ago, it was in an old warehouse that we spruced up and turned into the flagship exhibit of our studio tour. Eight hundred artists were featured.

At the same time that the public art movement is breathing new cultural life into Los Angeles, Detroit, and Miami's Wynwood neighborhood, Jersey City is celebrating its culture again, too. It's true: We have always celebrated our artists – Sinatra sang here; we're home to the work of Ben F. Jones, one of the most important painters of his generation – but we are once again becoming a cultural hotspot, a new frontier for the creative class.

This helps enliven our neighborhoods, draws customers to our stores, and visitors to our city. Studies show that tourists who travel to see art end up staying longer and spending more.

But the true benefit of a thriving artistic community can't be quantified in dollars and cents. Art, after all, is priceless. And by filling our communities with art – by painting waves on our walls – we are recognizing that our city is priceless, too. 

EDITOR'S NOTE: Steven Fulop is the mayor of Jersey City.

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