Jersey City Monopoly Mural

Revision as of 20:04, 8 September 2016 by Joyeria02 (talk | contribs)
Monopoly Board.jpg

Artist: Gary Wynans

Year: 2016

Date of Action: July 20, 2016

Region: North America


Subject: Public Art "Public Art" is not in the list (Copyright, Explicit Sexuality, Government Secrecy, Nudity, Political/Economic/Social Opinion, Racial/Ethnic, Religion, Science, Sexual/Gender Orientation, Violence, ...) of allowed values for the "Was challenged because of subject" property.

Medium: Painting, Street Art "Street Art" is not in the list (Commercial Advertising, Dance, Design, Installation, Journalism, Literature, Mixed Media, Music, Online, Painting, ...) of allowed values for the "Has medium" property., Mural "Mural" is not in the list (Commercial Advertising, Dance, Design, Installation, Journalism, Literature, Mixed Media, Music, Online, Painting, ...) of allowed values for the "Has medium" property.

Confronting Bodies: Jersey City Mural Arts Program, Jersey City

Description of Artwork: In May, the Jersey City Mural Arts Program commissioned local artist Gary Wynans, aka Mr. AbiLLity, to create a 33-foot floor mural on the busy pedestrian plaza at Newark Avenue. Referencing the traditional Monopoly board game, Wynans’ floor mural used Jersey City street names and local icons, harnessing the game’s focus on money and real estate to bring attention to income disparities and gentrification in real-life Jersey City.

The Incident: Several elements of the mural drew complaints, and Wynans was asked to make changes during the painting installation, even though the design had already been approved. The “Jail” square on the board, which contained a cartoon self-portrait of the artist behind bars, provoked complaints from residents, including state Assemblywoman Angela McKnight, who saw not the artist's self-portrait but a negative stereotype about people of color (Mr. Wynans is Italian and Puerto Rican). McKnight and others demanded that the self-portrait be removed or changed. The City pointed over the Jail square and then, without consulting the artist further, they painted over the entire Monopoly Board.

Results of Incident: No resolution. The City painted over Monopoly Board.

Source:
https://www.instagram.com/mr_abillity/



Jersey City Paints Over Mural Portion After Allegations of Racism, by Jas Chana, July 5, 2016

Jersey City paints over street art critics called racist, By Terrence T. McDonald June 30, 2016

Questions linger after Jersey City paints over controversial Monopoly mural, July 26, 2016; updated July 26, 2016

33-foot, Jersey City-centric Monopoly board to debut on pedestrian plaza, By Terrence T. McDonald May 27, 2016