I missed this from Aug 17. Maybe others had too. Hoping Gary Mottola is
not always as difficult and as quick to take umbrage as he appears in this
write up:
Robin Parness Lipson Works for New Jersey Art Museum - NYTimes.com
http://nyti.ms/9xrqRL
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/18/arts/design/18dream.html?_r=1
Excerpts:
August 17, 2010
A Dream of a Contemporary Art Museum on the Jersey Shore
ASBURY PARK, N.J. …. What she sees are the bustling new restaurants and
gift shops and the energy of a bright future being shaped. And as part of
that future, she sees her baby, her dream, the New Jersey Museum of
Contemporary Art: a glittering monument to the idea that New Jersey is not
just the
home of Snooki and the Situation, or feuding housewives, or the Bada Bing
Club, but a place where cultured, philanthropic people can build something
that makes a difference.
Ms. Lipson has not yet raised any of the $5 million it is projected that
she will need to open the museum, nor does she have a lock on the boardwalk
real estate she covets, or a team of slick consultants armed with surveys
and statistics. But she is a bona fide expert at using charm, guileless
candor, boundless energy and terms of endearment to bring home what she wants:
a
new museum on the Jersey Shore devoted to emerging artists. …
… But she does have the support of wealthy friends with a major art
collection: Michael and Susan Hort. The Horts, who appear annually on ARTnews’s
list of the world’s 200 top collectors, host a popular art party, a brunch
at their TriBeCa loft, during the annual Armory Show.
Ms. Lipson also has a dozen young artists, curators, event planners and
others who are part of her dream. These volunteers have done everything from
build a Web site, njmoca.org, to plan an inaugural exhibition and gala on
Oct. 23. …
The building of her dreams is a 1920s power plant, designed by Warren &
Wetmore, whose work includes Grand Central Terminal. Abandoned for 30 years,
the plant is owned by the development company Madison Marquette, which owns
much of the property on the boardwalk here.
Ms. Lipson tried to get a meeting with Madison Marquette’s president, Gary
Mottola, for weeks to make her pitch. She finally got it on a recent
morning in a sunbaked conference room. Ms. Lipson was in a black skirt and
sleeveless top and big sunglasses, Mr. Mottola in a Stone PonyT-shirt; a
reporter
attended.
Ms. Lipson noted that while New Jersey had many regional museums, it had
nothing that drew international tourism.
“Except Madam Marie,” Mr. Mottola interjected, referring to the stand of
a former boardwalk fortuneteller made famous by Bruce Springsteen in his “
4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy).”
Ms. Lipson said the museum would be an economic catalyst in the way that
Mass MoCA, a contemporary art museum that opened in 1999, has been in North
Adams, Mass. “It was blighted; there was a high crime rate,” she said.
Mr. Mottola appeared to take umbrage. Asbury Park, he said, was “the
biggest music destination in the world.” The D.J. Tiësto had recently played at
the Convention Center. And celebrity glamour? What about the New Jersey Hall
of Fame, which has Jack Nicholson’s second-grade report card and Susan
Sarandon’s cheerleading jacket in its temporary space on the boardwalk?
He might be interested in having an art museum, he said, but “not in the
context of ‘We’re blighted, this is going to make us unblighted,’ ” he
said. “We’re already way past that.”
Reflecting later, Ms. Lipson said it had been a learning experience. “I
didn’t mean to denigrate what he’s done with the music; that was my mistake,”
she said.
But she didn’t feel defeated. She was able to interest Mr. Mottola in
hosting the inaugural gala in another one of the company’s buildings, the
Paramount Theater, and she saw that as progress.
…
See also the web site, njmoca.org for the proposed NJ MUseum of
Contemporary Art.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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