Arthur Bruso
- Jun 24, 2022
- 2 min read

Re Emergence

Updated: Sep 19, 2022

New Jersey Arts Annual: Re Emergence

June 25, 2022 - April 30, 2023

My work has been selected for exhibition in the New Jersey Arts Annual held this year at the New Jersey State Museum in Trenton, NJ. The 2022 theme is Re Emergence. The museum's official statement is as follows:

New Jersey is home to a diverse and robust artistic community; the New Jersey Arts Annual exhibition highlights the work of visual artists and craftspeople from around the state. This year’s exhibition theme is “Reemergence.” Artists, like most New Jerseyans, are taking steps to reemerge into an altered landscape. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, political and ideological polarization, and a collective reckoning with systemic racism remain critical to achieving the country’s promise. One hundred twenty-seven works by 95 artists were selected for inclusion in the exhibition. The complete list of artists. The New Jersey Arts Annual: Reemergence is a project of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and the New Jersey State Museum. At the New Jersey State Museum, the exhibition is also supported by the New Jersey State Museum Foundation.

Entrance to a modernist museum with four glass doors and banners showing dinosaurs above the doors.

The artist in front of the New Jersey State Museum in Trenton.

My two drawings that were selected for exhibition are from my Portals series:

Mixed media abstract drawing of a building window in black, white and grey tones.

Portals - No. 25 - Extension; 16 1/2” h x 12 1/2” w; ink, acrylic paint, oil pastel, compressed charcoal, litho crayon, conte crayon, on paper

Mixed media abstract drawing of a window and door in black, white and grey tones.

Portals - No. 27 - Rear Elevation; 18”w x 24”h; acrylic paint, oil pastel, litho crayon, conte crayon, compressed charcoal, pencil on paper

My Artist's Statement about these drawings which appears on the wall tag next to the drawings in the exhibition :

These drawings are linked to my own interest in the void of openings, which appears strongly in my artistic output. With these drawings I began to explore the concept of the threshold, through the use of texture, shape and composition.

Six framed artworks on a white wall in a museum gallery.

Installation shot of my drawing in the New Jersey State Museum gallery.

My work was mentioned in an article on NJArt.net, 'Reemergence,' the 2022 NJ Arts Annual at State Museum, evokes traumas of recent years by Tris McCall. Here is the quote:

"Arthur Bruso of Jersey City confronts us with the bare, gray faces of apartment building walls, captured in gray paint and charcoal, impassive, distant, a little estranged."

Read the entire article here: https://www.njarts.net/reemergence-the-2022-nj-arts-annual-at-state-museum-evokes-traumas-of-recent-years/

Participating artists included in the 2022 New Jersey Arts Annual: Reemergence exhibition:

Shin-Young An, Philip Ayers, Christine Barney, Ricardo Barros, Seth Bechtold,

Pamela Becker, Katrina Bello, Gay Bitter, Mashell Black, Bette Blank,

Connie Bracci-McIndoe, Karen Bright, Judith K. Brodsky, Zenna Broomer, Arthur Bruso, Caroline Burton, Emanuele Cacciatore, José Camacho, Sarah Canfield, Danielle Cartier, Pauline Chernichaw, Pam Cooper, Michael Dal Cerro, Ryniee DeCheser, Jessica Demcsak, Ellen Denuto, Gwynn Di Pilla, Kate Eggleston, Antoinette Ellis-Williams, Edward Fausty,