Just a year ago, Luis Emilio Romero was residing near the Jefferson L train stop in Bushwick, striving to focus on his oil paintings amid the bustling surroundings. His fortunes changed when he was accepted into the Monira Foundation’s prestigious residency program at Mana Contemporary in Jersey City last December. Now, in the peace of his basement studio, he creates complex textile-inspired patterns uninterrupted by external noise. “I love it here,” Romero shared with Hyperallergic at Mana’s Spring Open Studios over the weekend. “My paintings imply a meditative spiritual process, and I need a space that is calm. I can just be here and continue building my practice.”
As visitors strolled from the Journal Square PATH station to the arts center on Sunday, it seemed that many New Yorkers might be overlooking this Jersey City treasure. Since Moishe Mana and co-founders Eugene Lemay and Yigal Ozeri transformed the old tobacco warehouse in 2011 into a 2 million-square-foot artist hub, it has stood as one of the country’s largest artist-run spaces, comparable to MoMA PS1 and MASS MoCA. Despite its closure during the COVID-19 pandemic and the shift to online programming, Mana Contemporary is regaining its audience under new leadership since 2022, offering biannual open studios and partnering with organizations like Pierogi Gallery and the Ayn Foundation.
Anne Muntges, director of Development and Residencies at the Monira Foundation, noted the gradual return of visitors, stating, “It’s been slow. We pivoted to a lot of virtual stuff, so we’ve been trying to get people out more and more.” On May 17, over one-third of Mana’s 300 artists opened their studios, marking the highest participation in years. The event showcased TLaloC’s installation, “ECHOES, HRÖNIRS – Three Titans: Artillero, Barloss, and Jusfis,” among other intriguing exhibitions like Open Book(s): Observations, presented by Pierogi, Mana, and the Monira Foundation.
Last month, Pierogi co-owners Joe Amrhein and Susan Swenson relocated their Flat Files collection to Mana, featuring nearly 4,000 original works. The collection will remain for six months to a year, with periodic rotations of the pieces displayed. “The Flat Files are always evolving over the years,” Swenson explained, highlighting the opportunity to showcase artists who might otherwise not have space in limited annual exhibitions.
Sunday’s main attraction was undoubtedly the open studios, where the public could observe the creative processes of more than 100 contemporary artists. Among them was Kristian Battell, who assembled vibrant depictions of landscapes transformed by plastics, envisioning a post-Anthropocene world. Nearby, Michael Hines explored abstract, maze-like paintings inspired by personal experiences of womanhood. Across the floor, Claudia Koh presented scenes addressing social inequality in Singapore, while Ivy Haldeman displayed whimsical paintings of bananas and a hot dog, inspired by a Buenos Aires bodega ad.
